They use their long beaks to turn over things on the ground. They eat ants, beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, fruits, and seed. Sometimes they will eat small frogs and lizards. They are adapted for life in the desert and get most of the water they need to survive from the food they eat. Campylorhynchus Cactus wrens mate from late February to March.
Cactus wrens can have as many as three broods every season.
Females chose a nesting place in a large cactus or thick shrub, tree or thicket. Males help build the nests. 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.