Made with grass and straw and lined with feathers, nests are large and football-shaped. The nest has a side entrance that helps protect the fledglings from predators. Females lay between three to six eggs. The eggs take a little more than two weeks to hatch. The young wrens leave the nest after about three weeks but will depend on their parents for food for another month.
Cactus wrens build two nests, one for their young and one for roosting.