It is a soil-dwelling species found in montane and submontane forest. It also survives in secondary habitat such as small-holder agricultural areas (S. Loader and D. Gower pers. comm. August 2012) and fruit plantations. If it is similar to other Scolecomorphus species, it is likely to be viviparous and does not depend on water bodies for reproduction.

This species is known from Niassa, Mabu, and Namuli in northern Mozambique (S. Loader pers. comm. October 2015), the mountains of southern Malawi east of the Shire Valley (with no records yet from Mount Mulanje, although it is likely to occur there), and in Tanzania from the Nguru, Rubeho, Uluguru, Mahenge and Udzungwa Mountains, and Ubena in the Southern Highlands. Neither the limits of its range nor its altitudinal range are well known, but it is generally montane occuring above 1,000 m asl, but also occurs at lower elevations - in some places down to around 500 m asl. Mapped to known sites, its extent of occurrence (EOO) is 232,358 km².

Conservation Actions
In Tanzania, it occurs in the Uluguru Nature Reserve, Mahenge Forest Reserve (a proposed Nature Reserve), Udzungwa National Park and Forest Reserves, Rubeho Forest Reserve (it does not occur in any protected areas in the Southern Highlands). In Malawi, parts of the highlands in the south are afforded some level of protection.

Conservation Needed
Further protection of habitat in protected areas is required.

Research Needed
Further research is needed on its population status and trends, life history and ecology, the effect of ongoing threats on the species, and necessary conservation actions.