The dorsal surface is grey, dark brown or black with bars and spots of muddy yellow giving it a tiger-like coloring.

Larvae have alternating dark and light blotches on the centre of the dorsal surface and pale stripes running along the sides.

[4] Primarily nocturnal, barred tiger salamanders are opportunistic feeders, and will often eat anything they can catch, including various insects, slugs, and earthworms.

Most often, cannibals are found in drier areas and shallow, more competitive waters, making earlier metamorphosis advantageous.

It also inhabits open fields, rough ground, upland meadows, grasslands, deserts, semideserts and streams.

[1] The Sonoran tiger salamander was classified as an endangered species in 1997, due to increased human activity causing degradation and fragmentation of its habitat.

The second grade class of 1993 of O‑K Elementary in Wichita, Kansas, petitioned the governor; students Timothy Boyd and Kristofer Voorhees presented the initial idea for a state amphibian to their teacher.