An armadillo will dig himself out if you fill in his entrance to under your house. If it isn't an armadillo, and without other signs of digging, it probably isn't, (could be 'possum, snake, feral cat) it might not be able to get out and you will have an interesting odor. If there is no other damage, you might want to leave well enough alone, give it some time and find out who it is who has taken up residence.
The nine-banded armadillo is the Texas state mammal. It has a hard shell instead of fur; carries leprosy, and gives birth to four babies, all of the same sex. Texas sure has some wonders!

You could try throwing a few moth balls under your house to encourage it to leave before you fill the hole in.

There are humane traps available at the feed stores that you could set out at night. That's when armadillos are active. We had a family of them under our garage a couple years ago and every night about 2am the dog would start barking and we would look out and the mother and her babies would be rummaging around in the yard looking for grubs. They made swiss cheese out of our lawn and we couldn't run them off either. I tried to chase them off with a broom and they never even acted like they saw us; just went about their business as usual. We got a second dog that year and I guess they didn't like being harrassed so much so they finally moved on. Cheryl

My dad had some skunks making a home under his house at one time, so don't give all the credit to those armadillos. Definitely get a trap set out to catch whatever it is to relocate it and if it is a skunk, you would probably already have gotten a slight whif of them even if they haven't sprayed.

I'm pretty sure most counties have an animal control specialist that will either trap the 'squatter' for you or loan you a live trap (the more rural counties do anyway). They could also give you an idea of how to trap it (ie what kind of bait to use - if any)

If you're not seeing digging around in your yard or nearby, I suspect it is something other than an armadillo. I like Carrie's mothball idea.

Or, you could use the tactile method. Reach in the hole:
1) Vibrating feel and sound followed by excruciating pain = rattlesnake
2) Soft, luxurient pelt, mild odor, followed by excruciating pain as you pull back - no fingers = badger
3) Soft, luxurient pelt, strong odor, followed by excrucitating pain = (that's right) skunk
4) Hard, slick feel with slight 'harriness' = armadillo
5) Cool squishy feel, laughing from neighbor's house = teenagers placing fresh cow pie in odd hole under your house.

on second thought, call the county.
; - )
J.D. aka Stumpy

:-D ROFL!

J.D. - That is so funny!

Thanks for all the advice! Not sure I want to try the tactile method proposed by justintx. . . but the mothballs sound like a good alternative. It's a pretty big hole dug in black clay so whoever dug it must have some pretty good claws.

We have seen skunks, opossum and armadillos in the past along with rabbits. We're not rural but are at the edge of the city with Corp of Engineer land across from us so we do get the occasional wildlife.

Guess I need to creep out later tonight and see if I can spot anyone. I already have a family of toads living under my front walkway, frogs living in the back yard drainage system and darn squirrels burying nuts everywhere.

Well, it's not Armadillos. We've got at least two skunks. My husband saw them when he went out to get the newspaper.

The city lent us a trap and animal control will come out and take care of the trapped skunks. We got one of the skunks last night and hopefully we'll catch the other one tonight.

Armadillos carry leprosy?

Neat! Glad you caught one and your city's animal control actually does something (We're in Dallas....). If you get a picture, please post it. I'd love to show the kids.

I didn't get close enough to get any pictures (lol). We're in The Colony and our animal control officers do a great job of collecting strays and dealing with wildlife. Trapped skunks and racoons are euthanized due to concerns about rabies but others (like opossums) are relocated away from the houses.

He did tell me that moth balls don't work that well as animal repellant and suggested sprinkling black pepper over the area after I fill in the hole.

My husband and I moved from The Colony out into the country and were commenting the other day about the lack of skunks and opossums out here where we expect them!

Pam

J.D. aka Stumpy, Pretty funny!

I agree, call the county. That's what I do down here when I get them in my yard. They wil provide you with a trap and then they will come and re-release them for you elsewhere.

poison plus dirt....easy