How to Get Rid of Armadillos in Your Yard

Are you in need of a step-by-step guide on how to get rid of Armadillos under your house? Here are some excellent tips to follow.

Armadillos are well known for their digging and foraging habits.

As a result of such activities, they’ve posed a problem for most homeowners—especially those in the southern states and Florida and Texas.

You’re likely reading this because you are faced with a similar situation.

SEE: Do Armadillos Hibernate?

Here, you’d find ample information on getting rid of armadillos. We’ve provided as much information as possible to enable you to choose what best suits your situation.

What are Armadillos?

To get rid of this wildlife problem, it’s necessary to understand it. Hence the need for brief background information.

Armadillos are mammals with bodies well suited for the damage they cause. They look similar to anteaters and have plated bodies (9-banded) in the form of armors across the length of their bodies.

These mammals are flexible, quick, and know how to swim.

  • Nutrition

Armadillos feed mainly on insects or grubs. This makes gardens the most commonly targeted habitats.

While preying on insect pests, they also turn out to be pests. This is primarily due to their foraging and digging activities around your home.

Their sharp claws help with the digging process.

  • Most Active Time of Day

These creatures are mainly nocturnal. This means you’d hardly find them during the day as that’s the time they rest.

Once it’s night, armadillos will resume their foraging and burrowing activities. This makes it even more difficult for their actions to be noticed. Hence the need to adopt a more comprehensive approach is provided here.

How to Get Rid of an Armadillo in Your Yard

In this section, we’d focus on some of the most effective ways to eliminate the problem. These methods have been used with successful outcomes in the past. Therefore giving you the confidence to apply the same.

Without further delay, let’s briefly discuss each of them.

  • Identifying the Problem

To get rid of Armadillos, you’d first have to identify the problem.

Identifying the problem here refers to tell-tale signs of their activities. These will include damage to underground wires and pipes, uprooting of seedlings and plants, and scattered holes across your lawn.

Other signs of their presence include cracks resulting from burrowing activities.

Such cracks may appear on foundations, sidewalks, etc. Armadillos will also burrow beside or beneath structures around your garden. These signs, once spotted, should be taken seriously by dealing with the problem.

  • Removing all Forms of Cover

These are attractants that Armadillos find as the perfect cover for their burrowing activities. The surface could mean a lot of things.

However, we are talking about shrubs, woodpiles, brush, and low-lying shades around your lawn and garden.

This action will limit their burrowing activities significantly, thereby making them seek better conditions elsewhere.

  • Use of Traps in Armadillo Control

The traps you use depend on your preferences. In other words, you may decide to use a more humane wildlife removal option or otherwise.

Either way, some traps will serve your purpose. Such surprises aren’t set arbitrarily but systematically.

Because they are nocturnal creatures, we recommend setting them at night.

You should place traps at the entrances or along walls where damages have been spotted. Their burrowing behavior also makes it easier to predict. As such, you’d need to take the time to observe all burrow points before setting your traps at night.

If humane traps are your thing, you’d have the task of releasing trapped Armadillos as far away as possible.

This is to prevent them from returning. But while doing so, care must be taken not to remove them close to someone else’s property.

  • Use the Right Type of Fencing to Keep Armadillos Away

Not every type of fence will get the job done.

In other words, Armadillos can maneuver their way around your fence (if there’s any) to get into your yard. But certain types of fences will keep them out.

Therefore, when building a fence around your garden or yard, the upper part should angle outwards (from 30 to 40 degrees).

But Armadillos can burrow below your fence, right? That will only happen if your fence doesn’t go as deep enough. To keep Armadillos away, your wall would need to go as deep as (within the range of) 5 to 13″.

It should also be tall enough. At most, 30″ tall.

  • Use of Castor-Oil Repellents to Get Rid of Armadillos

Castor oil has so many beneficial uses. One of which includes using it to ward off Armadillos.

All you need to do is apply this over the top surface of the area affected. This sinks in and creates an unpleasant situation for these creatures.

The good part is that it doesn’t adversely affect the environment or beneficial soil organisms.

Armadillos dislike its smell and taste and will retreat in no time. You should take care to ensure it is applied the right way. Most castor-oil Armadillo repellents will come with directions for use.

Such information will need to be used appropriately. This is one natural way to get rid of Armadillos.

  • Going for the Kill

This method, though extreme, could just be your preferred action when faced with a stubborn Armadillo invasion. There are over a thousand ways to exterminate.

However, it would help if you had the right weapons to get the job done. However, you may need to clear with appropriate licensing authorities to possess such arms.

Getting rid of Armadillos using this option is relatively easy! This is so because these creatures are so invested in their feeding activities that they hardly take notice of danger. You can use lethal traps as well.

The point is to eliminate as many of these destructive creatures as possible.

  • Use Their Biology Against Them

While Armadillos may not have good eyesight and hearing, they substitute for these with a strong sense of smell. Thus, you can quickly turn this strength against them.

So, how do you do it? By simply applying repellents with a strong odor.

Vinegar is one of those things you can apply. It’s safe to use around your home because it’s non-toxic yet highly effective.

  • Motion Activated Sprinklers

Are you looking for how to scare away Armadillos? Use motion-activated sprinklers.

This electronic device has been successfully used against Armadillos. Also, the results have been excellent. You can also do the same for your garden or lawn. We’ve earlier mentioned that Armadillos are nocturnal creatures.

Hence by placing motion sprinklers at strategic points, you’d succeed in scaring them away whenever they resume their feeding activities.

  • Soil and Mothball

Before any treatment is applied, you’d have first to inspect your surroundings.

One of the most visible signs of Armadillos would be burrowed holes. When these are noticed, such holes will need to be filled up. But they aren’t just covered with soil alone.

Mothballs are also added to the pits when covered with soil.

Though insect repellent, mothballs are also active on these mammals.

  • Chicken Wire

Flowering plants, as well as shrubs, are mostly damaged due to the burrowing activities of Armadillos. This is because their root systems are destroyed.

Therefore to guard against this, appropriate measures will need to be taken.

This includes using chicken wire to encircle such plants. But it doesn’t stop there. You’d also need to bury the same wire as deep as possible.

This protects them from gaining free access to the plant’s roots.

  • Trace All Points of Entry

You may still experience an Armadillo problem after fencing your home. This may result from a break-in as no measure can be said to be foolproof.

So, after identifying tell-tale signs of its presence, you need to locate the areas of a break-in. This is with the view of fixing all such damaged regions. Such mammals may gain entry by digging beneath the fence most of the time.

But first, you’d have to get rid of such Armadillos to ensure its total removal. If your fencing isn’t built according to the earlier specifications, you may need to reconsider following our recommendations.

This is because only then can Armadillo infestation be contained and properly checked.

  • Introducing Parasitic Worms

Armadillos feed primarily on insects. But when there’s competition for available food, such areas become unfavorable.

This is why parasitic worms are very efficient in helping to solve such pest issues. We recommend buying and applying these worms around infested areas.

Armadillos find digging in your backyard or garden less attractive when insect populations dry up.

  • Place a Call to Animal Control Service

Animal control services are ready to tackle challenging problems like the Armadillo invasion.

Therefore, you can use this method if you’re having a tough time. These are professionals who understand animal behavior. Their services are also risk-free in addition to the guarantees you get.

So, animal control services are just a call away instead of getting the job done yourself. Here is a good one in Florida.

How to Deter Armadillos: Conclusion

We’ve listed several effective measures you can use to get rid of Armadillos.

But these methods are also flexible. Flexible in the sense that you can use more than one method for even better results. It all depends on what works best for you and what is most convenient.

In any case, the point is to get rid of the Armadillos problem the easiest way possible. We are confident that you’d find these methods as effective.

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