Armadillo Trapper Gainesville , Alachua County Florida

Trapping The Nine Banded Armadillo

Robb Russell, Anytime Wildlife Control, High Springs Florida

http://gainesvillewildlifecontrol.com/

 

Of all the unique critters we have here in Florida it is always the armadillo I am often asked most about by my professional peers up North and how to trap it. I have done a few podcasts on trapping the armadillo and even a video at http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1307561/live_trapping_the_armadillo/

 

 

The armadillo is found all over the South as far north as Tennessee and South Carolina, and from Texas as far North as Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri .

The armadillo is the only leathery armor shell mammals we have here in North America. Did you know armadillos are closely related to anteaters and sloths?

 

Armadillos got their modern name from the Spanish for the “little armored one” but seven hundred years ago the Aztec called the armadillo, a “azotoochtli” which meant the turtle rabbit in the Aztec native language Nahuatl.

 

The first armadillo trap was observed by Spanish explorers in the 16th century and the Spaniards recorded that the Mayans ate the “azotoochtli” and that they also hunted the armadillo as game. Today we know that eating the armadillo has caused Leprosy in humans and makes me wonder if the eating the armadillo may be another reason the great Mayan civilization died off.

 

During the Great Depression of the last century, armadillos were nicknamed “Hoover Hogs” by the very people who ate them. The name was a begrudging poke at President Herbert Hoover, who had promised “a chicken in every pot” but had instead failed to prevent and added to the collapse of the US economy after World War I. Today the armadillo is still eaten by some ethnic groups in Louisiana Texas, Florida, and other parts of the deep south. If you are wondering I have never even once thought of trying the armadillo for food and find them a disgusting animal with its own unique scent I call armadillo funk. http://animalremovals.net/150-250-americans-each-year-get-leprosy-from-armadillos-by-hunting-skinning-and-eating-armadillos/

 

The armadillo that we find in the United States today is the Nine banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) which once had a larger cousin the Beautiful Armadillo (Dasypus bellus) whose remains have been found as far north as Missouri, Illinois and Indiana some 40,000 years ago today. The beautiful armadillo probably died off because it was so slow and easy prey for North American predators. The nine banded armadillo is probably a lot faster then its early ancestral North American cousin of the past.

 

My Tips And Experiences Trapping The Armadillo

 

 

Back in 1974, an ole buddy and I used to catch armadillos by hand for you know- just some boys having some fun stuff. Sometimes we used them as “babe magnets” since a captured armadillo always drew a crowd because of its unique and primitive appearance. Young female tourists often fell for our armadillo babe magnet trick but that’s another trapping story someday from 37 years ago!

 

As time passed on and I began moving slower running and catching the armadillo got harder and learning how to trap the armadillo made more sense. We used to take wads of newspaper and put them in possible armadillo burrows if the “newspaper wad” was pushed in the burrow it usually meant a armadillo was probably inside and easy to catch. If the newspaper wad was pushed out that usually meant the burrow was empty but not always.

 

My first armadillo trap was a banana box and a stick in front of a suspect burrow and worked just like simple wooden box rabbit trap. The trap worked but since the trap did not have a bottom the armadillo often burrowed himself out with its powerful claws and was worthless if not checked hourly.

 

The metal live traps with pan treadles were a big help and when placed in a positive set using boards, drift or garden fencing often resulted in many armadillos captured in my trap sets. I would always set two traps and try to trap the armadillo coming to or from the burrow location. I later discovered the Tomahawk Double Door Traps Model 109 and 108.7 and one trap was able to handle armadillos wandering and exploring from both directions.

I set traps for the armadillo that funnel or help direct them to or from any burrow entrance and also pay attention to any sways in the property (direction water would flow on the property) since armadillos will always take the path of least resistance. I use the sides of a building, rocks in a landscape and other natural borders to help confuse the poorly sighted nocturnal armadillo. You are never gonna catch and capture an armadillo if you don’t have good trap placement to start with in the first place. Another discouraging fact for beginning armadillo trappers is that you may have to wait for the armadillo to return since they appear to run a circuit and travel from burrow to burrow for safety from predators and may have several burrow extending off the clients property. Experience has taught me to just tell the client we are gonna wait the armadillo out anywhere usually from 4-10 days. If we have not caught a armadillo in 14 days at the same location we pull the traps since the armadillo may have already been caught in another trap nearby or worse yet run over by a car.

 

Baits and attractants may or may not work. There has been only one formal study Evaluation of attractants for live-trapping nine-banded armadillos which was published by The Internet Center For Wildlife Damage Management by Daniel J. Gammons, Michael T. Mengak and L. Mike Conner published in 2005 and can be found online at http://digitalscommons.unl.edu .

 

Armadillo Bait

 

When customers ask about bait I tell them there was a study on baits that came back about 50 /50 effective but experience has taught me that using a bait like grub paste or saving live grubs I find in the garden or meal worms I buy at the fish bait store don’t hurt and a small investment in handling the anxious armadillo removal customer.

 

Armadillos are basically insectivores and enjoy eating grubs, ant and termite colonies but they have also been observed eating carrion.

 

Armadillo Attractants

 

The armadillo has a very distinctive scent is gives off and I know from experience cages dedicated for just armadillo trapping have always worked best and often quicker. I got an idea from Kirk Dekalb that is working well using 3/8ths scrap plywood on the bottom of the cage will absorb all that armadillo scent and the scented board can be placed in another cage.

 

Today I prefer to use only one trap for trapping the armadillo and that is the Double catch Trap from Kirk Dekalb http://advancedtrap.com/ . I also recommend you buy one armadillo kit per trap purchased.

 

 

 

My most common set uses 2” X 6 inch anchored with Rebar, and is often set in landscaping in and near the walls of the home. We also use 2 x 4 and 2 x 10 and the taller the better. We paint the boards flat black and stencil them in white with our company name and phone number. The 3 inch phone number painted into our trap sets do get our name our and help marketing our name from the curb side. We used to use a lot of drift fencing but found our customers more receptive into blending our sets into their own landscape with the same success.

 

We are not the cheapest armadillo removal service in the area but we have a great track record it is rare day we don’t pull at least one armadillo off of each of our customers properties. We have around $350-$400 in traps, lumber and rebar in invested in our trap sets and plan on our equipment being out 10-14 days and price it accordingly.

We usually set the traps and leave the trap checks up to the customer which is legal here as long as the traps are checked every 24 hours. Ten to 14 days of trap checks can get kind of pricey so we also offer to make the responsibility of daily trap checks to the property owner (never the tenant) .

 

Our Daily Trap Check Customers are required to make a phone call or text leaving us proof the traps are checked daily. If we don’t hear from the customer, we attempt a phone call as a reminder and if unable to contact them invoice them for a trap check aka a service call. This has worked out well for us and even helped in these times of a troubled economy.

 

Today my children are all grown and do most of the wildlife removal. I sell most of the work over the phone and send out one of my kids all who have several armadillo trapping experiences under their own belts today themselves.

 

Most of my business today is dedicated to trapping customers for wildlife control companies in the form of local advertising and web sites that not only work but usually occupy the front pages of Google , Bing and Yahoo. We are the only web site developers in this industry that can just as easily be found on a desktop computer and a mobile phone or Ipad.

If your interested in learning more about trapping the armadillo or like to inquire about our internet services please feel free to call me at 352-575-0121

 

Armadillo Removal Gainesville

Armadillo Trapper Gainesville , Alachua County Florida