Sands or silts required for dust bathing. Water apparently obtained metabolically from food and from moisture in food. Open annual grassland to mixed chaparral preferred. Also present in valley foothill hardwood, and to a lesser extent in valley foothill hardwood-conifer habitats. Active yearlong, nocturnally.
Kangaroo rats are aggressively solitary.
No data found. There are 2-4 young per litter. Therefore, inferences on the biology of D. californicus that are based on studies of D. heermanni may be invalid. A geographical study of the kangaroo rats of California. Hall, E. R. 1981.