Trapping armidillos?

[Tdog]

Anyone had any success trapping these pests? My lawn & gardens have been torn up over the last few nights. I've gone out at night with a flashlite & a shotgun a few times but have not been lucky enough to see the bugger in action.

Yeah, I know, if I would put out enough insecticides to kill all the grubs they would not be digging, but . . . .

Thanks,

Jack

 

[tallyho8]

I've had pretty good luck with just sneaking up behind them and catching them. Their vision is very poor and though they have good hearing, if you walk easy up on them while they are eating they don't usually hear you. You have to grab them firmly by the tail and immediately lift them off the ground because if they get a claw in the ground they will pull out of your hand. They will give a very sudden jump the second they are caught so you must hold on tight and hold them away from your body while they are jumping so they don't scratch you. After they calm down you do with them whatever you want.

I caught 9 of them at my barn last year and painted different color numbers and racing stripes on each one and turned them loose again. We had been seeing so many it looked like we had hundreds of them but after I painted them we noticed that it was just the same ones we were seeing over and over. The paint held up well and we saw them regularly all summer and fall then they must have holed up for the winter during breeding season. They always have 4 babies and we anxiously waited for them to come out in spring to see if any of the babies had stripes, but the only ones we saw had no color.

 

[EddieWalker]

Tally,

I'm still not sure if your late on April Fools Day, or you realy painted numbers on them. Either way, you got a laugh out of me just imagining what they must have looked like!!! Maybe something like walking pool balls??? hahaha

Next time you do this, PLEASE TAKE PICS!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

 

[tallyho8]

Eddie
I didn't take any photos but this picture is about what ole number 7 looked like.
I haven't painted any since last year because I talked to my neighbors 8 year old boy and he told me that his father had punished him for lying when he told his father he saw an armadillo in the yard with red stripes.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I concur with tallyho. Here's a few more tips to catch them by hand.

1)Put on leather gloves.

2) Sneak up from behind with the dillo upwind of you.

3)When they stop, you freeze, when they move, you move.

4)Grab the tail firmly close to the base and lift quickly off the ground. They will squirm like crazy and give you "rope burn" with out gloves.

5) Pen them up and when you have enough, Have Armadillo races.

The thing that scares them the most is when the homeowner buys a grubbing hoe. They make purses out of their shells in Mexico.

Where I grew up in Victoria Tx, they used to have the yearly "World Armadillo Confab and Exposition".

I've been told they can be carriers of Leprosy.

 

[Tdog]

Hmmm, if I could even get a good look at the varmit, I don't think I would have to worry about catching technique.

Actually, I have caught them by hand before, but I was a teenager in central Texas, not a 67 yr old living in the piney woods.

BTW, not only do they always have litters of 4 - - the babies are identical quadruplets


But Tally, I like your sense of humor. Pictures would be great.

Jack

 

[tallyho8]

It is true that armadillos are one of the only animals on earth that contracts leprosy besides man but studies have failed to show that man can contract leprosy from armadillos. Carville Louisiana was the site of the only leper colony in America and is the home of the Federal Hansen's Disease Center.

 

[Soundguy]

Use a spring loaded door trap.. with catfood as a bait. ( have-a-heart trap )

Tip: put blood meal out where you don't want the armadillo's.. Hold your breath.. when you open the bag it smells like a rotting cow. i put vic's vapor rub under my nose.. it helped a bit ( smelled like a minty rotting cow )...

Soundguy

Anyone had any success trapping these pests? My lawn & gardens have been torn up over the last few nights. I've gone out at night with a flashlite & a shotgun a few times but have not been lucky enough to see the bugger in action.

Yeah, I know, if I would put out enough insecticides to kill all the grubs they would not be digging, but . . . .

Thanks,

Jack

 

[jinman]

Anyone had any success trapping these pests?
Jack

Jack, I normally dispose of them after they die of "lead poisoning." I've heard that trapping them can be very difficult because they are so dumb they cannot find their way into a trap. They know there is food in there, but they just can't figure out the concept of looking on all sides of the trap for an opening. They say that if you will lay 2x6s on their side and make a chute going into the trap, the armadillo will follow the chute and get into the trap. I've never done this, just heard it worked.

I have used large amounts of cayenne pepper around the base of my trees. That works for about two weeks, during which time you don't want to make the mistake of stirring up that pepper dust while weedeating or mowing. It seems that if the armadillo gets his snoot full of cayenne pepper, he suddenly loses the urge to root for grubs.

Gun works best...but you gotta see them to do that.

 

[Podunkadunk]

I've blasted 4 in my yard since moving to Alabama. Nasty, stinky critters and they make a mess trenching up the yard and burrowing holes into my centipede grass.

I've noticed they aren't out during the daytime...a little in the morning, but I ALWAYS see and shoot them in the evening just before/right after dark.

I read about the leprosy virus they can carry on the internet. Since then, I use surgical gloves to dispose of them.

I agree with the fact that they are blatantly stupid! If you move slowly, you can walk right up to them.

 

[Barton]

Dang Armadillos!!!

I have had some success trapping them, but not before they make a mess of things. I have the Pied Piper Traps, model 201. PPT, of Weatherford, TX has a couple of other models that will work also. Use a trap that does not have a "lip" at the bottom of the opening so that armadillo doesn't have to step over but can just walk right in.

I have trapped 9 so far this year ( 5 last year) and shot 3 out in the open while on armadillo patrol, either late at night or 0 dark 30 in the morning. I don't bait the trap, just try to determine which way they are coming in and which way they "work" our beds and set up the funnel/trap accordingly.

Picture 248 and 249 shows the way the trap is set up now. Notice I'm using the fence as part of the funnel. The bigger the funnel the greater the chance of success. The trap is set up here because it appears that 1 or 2 are coming from the empty lot across the side street shown in picture 250.

One was trapped in the culvert shown in picture 251. This is at the front west corner of my property. I just pushed the trap all the way in. Odd that the armadillo was already dead when I pulled the trap out the next morning. He saved me 1 round and I really appreciated that.

The greatest success has been at the front east corner. As shown in picture 253, a path was being created by those varmits coming from underneath the fence, right at the corner. I could have blocked it off but figure they would just find another way thru. I laid a 4x4 next to the path to force them to go down into the ditch and then placed the trap as shown in picture 252. 7 were trapped here. I was surprised one morning when there were 2 in the trap.

Well, that's my story...

 

[scott_vt]

IThey always have 4 babies and we anxiously waited for them to come out in spring to see if any of the babies had stripes, but the only ones we saw had no color.

Mornin Tally,
Youre the best man !!!

You guys down south are just havin too much fun !!! All we got up here are coyotes ! Just not the same !

 

[Barton]

tallyho8,

So if you were to paint white strips, running the right way, on an armadillo would that give you a Zedillo?

 

[texasjohn]

Well, Tallyho8 and Kyle_in_Tex told you everything I know about armodillo catching and habits, from years of 'dillo catching experience. I second the idea to catch them up close to the base of the tail... out too far and when they writhe you get a cramp trying to hold the tail... and tail burn on the inside of your hand... never had gloves handy, am sure they will work. HOWEVER, I do have one more piece of wisdom to add to this erudite discourse on 'dillo catching.

Don't catch them RIGHT at the base of the tail... the writhing motion WILL catch tinder parts of your hand between the shell and tail... there is a special pinch point there that you don't want to learn about from experience.

During my younger days, I would catch 'dillos whenever I could.. a challenge to be sure... and then turn them over to the ranch hands from south of the border who enjoyed the fresh meat. Don't ask, I didn't get their recipe

 

[tallyho8]

tallyho8, So if you were to paint white strips, running the right way, on an armadillo would that give you a Zedillo?

That would probably just give me a bunch of gun-totin' worried neighbors.

 

[Tdog]

Thanx Barton - - that's a help. I'd rather shoot than trap & shoot, but I'm not having any luck on armadillo stake-out. Hope I can have as much success as you.

Jack

 

[jinman]

Barton, it's obvious that you hate armadillos and also that you have more than your share of the critters running around your yard. Your traps and photos are the best illustration of the trapping method I have ever seen. The description of not having a lip on the trap shows you know all the intricate details. I think you've had great success because of all your attention to details. Great job! You're my armadillo trappin' hero.

 

[Tdog]

I ordered my Pied Piper trap last night - - I'm not sure where I'll set it up - - I have a couple of areas I can create one of Barton's 'funnels'.

Jack

 

[Barton]

Tdog,

You are welcome and good luck. It can be frustrating deciding where to set the trap up. Limiting the area where the armadillos can easily roam helps, also, and I'm still working on that.

Patrolling at night has been less successful because they can easily be obscured by shrubs, trees, etc. Plus my night vision isn't as good as it use to be. I like sleeping at night, too.


jinman,

Thanks for the kind words, but I can't claim to be an expert, yet. The dang varmints have worked us over every night for the last 4 or 5 nights and I haven't trapped 1 of them.


As shown in one of the pictures , most of the property is in "beds", mulched with leaf litter and pine straw, covering mostly sandy soil. (I did not want more lawn than I could cut in 1 hour. ) This environment is great for earthworms of which we have an abundant supply and this is, I believe, what the armadillos are after. Sure, we have grubs, also, but we have some of the biggest, juiciest, earthworms I've ever seen.

Another factor is that we are in a 100 year drought and the armadillos are leaving the dry woods for the irrigated yards. Once they get use to the easy pickings in the irrigated yard they just keep coming back, even after it starts raining again.

The armadillos have one redeeming value. They found and tried to dig up 3 yellow jacket nests. I appreciated that very much.

 

[mwechtal]

Hmmm, if I could even get a good look at the varmit, I don't think I would have to worry about catching technique.
Jack

Uh, if you haven't seen them, how do you know you don't have one of those naturally black and white racing striped critters. Skunks will do that too!

I think I'd rather have armadillos.

Mike