The adult moth only lives for two months: July and August. Mating takes place at night in early August after which the female lays a cluster of about 80-130 eggs near the base of a
bamboo shoot. The larvae hatch after 12 days, and are pale brown in colour and covered with long hair. Working together, the larvae bore an entrance hole at an internode of the bamboo in one day. After entering the shoot, they then, also in one day, bore an exit hole for the mature moths from which to eventually emerge. The larvae turn white within three days. Boring their way upwards from one bamboo
internode to another, the larvae feed on the fresh inner pulp of the bamboo while avoiding common predators such as birds. After 45 to 60 days, the larvae mature and migrate down to the internode containing the exit hole where they enter a period of
diapause for eight months, hanging upside down from the roof of the internode. This long period of diapause is exceptional for a tropical insect, and probably caused by the
monsoonal character of the region which has a cool, dry period from November to February, a hot season from March to June, followed by a wet period from June through October, affecting the availability of food for the larvae. The
pupal phase takes 46 to 60 days and falls in June and July. Eleven different species of bamboo are infested. The infestation does not harm the plants, but instead makes the bamboo stronger than uninfested bamboo. However, the bamboo worm's activity may cause irregular growth patterns in the bamboo shoots which they occupy. In northern Thailand,
O. fuscidentalis infestations have been found in
Dendrocalamus membranaceus,
D. hamiltonii,
D. strictus,
Bambusa nutans,
B. blumeana,
Gigantochloa albociliata, and
G. nigrociliata. ==As food==