Varying numbers may invade croplands and pastures. This herbivore feeds on a variety of grasses and forbs, eating leaves, stems, seeds, bulbs, and fruits. Also eats some insects, and occasionally may be cannibalistic. Forages on the ground surface. Uses evaporative cooling and convection to avoid heat stress.
Distribution is tied to water, suggesting that water is perhaps the most important limiting factor.
Gets water from food and from drinking. Prefers friable soils for burrowing, but may use adjoining rocky and woody areas for feeding. Belding's ground squirrel usually is found close to a source of water. May. Males enter hibernation first, followed by females, then young of the year. Females share territory with related females, chasing others away from burrows.