The Botta's pocket gopher tends to be dark rusty-ocherous on the dorsum and light buffy-ocherous on the venter; the nose is dusky and the feet and chin are white.
This pocket gopher is territorial; only during the breeding season can more than one individual be found in the same burrow system. Burrow systems do not cross each other, but spacing within and between burrow systems is remarkably uniform.
In Oregon, this gopher occurs as disjunct populations: one in Curry County only, the other in southwestern Klamath County, southern Jackson County, and western Josephine County, with an extension through central Douglas County to Cottage Grove, Lane County.