In areas of rocky outcrops, crevices often are utilized, with sticks and other materials preventing free access to the nesting chamber.

The ranges of the white-throated woodrat and its subspecies are from the southeastern corners of Nevada and California across southern Utah and all of Arizona to southwestern Colorado, across west Texas and south to central Mexico.

[5][6] In general, white-throated woodrats occupy desert grasslands, semiarid shrublands,[9][13][14] saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) cactus communities,[15] pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.)

[28][29] In ponderosa pine-Gambel oak habitat in the Hualapai Mountains, white-throated woodrat presence was positively associated with high (3% to 19%) rock cover.

[32][33] On the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona, white-throated woodrats were trapped most often in velvet Mesquite Bosque thickets that grew closest to a human constructed water development.

Other vegetation included Goodding's willow Salix gooddingii, blue paloverde (Parkinsonia florida), big saltbush (Atriplex lentiformis), and California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera).

In pinyon-juniper woodlands at the Piñon Canyon Maneuver site near Trinidad, Colorado, white-throated woodrats were captured most often in areas with coarse woody debris.

[26] In a pinyon-juniper woodland in the Gila National Forest, New Mexico, white-throated woodrats responded favorably to mechanical treatments that increased the amount of coarse woody debris.

[17][18][26][36][37] Other shelter types include holes and crevices in cutbanks along washes,[7][24] burrows of other animals,[16][24][30] piles of coarse woody debris, and human habitations and structures.

[17][36] The nest averages 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter and is composed of soft, fine material including grass, shredded prickly-pear fibers, or juniper bark.

[20][37] In wooded areas, white-throated woodrats use sticks and other debris, and in deserts, parts of cacti, catclaw acacia, mesquite, and yucca are typically used.

At McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Arizona, white-throated woodrats gathered 30% of house building materials within 33 feet (10 m) from their shelter.

[20] In Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Lower Sonoran zone of Arizona, use of building materials depended on availability.

White bursage (Ambrosia dumosa) was very abundant and used for building material, even though plants were too small to shelter a white-throated woodrat den.

[7][20][22][23] When available, rocks are preferred by white-throated woodrats for shelter because they provide more protection from variations in ambient temperature than the base of plants.

White-throated woodrats construct houses at the base of live and dead fallen juniper trees in pinyon-juniper woodlands in Arizona,[7] New Mexico,[31] Utah,[16] and Texas.

[38] An exception in habitat dominated by mesquite occurred on the Santa Cruz river bottom near Tucson, Arizona, where white-throated woodrat houses were also built under netleaf hackberry, American black elderberry (Sambucus nigra), skunkbush sumac (Rhus trilobata), bear grass (Nolina spp.

On the Jornada Experiment Range in New Mexico, and the Black Gap Wildlife Management Refuge in Trans-Pecos Texas, white-throated woodrats built houses at the bases and fallen trunks of yucca.

[7][39] Soaptree yucca was used by white-throated woodrats in the lower Sonoran zone of the Lordsburg Plains in New Mexico and the San Simon Valley in Arizona.

[7][14][19][20][22] One of the factors in white-throated woodrat shelter-site selection in McDowell Mountain Regional Park was presence of teddy bear cholla.

[17][36] In juniper woodlands in the high desert of southeastern Utah, white-throated woodrats occasionally denned under boulder crevices at the bases of vertical cliffs.

[16] In habitat dominated by brittle bush in Saguaro National Monument, all 103 white-throated woodrat dens were located within jumbles of rocks or under boulders.

In habitat dominated by honey mesquite and creosotebush at Carrizo Creek in San Diego County, white-throated woodrats sought cover either in river banks or burrows that were probably excavated by kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.).

Lack of stick houses may have been due to a harsh summer climate, ease of burrowing in loose sand, scarcity of building materials, or adequate overhead protection by honey mesquite.

[24] In a similar habitat type in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico, white-throated woodrats denned in sand dunes created by banner-tailed kangaroo rats (D. spectabilis) around honey mesquite.

[38] In Joshua Tree National Monument, California, young white-throated woodrats establish their own dens by August and September, several months after birth.

Their diet consists of seeds,[29][37] fruits,[14] green portions of plants,[14][21][37] flowers,[29] small amounts of grass,[14][19] and occasionally beetles (Coleoptera), ants (Hymenoptera),[7][14][37] and reptiles.

[41] In the Lower Sonoran zone of southern Arizona (Santa Rita Experimental Range), cacti and mesquite were the primary foods eaten.

[36] In Coconino County, white-throated woodrats obtained water from evergreen species (Ephedra spp., Yucca spp., and Juniperus spp.

),[14] bobcats (Lynx rufus),[7][14] ring-tailed cats (Bassariscus astutus),[7][14][39] coyotes (Canis latrans),[7][14] American badgers (Taxidea taxus),[7][39] Mexican spotted owls (Strix occidentalis lucida), great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi), and rattlesnakes (Crotalus spp.).