Occurs in desert shrub vegetation, where it is associated with rocky soils on slopes with scattered shrub cover. This rodent has strong preference for rocky places in Chihuahuan desert shrub vegetation. It prefers rocky soils or slopes where cactus, creosote, stool, and lechuguilla provide scattered cover. It is seldom found on sandy or other fine soils.

This rodent is active throughout the year. It feeds entirely on the seeds of various desert shrubs and grasses (Wilson and Ruff 1999). Mating begins in February and continues throughout July, with peaks of pregnancy in March, May, and July. The gestation period is about one month and the young leave the nest when they are about four weeks of age. The number of embryos per litter averages 3.2, with extremes of two and four. The annual population turnover is about 86%; that is, only 14 of each 100 individuals survive more than one year.

From the Chihuahuan Desert of the north-central Mexican Plateau north to west Texas and extreme south-eastern New Mexico (Patton 2005).

There are no known conservation measures specific to this species. However, there are several protected areas within its range, fo example the population in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, while rare and geographically isolated and restricted, is protected within Carlsbad Caverns National Park.