How to Keep Armadillos Away

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Below is my advice regarding keeping armadillos away. However, if it proves ineffective in your case, you have the option to hire a Professional Wildlife Removal Company in your area to humanely trap and relocate the problem dillo. You may also email me with any questions you have.

Grubs, bugs, and worms, oh my! That’s what an armadillo is thinking when he sneaks into your yard and flower beds to wreak havoc. It’s true, there is no more motivation for property destruction other than the primal need to find food and consume it. This mission, however, when carried out its fullest extent, will leave your yard pock-marked and desolate, and most likely with an armadillo buried somewhere inside the carnage.

If we rewind this scenario back, we can see that it is far more beneficial to prevent an armadillo from entering a property than it is to remove an armadillo that has set up shop and intends to stay.

If food is the primary reason for an armadillo to come calling, then it makes sense to eliminate any food that would draw the animal to your property. Armadillos like grubs, insects, and worms. When a property becomes overrun with one of these food sources, armadillos come calling. Dark colored mulch attracts energy from the sun and creates a warm, moist environment that insects like. Using rocks or decorative gravel will often help decrease the amount of grubs in your yard. To manage the populations of insects and grubs that have gotten out of control, certain types of non-segmented worms, called nematodes, are available for purchase. Nematodes attack the grubs and insects armadillos love, thus eliminating the surplus of food from soil. However, most tests of nematode use for earthworm control, the primary food of dillos, has proven ineffective.

Once you stop feeding your armadillo loiterer, you have the option of installing a sturdy fence around your property. This fence should be solid and extend two to three feet underground. Armadillos can burrow quickly and easily, and anything less than two feet will not discourage them enough from tunneling into your yard. Lining your perimeter fence with strong-smelling odors will prevent an armadillo from even approaching. Ammonia-soaked towels are not really practical unless your neighbors also use them for decoration. If you just want to keep armadillos away from your garden, you only need to install a fence around the garden. If you want to keep them away from the whole yard and lawn, then you need to fence the entire property.

If this tactic doesn’t appeal to you, some people believe that castor oil can be applied to problem sections of the lawn or garden. The theory is that castor oil actually makes soil taste worse than it already does, thus chasing away pests that enjoy digging for their supper. However, I have personally tried this approach several times, and found that it has no effect on armadillo behavior. The castor oil just washes away, and the armadillos don't care.

Some people try to use mothballs to keep armadillos away, since the are are small enough that they can be sprinkled around the fence without being an eyesore. However, this commonly-used repellent does absolutely nothing to deter armadillos, and it in fact poisons the environment and is a human carcinogen. It'd be nice if there were a simple mothball deterrent or spray that worked, but that is absolutely not the case. Below is photographic proof that mothballs don't keep them away. The armadillo couldn't care in the least.



Ultrasonic units are available to try, though success rates are shown to be zero. Using a unique ultrasonic pulse, these armadillo deterrents attempt to work by emitting a frequency armadillos find unpleasant. The cost of ultrasonic units varies as much as the brands of product, but all of them are worth absolutely nothing, and have been ruled fraudulent by the FTC. Absolutely do not buy these products.

Knowing a little about armadillos will help you devise your own means of prevention. Armadillos are flight animals. When confronted, they do not usually become combative. They are wanderers, without any serious inclination to be territorial. Driven by a love of bugs, grubs, worms, and berries, armadillos want to eat, and want to find places plentiful in food. A strong sense of smell helps locate nutrition, but this can also be a hindrance if something emanating a foul stench is nearby. So you can attempt to use a big, aggressive dog, to chase them away, for example. Or maybe a powerful motion-sensitive water sprayer would do the trick to keep armadillos away. But I haven't tested the latter.

Please remember to use humane methods in armadillo prevention. While frustrating, a hole in the yard is not a reason to pull out the poisons, guns, knives, or inhumane, jawed traps. With no real desire to attack humans, armadillos are a pest that can be handled with gentle know-how. If you are ever in doubt, or frustrated to the point of armadillo massacre, please call in a professional pest remover. Don’t forget: patience, knowledge, and common sense will be your best weapons against this little, armored critter that enjoys grubs, bugs, and worms. There is a relatively cheap and easy solution. Just trap the armadillos in cage traps, and then relocate them far away from your property. That's it. That's the only effective way to keep away armadillos. But it works, and works very well. If you want to learn more about the process, click this link about how to trap an armadillo. Basically, you just need to set a large sturdy cage trap on the armadillo's path, or even right over the burrow. Make sure it's flush with the ground and doesn't rattle. No bait needed.



If you want to learn more about armadillo behavior and biology, go to may main armadillo removal page, where I describe techniques on how to keep armadillos away from the garden, yard, and flowerbeds.

How To Keep Armadillos Away From Your Property

One of the most important things that you can do if you are living in an area where pest animals such as armadillos or other creatures are a problem is to look at how you can keep such animals away from the property. There are several different techniques that can help to drive these animals away, but one of the best approaches when it comes to dealing with armadillos is to stop them from getting in to the yard or garden in the first place. Here are some tips to help you keep these pesky creatures away.



The Importance Of A Good Fence

When it comes to keeping the armadillos out of your yard or garden, then a good strong wire mesh fence is a vital tool in keeping those creatures out. Armadillos are excellent burrowers, but do not generally go too deep beneath the surface, so if you do have a fence to install, then it is worth digging a trench around 12 inches deep where the fence is going to go, and then embedding the fence into the ground there, filling the trench once again with soil after installing the fence.

Removing Food Sources Used By Armadillos

If placing a fence around your property is not an option that is too attractive, then the next option is to remove the food sources that are drawing armadillos to your yard or garden. They are naturally insectivores, and a lawn is probably one of the most attractive foraging grounds to the armadillo, as the soft and moist soil is usually teeming with insects, which they will dig out with relish, leaving a series of holes across the lawn. If you can remove this from the yard, then it may be worth it if you have recurring armadillo problems.

Trapping And Removal Of The Animals

Ultimately, the best solution to an armadillo will be to catch the armadillos and physically remove them so that those individuals can never make it back to your yard or garden. Armadillos are not particularly clever or trap-shy, and a cage trap and a small amount of fencing or logs to guide the armadillo into the trap will usually be enough to catch them. Depending on the local regulations, you will then be able to remove them to a location away from your property, or put it down humanely.

How To Keep Armadillos Out Of My Yard

The threat that a pest animal like an armadillo can carry is one that will cause many people to want to make sure that the animals cannot get into their yard, and there several steps that can be taken to keep them out. One of the biggest issues is that armadillos can sometimes start to dig their burrows against the wall of a property or an outbuilding, which means that it is important to deal with any armadillo presence quickly and effectively. Here are some of the steps that you can use to keep them away.



Removing The Food Sources That Attract Armadillos

The presence of a lush green lawn and vibrant flower beds are often a sign to armadillos that there will be plenty of insects and other potential prey to be found in the soil beneath the surface around your yard. When it comes to removing this food source, some people will use an insecticide to try and get rid of as many of the earthworms and grubs beneath the surface that are drawing the armadillos to the area. Others may prefer to replace a lawn with a patio or another garden feature that doesn't have as many food sources for armadillos, but both methods are an effective way of keeping armadillos away.

Installing A Good Fence

If you want to be able to keep your lovely lawn and flower beds, but still want to keep the armadillos away, then the best option that you will have is to install a fence that will make it impossible for the animals to get in. Armadillos are excellent diggers, so it is important to ensure that your fence is embedded around a foot into the ground, and is made of a sturdy wire mesh so that the armadillo cannot get underneath. This should then help to prevent those pesky animals from getting into your yard.

Trapping And Removing Armadillos

However, when those armadillos are defeating your attempts to try and stop them from getting in, trapping and removing the animals is another method of getting armadillos out of your yard. They are not particularly clever or elusive, and in most cases all you will need is a cage trap and some wood or low fencing material to create a funnel that forces the armadillo into the trap. Once captured, remove the armadillo so that it is too far away to make its way back to your yard.

Go back to the Armadillo Removal page.