Dillo Trapper

[across the river]

Unfortunately, I live smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood (wife wins some I win some), and the whole place has just been ransacked this summer by armadillos. We have had a few here and there over the years, but this year the darn things are everywhere. They will do all they can to destroy your yard. Anyway, as a redneck stuck in the neighborhood, I have taken it upon myself to eradicate as many as possible while the yuppies around me moan and complain about them. The wife demanded I not shoot them and embarrass the family, so I have become quite the armadillo trapper this summer. Approaching double digits at this point, which I find quite amazing to be honest

 

[Mark K]

So are you live trapping and disposing of elsewhere or releasing to recatch?

 

[across the river]

So are you live trapping and disposing of elsewhere or releasing to recatch?

Nothing has been caught twice unless it was a ghost the second time.

 

[Milkman]

I need to know your methods. Same scenario here. Old rebel redneck somehow ends up in a armadillo infested subdivision. I have my 20 gauge ready but you know someone will call 911 if I shoot. Help !!!

 

[SLY22]

What has worked for me is eliminating the food source in our yard. Get rid of the grubs.

 

[across the river]

I need to know your methods. Same scenario here. Old rebel redneck somehow ends up in a armadillo infested subdivision. I have my 20 gauge ready but you know someone will call 911 if I shoot. Help !!!

You basically have to just funnel them into a box trap. I have some old pressure treated 6" x 1/2" fencing board that I typically use, but a piece of 4" PCV or some erosion fencing will work, as I have used those too. I just found the boards the easiest to put up and take down. I figured out the seemed to like to cut through my backyard, so I just staked some boards upright (width ways) from the neighbors. fence behind me up to the front corner of the trap. The other side of the trap is up against some low lying shrubs, so if they try to walk through the back yard they either wind up in the trap or have to completely turn around. I grew the grass a little longer the normal, so that seems to help as it sort of hides the bottom of the trap. It doesn't have to be an elaborate setup I assure you. I have a pellet rifle for the dispatching part, I just have to make sure I go to and area around the house the kids in the houses next door can't see me perform the execution.

 

[across the river]

What has worked for me is eliminating the food source in our yard. Get rid of the grubs.

I agree, but it is a neighborhood, so that really isn't feasible throughout the whole place. I do treat my yard a couple of times per year and you won't hardly find a grub in it. I do have plenty of earthworms though, so if they dig in my flower beds it is typically after a rain or when I have watered pretty heavily and the worms come up. I don't have it as bad as some, I just don't like digging up my stuff at all. They dug burrow by my neighbors front porch that you could stick your whole arm in and have ransacked on side of his house in the pine straw around his shrubs, so I'm trying to eradicate as many as possible before they try to do that to me.

 

[HarryO45]

They make a .22 short round that is low report. It is really quiet, I bet your neighbors won’t notice. My son uses his in downtown Houston - squirrels.

We bought the ammo at academy.

 

[Turpentine]

Work fast. Dillos have been known to collapse home foundations in just a few years.

 

[Jeff Raines]

Sneak up on them and whack'em with a machete

 

[bubbafowler]

Sneak up on them and whack'em with a machete

This sounds like a blast!!!! I can imagine those 911 calls though........

 

[reflexman]

spray yard with spectracide every 3 months that will help a lot

 

[Bigtimber]

Sneak up on them and whack'em with a machete

Might seem funny to some....but you can sneak up on them pretty easy with your weapon of choice. Done it a few times and one o them I know saw me good.....he was acting like...whatever big boy...what you gonna do? He found out lol

 

[bubbafowler]

Might seem funny to some....but you can sneak up on them pretty easy with your weapon of choice. Done it a few times and one o them I know saw me good.....he was acting like...whatever big boy...what you gonna do? He found out lol

Haha he thought "just how big a boy are ya?" I've snuck up on them and touched them with my boot just to see if i could

 

[kmckinnie]

Pellet rifle to the head.

 

[tr21]

sounds like a side job to me. get the neighbors to pay you for trapping theirs.

 

[killabig1]

They've been digging up my yard and beds also. Problem is they can't be baited so you have to corral them to the trap like the "across the river' has said. The other challenge is they're active primarily at night. I've spotted a few at night in my yard and dispatched them with a .22. (I live in the country though.)

 

[across the river]

Pellet rifle to the head.

I caught another one over the weekend. It has slowed down a lot, but I still catch one every now and then. I actually use a pellet/BB gun to the noggin to dispatch them in the trap, but you have actually got to be pretty precise with it and right on top of them for it to work. Popped one and didn't realize I had the door open. That joker hopped and bounced and bled all over everything until I could finally get a foot on him. I don't think any neighbors saw me, but they would have gotten a show if they had.

 

[LEON MANLEY]

So are you live trapping and disposing of elsewhere or releasing to recatch?

Why would you want to burden someone else with your problems?

Might as well catch and release coyotes, skunks, and rats.

 

[LEON MANLEY]

I caught another one over the weekend. It has slowed down a lot, but I still catch one every now and then. I actually use a pellet/BB gun to the noggin to dispatch them in the trap, but you have actually got to be pretty precise with it and right on top of them for it to work. Popped one and didn't realize I had the door open. That joker hopped and bounced and bled all over everything until I could finally get a foot on him. I don't think any neighbors saw me, but they would have gotten a show if they had.

A barrel full of water works well for dispatching. No blood no mess.

I have never seen any signs in my yard, but I've caught 9 in my back yard, so I guess some of my neighbors are happy.