Habitats include desert scrub, open conifer-oak woodlands and pine forests in the Upper Sonoran and Transition Life Zones, generally arid areas where agave plants are present (USFWS 2000). This species usually favours higher and cooler regions than L. yerbabuenae (Arita 1991). Roosting habitat requirements are not well known. It usually roosts in large groups (up to 10,000) in caves or mines, occasionally found in buildings, hollow trees or culverts. It emerges well after sunset and feeds on pollen and nectar, principally of agaves and various cacti. Pseudobombax, Ceiba, Ipomoea, Calliandra, Pinus, and grasses are also important food sources in Central Mexico (Gardner 1977). Fruit and insects are sometimes taken; 173 samples contained insect parts in central México (Sánchez and Medellín 2007). Northern subpopulations migrate south in winter; numbers found in caves fluctuate greatly from year to year, indicating eruptive movements in addition to seasonal migration. A single young is born in May or June (Hensley and Wilkins 1988, Reid 1997).

This species is known from southeast Arizona, south New Mexico and southwest Texas (USA) to south Mexico and Guatemala (Simmons 2005). However, there is no evidence of this species being present south of Guerrero, Mexico (R. Medellín unpubl. data), and its southern limit of distribution should be adjusted to central Guerrero, Mexico, to reflect this fact. It generally occurs from lowlands to 3,500 m asl (mostly 1,000 to 2,200 m asl, Reid 1997).

The range includes medium to high elevations in northern and central Mexico, southwestern Texas (southern Brewster and Presidio counties), and southwestern New Mexico, at elevations of about 500 to 3,500 m asl. Most occurrences in Mexico are at elevations of 1,000 to 2,200 m asl, but this bat been captured at an elevation of 3,780 m asl (Arita 1991), and the type specimen was caught near snow line at 17,816 feet (5,747 m asl) on Mt. Orizaba, in Veracruz, Mexico (USFWS 2000). In Texas, this species is known from the Big Bend National Park and Chinati Mountain area. Two specimens of Leptonycteris taken in Hidalgo County, New Mexico (in 1963 and 1967), were determined to be L. nivalis. The presence of this species in New Mexico was reconfirmed in Hidalgo County in 1992 (Hoyt et al. 1994). This species formerly was thought to occupy a much larger area, extending into southern Mexico and Guatemala, but specimens collected from those areas have been assigned to L. yerbabuenae (Arita and Humphrey 1988). The only colonial roost in the U.S. is a cave at Emory Peak, at an elevation of 2,290 m asl, in the Chisos Mountains, Texas. Simmons (2005) described the range of L. nivalis as extending to southern Mexico and Guatemala, and she also included southeastern Arizona in the range. However, no actual records for Arizona are known, and Arita (1991) showed the range as extending only as far south as Puebla and northern Guerrero.

A protected subpopulation exists at Emory Peak, Big Bend National Park, Texas (USFWS 2000). Further regular surveys are needed to determine important roost sites, abundance and trends. Conservation of this bat will require maintenance of relatively large areas of wild Agave. Identification and protection of currently and formerly occupied roost sites and protection of foraging habitat in at least several areas throughout the range are important conservation needs. Subpopulations need to be defined, and movement patterns need to be better understood. Accurate censusing methods need to be developed. This species is the focus of a specific conservation program by the government and the University of Mexico (UNAM). The only mating roost known in the state of Morelos, central Mexico is now secured as a sanctuary and with the aid of the local land owners the situation is improving dramatically. In Mexico the species is listed as threatened under NOM - 059 - SEMARNAT - 2015, and is a priority species of the Mexican Bat Conservation Program and of the Commission of Protected Areas of the Mexican Federal Government.