The shredder bat is known to frequent a variety of habitats: mountains, plains, forests, tropical jungles and a number of other areas. Several distinct species are part of the shredder bat family, but aside from the relatively rare snow shredder bat, they are almost never encountered in frigid climates. Most of the shredder bat species go into hibernation during colder seasons.

Shredder bats are pack animals known to achieve wingspans nearly a meter across. They are often found in packs of 20 or more bats, and frighteningly, swarms numbering in the hundreds have been reported on some planets.

The creatures are efficient hunters: their incredibly sensitive hearing can pinpoint living creatures from several kilometers away. Using this hearing, they dive in on the normally unsuspecting prey, and inflict a devastating attack with their extended fangs on the target's coronary artery. The sharpness of the fangs, combined with the velocity of the dive, often results in an instant kill for the attacking bat, which will then extend its tube-like tongue to draw in the victim's blood, which it uses for nourishment.

Shredder bats rely almost entirely upon their sense of hearing, having no eyes. In addition to pronounced ears, shredder bat foreheads have a series of hearing organs, each subtly attuned for different pitches. Shredder bats also have a series of hearing organs on their necks and between the ears. Their brains form a composite image of the world around them - often giving them more precise perception than creatures with fully developed vision. They are active during both day and night.

While shredder bats live and hunt in groups, they are far from cooperative. Swarm members often fight over downed animals so it is not unusual to find a number of bat corpses around the body of an unfortunate victim. They are also disturbingly persistent, having been known to track wounded targets over many kilometers before finishing off their hunt.

Shredder bats typically live two to four standard years, but the young must be strong to survive. Young shredder bats are fiercely protected by their mothers, but other females frequently attack the young when the mothers are not there to protect them. It is believed that this is a predatory "mother's instinct," in that by killing off other young, a female's own young might have a better chance of survival. In truth, the result is a species that is as dangerous to its own members as to other creatures. This is perhaps one of the few things that has prevented shredder bats from overrunning lightly populated worlds where they have accidentally been deposited.

There has been much speculation as to how these extremely dangerous animals have found their way to so many worlds (in fact, colonies of shredder bats are known to exist on over 1,000 worlds). It is believed that, in some cases, the bats somehow found their way into cargo holds. A small group of xenobiologists theorize that these animals may, in fact, be able to place their young into a special type of "infant hibernation," allowing them to be placed within unsuspecting target animals. It is worth noting that shredder bat eggs are soft, jellied and less than a millimeter across. Female bats can lay upwards of 300 eggs and can reproduce up to five times in a standard year. Gestation period for the eggs is a mere 22 days - making it frighteningly easy for bats to spread to worlds with lax decontamination and cargo inspection procedures.