The worker ants leave the nest daily to forage for seeds, plant material and dead insects.

[3] Novomessor cockerelli is found in arid areas of the Southwestern United States including Texas and the Franklin Mountains,[1] New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California.

[3] Its typical habitat is upland plains includes desert areas with ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), cactus, creosote bush, mesquite, sagebrush and thorn scrub at altitudes of between 518 and 1,877 m (1,699 and 6,158 ft) above sea level.

[3] The worker ants normally leave the nest to forage in the early morning and in the evening, at which times the ground temperature is within the range 20 to 40 °C (68 to 104 °F).

The original ant liberates a glandular secretion which attracts other workers within about two metres (yards) of the release point.

Workers seem to have alternating periods when they either go out to forage or they stay in the nest and tend the brood, at which time they are capable of producing trophic eggs.

In a colony that has been deprived of its queen, some of the workers begin to lay and tend viable eggs after a few weeks, and these all develop into males.