This lizard inhabits open arid and semi-arid regions with sparse vegetation (deserts, prairies, playa edges, bajadas, dunes, foothills) with grass, cactus, or scattered brush or scrubby trees (Degenhardt et al. 1996, Bartlett and Bartlett 1999, Hammerson 1999, Stebbins 2003). Soil may vary in texture from sandy to rocky. When inactive, individuals burrow into the soil, enter rodent burrows, or hide under rocks. Sheffield and Carter (1994) reported individuals that climbed one to two m up tree trunks when soils were wet after heavy rains. Eggs are laid in nests dug in soil or under rocks (Collins 1982).

The range extends from extreme southwestern Missouri and central Kansas to southeastern Colorado, and south and west throughout most of Oklahoma and Texas (including coastal barrier islands), eastern and southern New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona to northeastern Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango east of Sierra Madre Occidental, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, and Zacatecas (Price 1990). Native eastern limit is uncertain; records for Missouri and Arkansas have been questioned (now extirpated from Arkansas; Trauth et al. 2004), and possibly the species is not native to Louisiana (Price 1990). This species has been introduced and is established in several areas in the southeastern United States, including North Carolina), Florida (Jensen 1994), and elsewhere (see Price 1990 for references).

Extant populations exist in a fairly large number of areas with adequate protection.