Psammobates oculifer has been reported as typically dormant or semi-dormant over extended periods during the colder winter months in southern Africa i.e., at least 4-5 months (Boycott & Bourquin 2000); while Branch (2008) reports dormancy from March-September with individuals often half buried in red sand. Cunningham (2014) notes that a single, adult animal maintained in an urban garden (indigenous plants) in Windhoek, Namibia during 2013 settled into sustained winter dormancy for a period of more than four months between May and September at the base of a Aloe arborescens, although "it regularly shifted body position".