It is well adapted for living underground with large, protruding incisor teeth, used for tearing at roots, and powerful claws on the forefeet for digging.

It occupies several different dry, sandy habitats; it occurs in sand-hill country with longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and turkey oak (Quercus laevis), and it also occurs in slightly moister hammocks (low mounds) among the sand-hills with Quercus virginiana and other hardwood trees.

The soil is pushed upwards by the front limbs and chest and creates a fan-shaped mound with the tunnel at one side.

Despite this low level of fecundity, the southeastern pocket gopher is a common animal, implying that there is good survivability of the offspring.

The presence of green forage in the diet and the fact that owls sometimes feed on them show that the gophers do emerge above ground sometimes.

It feeds on roots and rhizomes below ground, and on green plants such as grasses, sedges and weeds which it can reach from near the entrance to the burrow.