To top it aall off we got Armadillos running around the lake area causing a lot of problems. The more I read about those animals the less I like them. They seem to be very adaptable. They can even ingest enough air that they can submerge and cross small creeks etc. Thry can also inflate there bodies the same way and float over larger bodies of water. Have found out that they will not come to baited traps except on a few occasions. They however can be trapped by using a funnel effect to the trap. I have been studying there habits on the internet and you can about catch them by hand onece you learn there ways. I am not going to be doing any hand catching but I am going to do some shooting and trapping. I do like them digging out the grubs in the lawn but the holes they leave are something else. While reading on the internet I ran into a site thet promoted the care and feeding of Armadillo. Must have been written by someone living in a apartment in the city somewhere. The site suggested if I did not like what the Armadillos were doing I should move somewhere else.
Our big gray squirrel population here on Cedar Point has really went down. I wonder if I can thank the three foxes we got living in a couple small wooded areas for that. I about I can.
Missouri armadillos and other problem animals
Gotta sympathize with you about the armidillo problem. We've had them for several years now and it is getting really bad. My DH does not want to shoot them, but so far our trapping efforts have only yielded raccoons, possums, and a cat! We have also tried the "funneling" method to no avail.
Some of my plants have been dug up so many times they died from it. Others were buried. There is no mulch layer, it is all mixed up with the dirt. With this drought, they are drawn to the watered flower beds like a magnet of course.
Any suggestions are welcome, even what size ammo to use!
Toxi
I've seen a couple over the last few years that were road kill further south than where I live in KS, but I'm sure it won't be long until I'm dodging them on the way home from work... I think they are blaming global warming for them slowly migrating north.... could you just provide a watering station for them AWAY from your beds? Just a thought, seems shakey, but maybe worth a try.... Is there any laws against shooting them,.....yet? Too bad we can live compatably with the creatures like Snow White. I've noticed the fox population has picked up, too. They scamper right across my front yard and I'm in the city limits...
For some reason I am very lucky. Only have to deal with my neighbor's puppies every year and possums. The possums like to get in the cat houses and won't come out. You guys would die laughing if you saw me trying to get rid of them. Raccons don't come around here, deer stay out of the yard, horses don't get out as often as they used too, and even turkeys have stayed out since the "incident" with mom a couple years ago. lol.
But I do feel for you guys. I would feel the same way if I had to deal with all that. We have found that cayenne pepper works to keep some animals away too. Try that in some spots and see. I used black pepper and cayenne once around a clematis when the puppies next door were digging here. Worked like a charm.
I have been studying evenything I can find on Armadillos. Right now I have a trap set in a neighbors tomoato patch and will also go on a tour of the point I live on about 3AM. There is a lot to trapping them Toxi. The current trap I set this afternoon and baited at dark trap is using both the funneling method plus the bait. I understand you need several traps out at one time to really make the funneling method work. Either that are you have to intercept them on their nightly route. We know this veggie garden was visited the last two nights. So there is a funnel setup outside the trap plus the bait. The bait is a fist sized wad of soil wrapped up in a hunk of nylons with 2 big night crawlers imbedded in it. The reason we did it this way is several studies show that crickets and nightcrawlers are the top baits, as far as baits go for Armadillos. They rarely will come to a trap solely for the bait they forage for ground insects that make up over 90% of there diet. By far the most of them are caught with the funneling method. They are also drawn to moist soil. I imagine that has something to do with making it easier to get to the grubs and worms. That is why wetted that area of the garden when I set up the trap. I also understand that to really nail them you have to intercept them on there nightly travels that they do a lot like deer following a run. I am about sure where this one is holed up all day. So I am trying to apply those different things i have learned into a successful trapping. If I can find the burroughs however, and there is electric available within 200 ft I will be able to electricute them after I make a grid that I can fit into the hole a short ways are safely cover from other animals.
Toxi--- As far as ammo goes I will be making my round with a 22 automatic pistol. With the pistol I will just run up to them and blast them point blank. They are slow as malasses and are slow to flee they tell me. I also have this very bright daylight beam light that I will be using to light a the whole area daylight bright where I think they are it could be.
If it soulnd like I am on Armadillo war footing you can well bet I am. I am going to learn to get these destructive acreatures
Oz, I'm all ears when it comes to hunting and killing new critters of destuction. So far the only armadillos around here was the dead one I brought home from a trip to Texas many years ago and planted in the drive for our son Kyle and his friend Tim to find. Then they planted it in a nearby small town to make it look like it had dug out from under a business building.
The leaking water hydrant in the yard has been replaced. Holly says she will put in the gravel and fill in the hole tomorrow if it isn't raining all day. I'll believe it is going to rain when it actually does it. Too many false predictions already.
GOD bless and keep each of you.
I guess I'll wash my car, that always makes it rain! It's so dusty from living down wind from the rodeo over the weekend. Oz, thank you for sharing what you're learning and are experimenting with... It's very interesting. I think you are an expert trapper! So, itt's not that they want to drink.. it's the soft ground! They don't want to work TOO hard for their supper! I think I would have to eradicate them, too.
Let me know when you get one, Oz!
We have a pistol around here somewhere....
Toxi
We did not get one last night. but he was very close to the cage and was inside the funnel boards so we feel we got a real active area. We have decided to leave the trap in place until I came back from my sons wedding out on Hiltons Head. That should be a week from Sunday.
We are leaving friday morning very early. It is suppose to be a wedding on the beach at sundown next Thursday evening. We are keeping our fingers crossed. There is a disturbance out in the atlantic off of North and South Carolina that is suppose to turn into a tropical depression in a day are so and will be named Gabrielle. It could develope into a class 2 hurricane. One of the computer models show it making land fall right over the top of Hilton Head around Monday. Scares the wife. I told her "well just look! When you get back you can go tell the people in your church group that you heard Gabrielle blow his horn". I been through two at sea on a aircraft carrier off the Florida coast. I do not care what they say they are not as vicious as a sudden tornado,just a lot bigger.
Hurricanes are nothing compared to tornadoes. We live thru tropical storm and hurricane force winds around here all the time. I have been in a tornado and I would rather be in a small hurricane.
Enjoy the wedding Oz! Hope the weather cooperates for you.
Enjoy the wedding and don't have too much fun!!
someone said something about me being a expert trapper. THERE IS NO WAY I could be that. Raccons,possoms and some of the other stuff are real easy. Just bait with a bit of cat food and they are there the next morning. These Armadillos are something else however. I have yet to even see this one. I am doing all the studying because the more I learn the better my chances are. It will also help me to understand and think a little like a Armadillo ( wife says that is pretty normal behavior for me) and hopefully be more successfull. As soon as I realized these things were here I knew right away they were going to be tough to capture or kill.
Oz, you are at least a smart trapper and you are quite an adventurer - out in the "woods" tracking armadillo's, headed to the east coast with a tropical storm/hurricane approaching! You could just hunker down, there in the tomato patch.............. then high-tail it down there after Gabrielle blows over. I'll bet there will be something in the trap when you return, I hope it IS the armadillo. You and the Mrs. have a safe fun trip....... sundown beach wedding - how romantic! ;)