Adult females have four teats and no pouch. The young attach themselves to the teats and grip onto the short hairs surrounding the nipples. After six months the young are placed in a burrow and the mother continues to suckle them. Juveniles are carried on the mother's back if she has to move them from one nest to another. By October the young feed independently, but they do not leave their mother's home range until November or December, when they are at least nine months old.
Numbats are solitary and territorial.
Once a juvenile has established its home range, it will stay in or close to that area for the rest of its life. Their habitat has been cleared in many places for agriculture and housing, and in other places the fire pattern has changed. Fox numbers have increased in recent years and are causing problems for much of Australia's wildlife. Feral cats are also becoming a greater problem. In 1982 fox control was started in one of the few remaining woodland areas where Numbats could be found.