[3] The imitator salamander is found in the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina at elevations more than 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level.

[4] The imitator salamander breeds in summer, and a clutch of about 20 eggs is laid and attached to the underside of a rock in a seepage or other wet location.

The female broods the eggs, and when they hatch the larvae may live among wet moss, under rocks and among leaf litter.

The species is offered some protection because most of its range is inside the boundaries of national parks, but a small separate population on Waterrock Knob is threatened by local extinction.

The Great Smoky Mountains have a high deposition of acid rain, but no evidence shows this is affecting the salamander population.