The sand fox is nocturnal so it operates during the cool portion of the day rather than traveling in the scorching sun. It has developed large ears to improve its ability to cool itself as canine animals don't sweat like we do. and it burrows underground to keep it cool when it is sleeping.
They favour flat or undulating terrain where there is little vegetation, they avoid areas where there is not very much food, like bare sand dunes. They have quite a wide range of survivability in regards to temperature which ranges from anything from -5°C to 126°C however during extreme conditions they will normally retreat back to their burrows. Most of their water comes from their prey so they normally don't drink additional water as they can survive months merely from the water aquired from their food. However if water is available they will drink it.
They have very large auditory bullae which will enhance the cats hearing to help it to pick up the vibrations in the sand, as well as this their ears are widely spaced and can be flattend horrizontally or pointed down to aid their hunting further.
Small rodents are their primary prey, with records from Africa including including Spiny Mice (Acomys spp), Jirds (Merionesspp), Gerbils (Gerbillus spp), and Jerboas (Jaculusspp. and Allactaga tetradactyla), but also young of Cape Hare (Lepus capensis). They have also been observed to hunt small birds like Greater Hoopoe Lark (Alaemon alaudipes), Desert Lark (Ammomanes deserti), and consume reptiles such as Desert Monitor (Varanus griseus), Fringe-toed lizards (Acanthodactylus spp.), Sandfish (Scincus scincus), Short-fingered Gecko (Stenodactylus spp.), Horned and Sand vipers of the genus Cerastes, and insects (De Smet 1988, Abbadi 1993, Dragesco-Joffé 1993, Sliwa in press). Sand-dwelling rodents made up the majority (65-88%) of stomach contents from carcasses collected in Turkmenistan and Uzebekistan in the 1960s (Schaenberg 1974). In Arabia the sand cat's distribution coincides with that of Sand Skinks and Arabian toad-head lizards; both reptiles are thought to be an important source of food for the cat [1]
[1] http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/8541/0
