The Bush Karoo rat lives in dry shrubland and rocky areas of South Africa. Black hairs mix with its ash-gray back, and it builds mounds of twigs near its nest.
The back is ash gray with interspersed black hairs, the underside is buff-white, and the tail is relatively long.
In dry shrubland it builds domed lodges from twigs and sticks. It is a generalist herbivore that eats leaves and succulents; food may be stored by the nest.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.