Armadillo's .... How do I keep them out of my yard?

[HunkieDorie23]

Does anyone know anything about armadillo's? I have never had to deal with them before and they are digging holes all over my yard on a weekly basis. Is there a spray or plant I can put in to deal with them?

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I've had one in my yard every place I've moved for the last 15 years. He/she doesn't bother anything.

 

[baymule]

My sister has one that tunneled under the slab of her house. It has lived there for years, eats grubs and such in the yard and flower beds.

Your yard must have lots of grubs in it. Maybe apply some milky spore to the yard, it kills the grubs. Take away it's food supply and it will leave.

Or you could shoot it, shuck it out of it's shell (takes both hands and both feet) and bar-b-cue it.

 

[dickiebird]

They've made it this far north but the only place I've seen them so far is lifeless on the side of the road.

THANX RICH

 

[hoodat]

I ate some armadillo out of curiosity but it wasn't very good. With climate change armadillo and a lot of other warm climate plants and animals are moving North a little at a time. They've been seen as far North as Long Island New York. Caused quite a commotion they tell me. Folks up there didn't know WTH they were.

 

[hoodat]

They've made it this far north but the only place I've seen them so far is lifeless on the side of the road.

THANX RICH

They're pretty much nocturnal. You can hear them grunting sometimes at night. They sound like a small pig. They have some fearsome looking claws but they only use them to dig with and not for fighting. Harmless except for all that digging. They aren't too bright. Kids in Oklahoma sometimes sneak up on them and grab them by the tail just to see them jump straight up as high as your head. Hang onto the tail and you get a Boing - boing -boing effect.
When they have young they all come from the same egg, which just keeps dividing, sometimes as many as six times so all the armadillos in the litter are clones of one another.

 

[Nyboy]

Becareful they can carry some nasty diseases with you can get.

 

[Ridgerunner]

http://www.wildlife-removal.com/keeparmadillosaway.html

Maybe this guy knows what he is talking about. Most of what he says makes sense to me but I just don't know. He has another article on trapping them but they are not easy. Bait doesn't work so it's a matter of getting them to blunder into a trap. I've had very bad luck with that approach, either with armadillos or groundhogs. I have tried the fences to lead them to the trap.

I've got armadillos all over here. I have a 40 pound dog that will kill them sometimes. She crushes the smaller ones but has more trouble with fully grown ones. I call her Lockjaw for a reason. Man, she has some power in her mouth. The 35 pound dog is more of a ripper but she got scratched by an armadillo once and is a lot more careful around them. They cornered a big one in the landscape bed right I front of the house one time. That armadillo just dug straight down where they couldn't get it and dug up and killed a juniper for me.

A big dog that will actually patrol at night is probably your best bet but there is a real commitment in having a dog like that. You can also expect your sleep to be disturbed occasionally when they corner something; armadillo, groundhog, possum, or the dreaded skunk. A good fence is not only cost and work to put in but it changes your maintenance too. How do you keep the weeds and grass down in the fence row?

Here I just live with them but the dogs do help some.

 

[baymule]

When I wad a kid, I'd chase them. Great fun. Grab one by the tail and hang on!

 

[hoodat]

@ Ridgerunner. They dig holes all over looking for grubs but they also have a semi permanent den, often under the roots of a big tree or rock shelf. You can trap them by putting a livehold trap at the entrance and covering it and the den opening with a tarp to make sort of a tunnel propped up by bent sapling hoops to lead them into it. A leghold trap is no use. They just power out of it.