Botta's pocket gopher is a medium-sized gopher, with adults reaching a length of 7.1 to 11 in, including a 2.0 to 2.4 in tail. Males are larger, with a weight of 5.6–8.8 oz, compared with 4.2–7.1 oz in the females. Coloration is highly variable, and has been used to help distinguish some of the many subspecies; it may also change over the course of a year as the animals molt.
Fun Fact The species is named in honor of Paul-Émile Botta, a naturalist and archaeologist who collected mammals in California in the 1820s and 1830s.