How To Keep Armadillos Out of Your Yard

When you see armadillos chilling in your yard, this means war!

These creatures will show no mercy in damaging your garden plants, bushes, and landscape. They love burrowing, digging holes, and making your yard look messy!

And if you don’t do anything about them, expect your front lawn to become the ugliest in your neighborhood.

Translating to “The Little Armored One” in Spanish, armadillos are proven to be small yet mighty animals you would not want to go up against.

They can destroy anything that interferes with their way into finding potential food sources and shelter. And if you leave them unattended, these vermin creatures can also cause infections and serious health issues.

This guide has covered you, from obvious signs of an armadillo invasion to creating DIY ways to keep them away from your yard. So, let’s get started.

The Behavior of Armadillos

Generally, armadillos are peaceful animals who love to hide in their shelter except when looking for food. They are more introverted animals who prefer to be alone.

But when they feel threatened or startled, their instinct is to be surprised, causing them to jump at least four feet high. You’ll also rarely see armadillos in groups, except when they are looking for a possible mate or when they need to stay warm.

One good thing about armadillos is that they are not as dangerous as other bigger pests like rodents. But they can also be carriers of a few bacterial diseases without them knowing.

Moreover, because armadillos are fond of digging holes and going underground for shelter, they frequently destroy homeowners’ landscapes, especially when not maintained.

A fascinating trivia about these creatures is that they have poor eyesight. They cannot see anything clearly, even predators. They have an incredible sense of smell to compensate for their almost blindness.

An armadillo’s sides and belly also have wiry hairs that can help them detect anything strange in its surroundings.

Signs of an Armadillo Problem in Your Yard

You must be certain an armadillo is living in your yard before taking steps to get rid of the animal. When inspecting your landscape, check for the most common signs:

• Damaged wires or pipes
• Cracks and leaks in the driveway or sidewalk
• Uprooted plants
• Burrows around your house, stumps, brush, and rock piles
• Shallow holes with dimensions of 1 to 3 inches deep and 3 to 5 inches wide

5 Effective Ways To Drive Armadillos Out of Your Yard

If you’re sure that an armadillo is underground and living in your yard, it’s time to show the creature who’s the real homeowner.

Here are effective and simple ways to keep armadillos out of your yard:

1. Eliminate Their Food Source

Armadillos are omnivores. They can eat fruit, vegetable, plant, insect, grubs, or termites. Use this to your advantage and make your yard look less appealing to them.

Because armadillos are attracted to insects, they get rid of plants, shrubs, tall grasses, and bushes that can attract tiny pests. When your yard has many mites, ants, insects, and roaches, armadillos will likely head to your property and eat these creatures.

If you’re a plant-lover and enjoy planting shrubs and bushes, prune and maintain them regularly. Don’t let your grasses and other plants become overgrown, or else these also become targets of the armadillos.

If you want to remove insects, broad-spectrum insecticides always work. What’s good with these products is that they can get rid of a multitude of other pests aside from insects and bugs. You can also use beneficial nematodes if you need to eliminate grubs.

Because armadillos also love fruits, you need to make sure there are no fallen fruits from your yard trees. If there are, act fast and pick them up right away.

You can also install wire meshes to cover your vegetable garden. These materials can help block the access of the armadillos to the yard’s potential food sources.

2. Install Electric Fencing

Sometimes, installing plain old fences won’t work for armadillos because they can jump high. What you can do is put electric wires around the fences.

Sometimes, a single electric wire is enough as long as it’s around three to four inches high and is supported by stakes.

But if you have pets or kids, always guard them because electric fences are never safe. These can lead to injuries to your kids, especially when you leave them playing around your yard.

3. Try In-Ground Fencing

You have completely removed the food sources and also installed electric fences. The sad news is that you can still have one or two armadillos lurking in your yard. What’s the next thing you must do?

Set up in-ground fencing. In-ground fencing is composed of fences that extend underground, which serve as a physical barrier under your garden.

This type of fencing prevents armadillos from building their shelter underground after digging holes. And they are normally composed of durable wire material.

In-ground fencing can also mean installing fences around and underneath your vegetable gardens and flower beds. This would usually be enough for armadillo control.

We recommend at least 18 inches underground. For the depth of in-ground fences, You can also create a forty-degree slant facing outward to keep armadillos away more effectively.

4. Get Rid of Hiding Places

Aside from the armadillos’ outer armor covering, they prefer extra protection while digging holes underground.

These can come in the form of rock piles, shrubs, debris, or even bushy trees. Armadillos need protection to hide from predators.

Armadillos don’t rely on their armor; they like extra coverage while burrowing. Shrubs, bushy trees, rock piles, and debris protect from predators, while armadillos have their backs turned.

If you want to ensure armadillos don’t get as many hiding spots as before, you can use low-lying gravel or ground covers instead of large and bushy plants.

Again, always trim your bushes and use a rake to remove fallen branches and leaves.

5. Live Trapping

Trapping armadillos by distributing baits across your yard is also possible. You can use the following baits:

• Crickets
• Pond worms
• Wigglers
• Red worms

The best place to set up your baits and traps is where armadillos will be likely to frequent. You can place them in bushes or active burrows.

If you’re looking for an effective trap, cage traps should work. We recommend getting those with the dimensions 10x10x32 inches. The best cages should also have openings on both ends and wings to funnel the armadillo.

Keeping Armadillos Out of Your Yard

Armadillos should never be welcome to live underground near your yards. They may contain certain bacteria and viruses that can lead to serious health issues. Moreover, armadillos can make your yard look dirty, disorganized, and messy.

The next time you have confirmed an armadillo living in your yard, set up in-ground fencing with electric wires to shock these creatures.

Bait stations and cage traps are also effective, as long as your state allows the catching and releasing the armadillos into the wild. Eliminating tiny pests like insects and flies is important because armadillos attract these prey.