This xerophilic species can be found inhabiting Mediterranean habitats, open dry steppes and semi-deserts. In Russia it has been recorded from a range of habitats including grass-sagebrush steppes, shilyaks, hilly sands of the Caspian coast, clayey and rocky areas of sagebrush-saltwort semi-desert, field edges, eroded slopes, gullies and river valleys (Mazanaeva et al. 2021). It appears to prefer clay and stony soils, and is more rarely encountered on stabilised sands, in vineyards and gardens. A recent Romanian record was taken from steppe adjacent to abandoned vineyards, with sheep and goats grazing in low numbers (Sahlean et al. 2015). It can be found in arable land with sufficiently loose soil for burrowing (Speybroeck et al. 2016). In Evros Prefecture in Greece it has been found in an area comprising cattle pasture, arable land and sparse shrubland on a "sandy-soil and rocky hills" substrate (Christopoulos and Kotselis 2021). In the Caucasus it is found at elevations from 1,500 up to 1,700 m asl. along river valleys. On the northern border of its distribution range (in southern Russia) it has been recorded from the sheep's fescue-steppe. Habitats everywhere are associated with arid landscapes. It can be found burrowing through the soil and often lives in rodent burrows. It emerges to the surface mainly at dusk and night during summer, and at night in spring and autumn, but can be surface-active until noon at a mean air temperature of 22 °С (Mazanaeva et al. 2021). It is viviparous, and the females produce between 4 and 20 live young in August-September; the female is gravid for about five months (three to four months in Russia - Mazanaeva et al. 2021). The period of activity lasts from March-April to the beginning of October. Sexual maturity is reached at the age of at least three years (Mazanaeva et al. 2021).

In Europe, this species has been recorded from Romania, through Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Greece (including the islands of Limnos, Paros, Antiparos, Kalymnos, Corfu, Lesbos, Chios and Samos among many others), and European Türkiye. It was discovered in Sicily in 2015, which may represent an ancient introduction (Insacco et al. 2015). The previous European Red List assessment (2009) suggested that it may be extinct in Romania; however, in 2011 it was rediscovered in this country more than 30 years after the last recorded sightings, a record which also represented a range extension north of the Danube (Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2012). In North Macedonia, it is distributed along the Vardar River, from the border with Greece stretching north to Veles, and from there eastward to Kochani field and the foothills of Osogovski Planina.

Outside Europe, the species ranges eastwards through the Anatolia region of Türkiye (where it is widespread, except in the Black Sea coastal region) into Iran (where its distribution in the south is probably not continuous, although according to Zarrintab et al. (2017) Iranian subpopulations are distributed "across the northern, western and eastern mountains of Iran and adjacent areas in the central plain, and in the forest areas of Golestan province and western plains of the Zagros mountains in Khuzestan province"). It is also distributed in Iraq, (tentatively) northern Saudi Arabia and into the Caucasus Mountains of southern Armenia, Azerbaijan, eastern Georgia and southern Russia (in the Tersko-Sulakskaya and Primorskaya lowlands, in the lower foothills of Dagestan, on the Tersky and, possibly, Sunzhensky ridges, as well as in the northeastern part of Chechnya, in the southeast of the Stavropol Territory, in the Terekye region of North Ossetia and Ingushetia, on the border of the Ergeninsky Upland and Kuma-Manych depression in Kalmykia) (Mazanaeva et al. 2021). It is also present in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt westwards through Libya, Tunisia and Algeria to Morocco. It can be found from below sea level (28 m bsl in Russia - Mazanaeva et al. 2021) up to 1,700 m asl (Lake Van, Türkiye). The species may range into Afghanistan and/or Pakistan along the Iranian border, but there are no confirmed records from either territory.

This species is listed in Appendix II of CITES, Annex II of the Bern Convention, and on Annex IV of the European Union Habitat and Species Directive. It is included in the national list of protected species in North Macedonia. In Jordan it is listed on Appendix III of the Hunting Law 2004. It has been recorded from many protected areas. It is included in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation as category 2 (Mazanaeva et al. 2021). Further research is needed into the population dynamics and harvest levels for this species.