The fat sand rat overcomes the unpredictability of desert food by laying down a thick layer of fat all over its body when food is abundant. It then lives off this fat when food is short. Active day and night, this gerbil darts about collecting seeds and other vegetation which it carries back to its burrow. In early spring, a brood chamber is made and lined with finely shredded vegetation, and the first litter of the year is born in March. There are usually 3 to 5 young in a litter, and the breeding season continues until late summer.