HOW TO GET RID OF ARMADILLOS!

[rsrey]

I would like to ask for advice on how to repel an armadillo.

An agressive armadillo is attacking my mulched flowerbeds and shrubs nightly.

I have tried trapping but a bait-stealing raccoon always interferes. I have spread blood meal, coffee grounds, cat box scoopings, chopped garlic, cayenne powder, and Louisiana hot sauce. I have net yet peed on the mulch myself, but I am willing to try anything.

I am not willing to spread poisons. I do not want to shoot it. There is a large wooded area right next to the garden. I just want the dillo to leave my flowerbeds alone.

What have you tried that has worked for more than two days?

[opabinia51]

Try a little fence. You can buy these little white metal fences. My father uses them to keep his pets out of the pansies and I use them to keep the rabbits from my vegetable garden.

[The Helpful Gardener]

My friend Lisa, who I occasionally do a radio show with, is always a proponent of the urine approach. "That's how everyone else in Nature does it!" says she, and you know, she's right. Try it...

Not my usual critter in the garden but the principle remains the same. If this does not deter, try predator urines like coyote (THERE's a job I don't want; collecting coyote pee).

I choose to live and let, and have chosen urine as my weapon of choice,

Scott

[opabinia51]

As I told my father with regard to his pansies: Don't plant them if you know the dog will dig them up. Plant Juniper or a cactus and she'll only try digging that once!

Around here deer are a big problem and the one sure fire plant that they won't eat is: Death Camus.

Anyway, try your new found methods and see what happens.

Good luck!

[The Helpful Gardener]

Native plants are usually not as big a draw for wildlife as they can find them when they want them. The Ladybird Johnson WIldflower Center is one of the best in the country, and is certainly on top of wildflowers for Texas Gardens; that may be worth a look...

[url]https://www.wildflower.org/[/url]

Scott

[birdhouse-lady]

I had a whole family of them digging up my front and side yard. You can forget the "little fence" idea. They just tore mine down and dug away! The only thing that works is the preditor spray/coyote urine. (borrrowed it out of my hubby's hunting bag) but is really expensive for the amount of space I have to cover. I tried to shoot them, but they are VERY FAST! they can run across the road and into the brush before I can shoulder and shoot! Does anybody have a real coyote for rent?

[opabinia51]

Have you tried Cayenne Pepper? It's not one of my favourites to use because it can be nasty for mucus membranes but, it seems to work for most pests.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Might help to address root causes for digging...

They feed on grubs mostly, so milky spore treatments twice a year for two years should eliminate them from digging in your yard...

Here's a great site wiith some other ideas for getting rid of them: I had no idea they were so sensitive to smells...

[url]https://www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/armadillo/problems.html[/url]

Scott

[opabinia51]

Looks like a great site.

[my_secret_garden]

I had no idea that armadillos were agressive. I live in the Mid-West so we don't have anything like that here. Luckily the only things I really have near my yard are squirrels and birds and maybe the occasional cat if it can get over our large privacy fence. Nothing else can really get into the yard because of the fence.

[FloydTheDuck]

I know this post is a little old, but I was just recently searching for how to get rid of armadillos myself and have done a little research.

There's a few methods I've seen, outside of using a gun or picking the dang things up

One is the chemical-based spray I found on Amazon, can't remember the name. But I don't really wanna spray chemicals on my garden, I wouldn't feel comfortable eating from it after, I'm sure you wouldn't either.

I've seen a powder called shake-away (also found this on amazon), which contains coyote urine as was previously mentioned. I tried that and it didn't seem to work for too long. It lasted about 2 weeks and then I had to reapply, which became expensive.

The next thing I'm going to try (I've already ordered a bag) is Yard Gard. It's a product that is spread with a broadcast spreader (or by hand, but I'm just going to spread my whole yard and garden), one bag covers about 5,000 sq. ft. They have a chart on their site that shows that it lasts on average about 2 months and sometimes up to 3 months before having to reapply. It also doesn't lose effectiveness from rain. Their site is [url=https://www.protectmyyard.com]Natural Armadillo Repellant | How to get rid of Armadillos | Yard Gard[/url]

I don't know if you still have the problem, but just thought I'd share

Floyd

[rainbowgardener]

I don't have armadillos to contend with (thankfully, given the variety of other critters I have), but I won't buy anything where they won't tell me what the active ingredients are. All it says is "active ingredients encased in a hard shell." I looked through the site and I googled it and couldn't find anything.

I don't care that they tell me it is "natural" etc. If they can't tell me what is in it, I don't trust it. My best guess is that it is something like cayenne that really is (relatively) harmless; they just aren't telling you, because they don't want you to know you could accomplish the same thing yourself by putting down cayenne, just without being pelletized, you'd have to do it more often. BUT I don't know that, so I wouldn't buy it.

[FloydTheDuck]

Well, I tried the Yard Gard stuff I mentioned previously and it worked pretty well. I applied it Wednesday, and on Thursday I had about 2-3 (that I counted) new bite/dig marks in the yard, but I haven't had any since! I guess maybe the amardillo(s) that made the 2-3 marks tasted/smelled this stuff and didn't like it?

Their site says it works on moles and others pests, I'd be interested to see if it works on other ones as well as armadillos... I've never had problems other than with armadillos, though.

Floyd

[cynthia_h]

Just read through the site for the Yard Gard stuff. There seems to be no image of the label available on the site; no MSDS, either. ???

Under their "home remedies" page, they *do* mention cayenne, though, so perhaps the active ingredient in the armadillo repellent is something else?

I agree 100% with Rainbowgardener: I won't use a product whose INactive ingredients aren't listed, much less active! A company can say "non-toxic, no poisons, organic" all it wants to, but the only way to confirm these claims for yourself is by reading the label, which must contain legally accurate information.

Not sure how they're being permitted to market this product without stating at least the active ingredient(s).

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[The Helpful Gardener]

Here's an [url=https://liquidfence.com/pdf/ArmadilloMSDS.pdf]MSDS for Liquid Fences Armadillo Repellent[/url].

While yellow grease seems a little vague, the majority of ingredients are found in shampoo or other household products; looks like castor oil give yer 'dillo the green-apple-quickstep and he moves on to less evocative fare...

HG

[skridler]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_grease

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yellow grease is derived from used cooking oil from the fast-food industry. It is used to feed livestock, and to make soap, make-up, clothes, rubber, detergents, and bio-diesel fuel.[1]

It is distinct from brown grease; yellow grease is typically used-frying oils from deep fryers, whereas brown grease is sourced from grease interceptors.[citation needed] Yellow grease can also refer to lower-quality grades of tallow (cow or sheep fat) from animal rendering plants.
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Thanks to all. This thread has been helpful. Now that we've mulched every year and built up some soil, Armadillos are decimating all of my flower beds but I'd rather not kill them.

[tomf]

Some scary new about them, this is from CNN.

[url]https://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/27/armadillos.spreading.leprosy/index.html[/url]

[JJordan]

I tried everything, including hiring a guy who set up a cage. The armadillo went all around it and never in it!!! I put down cayenne. Nothing. Then I tried sulfur powder on half my flower bed just to see..... The armadillo went to the flower bed WITHOUT the sulfur but didn't touch the one with it. Just now went and bought more to cover it all!! Looks like sulfur works but is messy. Be sure to cover your mouth and nose when using it. Not good to breathe it in.