It prefers areas of short grass with open patches of bare ground, often with a high clay content. Patches of mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) have been associated with this species, but may not be essential. The open habitat allows a good view of the surrounding area. Dust baths appear to be essential to kangaroo rats both to maintain good condition of skin and fur, and also to facilitate territorial scent-marking. Primarily they are nocturnal, spending most of the day in burrow systems and emerging at night to forage on seeds, vegetation and insects. Most kangaroo rats will store a supply of seed within their burrows in case of long periods of drought. They are highly adapted to arid conditions and rarely need to drink water.

The species' range encompasses a small area in north-central Texas and adjacent Oklahoma (Caire et al. 1989, Schmidly 2004). Surveys in Texas from 1985 to 1987 yielded occurrences in Cottle, Hardeman, Wilbarger, and Wichita counties (Jones et al. 1988); one specimen was obtained in 1989 in Motley County (Martin and Matocha, 1991), and a new county record for Childress County was obtained in 1987 (Wahl, unpub. data). Apparently, there are few, if any, populations remaining in Archer, Baylor, Clay, and Montague counties (southeastern part of the range in Texas).

The first report from Oklahoma was by Bailey in 1905 (Carter et al. 1985); the species has been very infrequently recorded since then (e.g., Baumgardner, 1987, Caire et al. 1989). A 1988 survey yielded no observations of this species in Oklahoma (Moss and Mehlhop-Cifelli 1990), but subsequent surveys have yielded a few specimens.

It is protected as a Threatened non-game species by the state of Texas, and is a federal C2 candidate taxon. No populations are known to occur in captivity. Most of the species' range is on privately owned lands, however, a few individuals were trapped at Copper Breaks State Park in Hardeman County in the 1980s, but no individuals have been observed in the 1990s (Martin pers. comm). However, a road kill was recently (1997) obtained just outside the park boundary (Horner, unpubl. data), and an area less than 1 km from the park boundary is known to be occupied by this species. Most of the habitat in the park is no longer suitable habitat due to the growth of vegetation. Continued road spotlight surveys need to be conducted throughout the range, especially in those six counties where kangaroo rat populations are most abundant and observable. Also, access to private lands where colonies were found in the 1980s needs to be obtained. Colonies of various sizes need to be monitored to determine trends.