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How To Get Rid Of Armadillos

The only true way to get rid of armadillos is to trap them in cage traps and remove them from the area. There is no effective repellent or deterrent product that you can simply buy and spray or sprinkle on your property to make armadillos leave. Examples of bogus products include moth balls, coyote urine, and castor oil. Go ahead and buy these things if you must, but you'll just waste your time. The only real way to get rid of an armadillo for good is to set a trap and capture it in the trap. The animal must then be relocated at least a few miles from the site of capture, or humanely euthanized, as laws dictate.


BEFORE: Here we see an armadillo digging in a lawn and tearing up everything.


AFTER: Here's the armadillo, trapped in a cage, about to be relocated to a new area.

The only real effective way to get rid of armadillos is to trap and remove them. How is this done? The key is to use the right types of traps and to set them in the correct fashion. Armadillos dig in the dirt for their food, which consists primarily of earthworms and beetle larvae, or grubs. Thus, there is no bait that you can simply place into the trap that will encourage them to enter. One trapper in my area swears that cabbage works - give me a break, that has absolutely no scientific basis, and I experimented extensively with this bait, and found no statistical increase in catches over an unbaited trap. I've heard of tactics such as earthworms in a nylon stocking - that sounds cumbersome, and it's unnecessary. All you have to do is set the trap in the right area - where the armadillo is going to walk - and do it the right way: flush to the ground, lined with dirt on the bottom, etc. A good professional trapper will know exactly where the animal travels, and will do it right. There are a million subtle things that go into this line of work, and I've seen dozens of cases in which homeowners tried to get rid of the armadillo themselves, only to fail because of lousy technique. If they had caught the animal, they would have not been legally allowed to do anything with it anyway. Your best bet, if you want to get rid of an armadillo, is to call a professional trapper, and get the job done right.




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For more armadillo trapping information, go back to the armadillo control page.

PHOTOS: For great pictures of armadillo trapping and removal, click on my: Armadillo Photographs gallery.

Here is a complete list of my other armadillo pages:
Armadillo Repellent
How to Get Rid of Armadillos
Armadillo Poison to Kill
How to Keep Away Armadillos
Armadillo Trapping
How to Catch an Armadillo

How to get rid of Armadillos? Armadillos are small mammals which can be a serious nuisance because of their excellent ability to dig. They usually destroy an entire lawn in just one night. They eat away the plants and vegetation and thus destroy them in the process. The burrows made by them not only pose a threat to vegetation but to the structure of the buildings as well. If you have troubles with armadillos destroying your yard and vegetation, there are some ways to rid yourself of the problem without destroying the animal.

Important Steps to Take
The best way to keep them away and protect your home and garden is to install fences around the area. However, do not install normal fences as they would not be effective in stopping Armadillos. As they care capable of digging burrows deep in the ground, you need to get and install specially designed fences available in the market that are meant to keep them away. They go deep into the ground and then protrude outwards. Thus, even if Armadillos dig deep down under the fence, chances are that it would still not be able to get inside your yard.

Also, try and remove all the insect and insect larvae present in the garden. If there is not enough food for them to feed upon, the chances of their coming over are less.

The Repellents
Some people believe that ammonia, moth balls and human or a predator’s urine acts as great repellent and drives armadillos away. Most of these people say to put them around different areas of the ground and into the openings of tunnels. and also, ensure to put these near the walls. Other claims include hot pepper spray also acts as effective repellent and drives them away. Another idea is that you can also brush your cat or dog to collect hair from fur. These can be placed in the yard for where the wind or breeze can scatter the hair around the area. The idea is that these are also useful in driving them away as armadillos tend to avoid areas where there are scents of predators in the area.

However, repellents really do not work all that well in getting rid of armadillos. They may work for a few days, if at all, and may deter them for a moment, but usually repellents are a waste of money that good be spent more effectively. In years of extensive testing and observing homeowners using repellents, I have found that they never ever work. Go ahead and test for yourself if you want.

Trapping the Armadillos
Trapping an Armadillo is really tricky. You can do it yourself but getting an expert involved would surely make the process a lot more quick and effective. First of all you need a good cage that is strong enough to hold the animal as well as large enough to hold an adult-sized Armadillo. As per experts, a cage of size 12” x 10” x 30” is good enough for the job. Also, it is better to set up more than one cage as this increases the chances of catching it.

An interesting and important thing to understand here is that you do not need to add bait in the cage. In the past, experts have tried a number of different options to find out the one that is best suited for job. However, none of the baits tried were able to lure the armadillo to the cage. In fact, adding bait in the cage resulted in other animals getting caught in the cage meant for Armadillos including opossums and raccoons.

Armadillos have really poor eyesight and they follow a fixed path for their movement. They use large stationary objects as reference points to navigate. Also, they prefer moving along edges, fences or walls. Thus, you need to carefully analyze the path they are taking and accordingly put the trap in their path.

A trap placed in the middle of the garden would rarely, if ever, work in catching an Armadillo. There have been cases when the traps were not able to catch them. Here, a professional of the field can be of great help and can complete the job really quickly before the animal damages your garden further.

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