Typical coloration consists of a background of brownish- to purplish-black overlaid with narrow gray or silvery-white reticulations (net-like markings), bands, or diffuse spotting.

Adult salamanders spend most of the year underground in burrows, especially those of crayfish, where they are presumed to feed on a variety of small invertebrates, but the few existing prey records are mostly earthworms.

From September through December, adults migrate from surrounding upland habitats to their natal wetlands during rainfall events associated with passing cold fronts.

Females lay 100–200 eggs, placing them in small groups of 1–12, usually within carpets of herbaceous vegetation or in the entrances of crayfish burrows in the dry pond basin.

[citation needed] Prior to European settlement, it was most likely a common member of the fire-maintained longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)–wiregrass (Aristida spp.)