This is a fully aquatic species. It tends to occur in the slower regions of small to medium-sized streams, including connected ditches, that have muddy or sandy bottoms (Green et al. 2014). It has also been found in cypress swamps and stream-fed rice fields and mill ponds. This species is rarely found in the main channels of rivers, and is most common in deeper sections of streams where there is an accumulation of mud, silt, and leaves (Green et al. 2014). It favours bottoms covered in leaf-litter and detritus. During the winter months, juveniles burrow into the bottom substrate while adults congregate in leaf beds. This species has a larval stage, and eggs are probably attached to the undersides of objects in water. It is paedomorphic, which may limit dispersal and gene flow between subpopulations (Niemiller et al. 2022).

This species can be found in the USA on the Atlantic Coastal Plain from southeastern Virginia to the Ocmulgee-Altahama River system in southeastern Georgia, and extends into the Fall Line and Piedmont from North Carolina to Georgia. Records from Mobile Bay eastward to the Ochlockonee River that were previously associated with this species and then with the concept Necturus lodingi have now been allocated to N. beyeri, with the Apalachicola and Escambia lineages described as independent new species (Guyer et al. 2020).

Conservation Actions In-Place
This species occurs in several protected areas. 

In an effort to prevent the introduction of Bsal into the US, an Interim Rule of the Lacey Act has been enacted that bans the importation of 201 species of salamanders (USFWS 2016). Additionally, a temporary voluntary trade moratorium of imports of Asian salamander species that are known to carry the disease until such time as effective testing and treatment regimens can be developed and distributed has been recommended to all exporters, shippers, sellers and buyers by the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC). A North America Bsal Task Force has also been created, with working groups designed to address a variety of disease prevention and mitigation goals (North America Bsal Task Force 2021).