The spiny pocket mouse has stiff, spine-like hairs on its rump and sides. It lives in rocky desert scrub, is nocturnal, and stores seeds.
It has drab brown upper fur and prominent stiff spines on the rump, sometimes extending along the sides and shoulders. Its bicolored tail is crested.
It is nocturnal and collects seeds on rocky slopes, storing them in or around its burrow. Burrows are thought to be dug near shrubs.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.