When there is a gathering of female Ohio bats that are pregnant, they for what is referred to as a bat maternity colony. These mother bats form these colonies in order to keep warm in the period which they give birth to their young once and nurture them. The colony is made up of the mother bats and their young ones once they have been born.



These Dayton bat maternity colonies are temporary and only meant for the purpose of child bearing. After the young ones have been weaned off their mothers and achieved their own independence, they will then fly out of the colony and go into the world on their own. This is the point at which the maternity colony falls apart.

The size of the maternity colony will vary from species to the next and can have only a few bats or millions of pregnant bats. These maternity colonies enable the female bats to have enough heat that is produced by their different bodies. This heat encourages the development of the fetus and improves the mother bat’s production of milk.

Female pregnant bats that are coming together to form a colony will often look for a safe place to roost and have their babies. This they will choose based on how secluded and away from disturbance the place may be. This is most often be in trees, caves and other abandoned shafts or buildings. They will then stay in the hideout for a period of between 40 to 181 days after which they will have a young one, commonly referred to as a pup. The pup is nursed and nurtured up until it is able to cater for itself and fly away.

One of the most common risks that a bat maternity colony faces includes the potential predators. When these bats roost and come out in the night to feed, their predators may easily spot them flying out of one place and be alerted to the presence of a possible supply of food. Bats generally tend to keep in small numbers especially if they are in new environments. This prevents them from being too conspicuous to their potential predators.

Having a bat maternity colony take cover on your property, in your attic for instance can be an unsettling thought. This can be made even worse by the regulations that prevent the exclusion of such bats. This means that as the homeowner, you might be required to let the bats have their young and nurture them on the property before they break apart the colony. Waiting it out may not be the easiest thing to do but it is most definitely the most humane way to handle the situation.

Once the maternity colony is broken apart, you should, as a homeowner take the necessary precautions and engage the services of professional animal control services to clean up and take out the bat droppings which they often leave behind in massive amounts. This will help minimize the chances of spreading diseases to the people living in that home.

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