Try checking with your local animal control to see if they lend Hav-a-hart traps. Bait it with earthworms or grubs (if you can find any) and hope the little armored football enters the trap.Then call the animal control to remove the trap and the armadillo. Word of caution--use a long-handled hoe or fork to move the trap with the 'dillo in it. They have really sharp claws and the 'dillo will likely be in a bad mood.
If you get rid of the little pest, use some grub-controlling insecticide on your lawn at the appropriate time. No food, no 'dillo. They really like Japanese beetle grubs, and that is the primary reason they attack lawns. Hope this helps!

Let your Rot outside, it will chase away the dillo. Dillos won't hurt other animals, and it is unlikely that a young Rot will be able to hurt the dillo, but it will scare it away...hopefully to stay.

If you try and trap it, put the trap in a spot where you know the dillo travels, then get two boards, like 2 X 6's, and lay them edgewise at an angle toward the trap entrance, creating a funnel shape leading toward the trap. They travel along a path of the least resistance.

Baiting a trap never has worked for me since they appear to like to dig their own food, and not have it already 'prepared' for them.

Also remember, if you have one, there are more in the vicinity, and it is likely that others will eventually take their place.

Good Luck

Kt

.22 shorts are very quiet.

How about a bow and arrow, or a crossbow? You will need a very very sharp arrowhead and you will have to hit it square in the side, since if you hit it on it's edge, the arrow will glance right off the side of the dillo.

Dillo 1
Hunter 0

Your Rotti will get rid of it if you let him. It will run away from him most likely. If you shoot him you better use a quiet gun. We used to have a ton of them when we lived in the country and they will jump straight up in the air and you think you hit them and they run right off. We used to have a pitbull and until he died of old age we never saw one but afterward we got invaded.

I can give you Sadie, killer of all things moving! She is quiet and efficient. She is also my son's devil dog, all 20lbs of her. lol I agree with the Rotti idea, playing with the dillo would run it off and leave a doggy scent. Your puppy might just become quite the hunter (but hopefully not the "murderer" our Satan, I mean Sadie is:) CJ

The pup may well antagonize the renegade Lone Star sipper into leaving. Or, it may just burrow deeper to expose its shell to the threat. Pup may be the best 1st try. An arrow would do it too - if you have the skill and the equipment (or your neighbor kid).

Could we all go to jail for conspiracy over this?
; - )
J.D.

Armadillo Hitmen for hire?

ask me no questions................

And you will tell us no lies ?????

ME???????
LIE???????????
; - )

I have great sympathy. I had the destructo armadillo invastion here a couple years ago. He sure did some damage, especially to my groundcovers. He left for a while, just long enough for things to recover a little bit, then he came back. He's been gone a while now, though.
DH says I probably kept him alive during our drought, since I'm the only one around here who waters anything. He was kinda cute, though.

Yep, I've had an armadillo digging in my lawn a few years ago. The main reason is you probably have plenty of grubs and/or worms in your yard, but mainly grubs. They will also dig where it is easy to dig - moist soil. I think letting your dog chase it off would be the best defense. We have lots of rabbits in our neighborhood and I've had people tell me how they get into their backyards, but even though we have an open picket fence, we don't have a problem with them because we let our dogs out often enough to discourage them. I would imagine this would do the same with an armadillo.

In the meantime, maybe an application or two of beneficial nematodes to get any grubs under control might help. Reduce the food source and you will reduce the chances of having this critter come back to visit.

Yes, I agree with getting rid of their food source as a deterant, rather than hiring someone to take him out.

I treated my yard with grub killer and it made a huge difference, but some people don't like using chemicals. Castor Beans are supposed to deter them as well, and when they do come around here, then never dig anywhere near the Castor Bean plants. However, the beans, and plant, is toxic to other animals as well, although I have never had a problem with pets and Castors.

They come around more when it is very dry and they are looking for easy digging and a food source, both found in a well-watered yard.

Take my word for it...everytime you dispose of one, another one will come replace it, it never ends. Putting a dillo-proof wire mesh along the bottom of my whole yard has helped, but they learn to squeeze through next to my cattle guard or back gate.

My nephew used to like to hunt, and always wanted to come over and take out the dillo for me, but he didn't realize that the dillo did not come around every night, and when he did, it was usually really late, but he was always determind to pop a cap in that dillo's butt, though it never happened.

Dillo 2
Hunter 0

Kt

Maybe get them drunk and after they pass out, put them in your pesky nosey neighbours yard?

Kt

Yep, they are back tearing up the front yard. The only way to trap them is to find their trails and place the trap on the trail, which I have never been successful in doing. No repellent works except my dad's permanent one - the .22!

Use the 2X6 boards like I mentioned before, it'll work, especially if you find a trail.

.22HP(hollow points) work best. It'll stop them in their tracks.

After reading the post above, a friend told me to get them drunk, then leave them on your neighbours doorstep, ring their doorbell, then run off...

Good Luck.

Kt

I like the getting them drunk and putting them in the neighbor's yard idea, Kentuck. Can you imagine the neighbor's surprise at finding a drunken armadillo on the lawn ;-)

Pam

My question is, if you are seeing drunken armadillos in your yard, could it be that YOU have been 'sabotaged' too?????
; - )
J.D.

Check out website Armadillo Information and then go to Information and then Armadillo Problems for more information.

Check out website Armadillo Information and then go to Information and then Armadillo Problems for more information.

Thanks, The web site was helpful, I am now monitoring the back yard since it may freeze tonight. Some of the holes in the yard are at least a foot deep.

Cover your plants tonight in Central Texas!! Austin, and San Antonio, Hill Country

I have a customer that swears by miloganite as a deer deterent and after reading the above link about the sensitve noses that dillos have, I am wondering if the gardenville 7-2-2 fert(San Antonio version of Miloganite) would be useful in this regard? I am just speculating but the ammonia smell to a fert might be useful. In winter and cooler periods it won't be as strong but still may be helpful. I am going to have to play a little as I have a few dillos in the area but no new planting for them to disturb. I have and never plan to apply chemical to the property for grub control, so I will always be looking for alternatives to that approach. I do find that when using alfalfa pellets I do get an increase in dillo activity and because I use it at planting times I use big rocks to discourage them from digging these plants back up. Later 6 months to a year later I remove them if needed and don't have problems after that time frame. Just some thoughts on the subject that I thought might be worth sharing.
Happy Growing David

To help monitor your backyard, use a motion detector, set low to the ground, and have it hooked to a radio or some other alarm device inside the house.

That way you can sleep, then awake when it is triggered, instead of staying up long hours or getting up several times a night to check on things.

Works great here, and lets me know when a dillo is out ransacking the garden.

Kt