Armodillo(Diller) Live Trapping

[Platefire]

I've always had problems with Armadillos around my place digging up the yard pretty bad sometimes.I've always just shot them but problem is, most of them don't come out until about 3AM in the early morning hours. Who wants to set an alarm, get up and get your gun and trudge around at that time.
I just happened to be in a trift shop and seen one and bought it. Turns out that one is too small. About 8" x8". I finally figured out I need one at least 12" X 12". So I got on line and did some research and found out the "Hav a hart" is one of the most recommended---so I got that. So I'm thinking catching them in a trap is a lot better than getting up all times at night and catching them.

I've started about three months ago. It's not as easy as you would think! I read all I could on the net and at the same time setting it out trying to use everything I was learning. Still I had the dillers spring my trap several times and get away. Stupid rookie errors. Two times I didn't check it the door was clear when the diller stepped on the trigger and the door hung. Another time I didn't build my guide fence leading to the trap high enough and he crawled over, avoiding the trap. Another time he got through the door, after it closed---I don't know how???? After making multiple mistakes I finally started catching them---big ones! Just about every one has bent my cage to where I had to bend it back in shape after every catch. So I've caught 3 so far and relocated them down the road away from houses.

One thing about dillers, they like to eat what they dig out of the ground, so you can't really bait them.You have to observe what borrow(hole) they are hanging out in, what escape trail from their borrow they are using and set your trap in their path. Also use timbers stacked on either side of the trap to guide them in the trap. I'm learning!! It's better that chasing them all hours of the night.

Anymore diller trappers out there???

[shooter]

Anymore diller trappers out there???

up north they traded the shell for fur, we call 'em possums 
they love bananas and grapes, works every time, just lead 'em with food bites into the trap, down the road still munchin bananas 

I have a family at the moment, each adult is 20+lbs and the 2 kids are 10+ 
they steal the feral cats food, you'll come out 2 possums, 5 cats all happy clams!
Wife said just leave 'em for the winter 

[sluckey]

I sympathize with you. I don't have a good method of trapping them. But if I ever do have to resort to a Havahart you can bet I'll relocate any I catch with a 22 bullet before he ever leaves the cage. Then it's just a short trip to the highway.   

I've caught a couple big ones by hand. Once I stopped my car to catch a big one. They're either really stupid or just not afraid of you. Got my hands on him and he slipped away and managed to get under the car just as I caught his tail. He bowed up with his back wedged against the undercarriage and his feet dug into the pavement. I could not pull him out. They are very strong! I don't doubt that they could totally wreck the biggest havahart trap made if left in it for 24 hours. 

[PRR]

> I've caught a couple big ones by hand.

We have porcupines and skunks and once a moose. Can I hand-catch those?

[shooter]

Can I hand-catch those?

Yup, ONCE 
just like the sparky wires we've all done ONCE 

[sluckey]

Sprinkle a little salt on their tails and you can.

[Ritchie200]

A buddy of mine went to Alaska every year to hunt.  Sometimes a fly in, sometimes a hike in, and sometimes a pack in on horses.  One year they were packing in on horses.  The guide looked to be about 70 and had two rifle scabbards hanging off his saddle.  He asked the guide if he (the guide) could shoot off the horse while in the saddle.  He squinted at him, spit some chaw, and drawled, "Weeell, I spose ya could.  Once.  Wanna give it a go?"  He said the guy looked like Curly from City Slickers and didn't laugh back when he nervously laughed and said No I think I'll pass!  He said "Curly" just shook his head and rode off.  I asked if he mumbled "city folk..." under his breath!   


This trip also involved riding to a ranger station for some surprisingly good grub one night.  Well, it was light when they rode there, pitch black dark on the way back.  They were being shadowed by a grizzly bear just out of sight from the lanterns in the woods.  However, he said you could see the eyes glowing and was spooky as hell.  The bear was also making enough noise to get the horses on edge too. There were two NHL hockey players also on the hunt/ride.  He said they were both scared ****less and let everyone know it.  "Curly" finally said, "Hey! You two pussies need to settle down!  That bear is following us because he can smell your fear."  My buddy was riding next to him and when he turned back around he winked and was smiling.  He then told my buddy loud enough for all to hear, "Nothing to worry about, the grizz will get them first."  He said the hockey players, who had more than a few beers at the ranger station, were now whimpering convinced they were now going to die for sure!


This is the same buddy who flew in on a hunt and was supposed to be picked up 9-13-2001.  No radio.  No sat phone.  One guy had burned his tent and sleeping bag so he could bring back more meat.  If I remember, they were there another 5 or 6 days before the FAA would let them fly.  My buddy thought maybe it was an airplane issue and just hoped they fixed it before they picked them up!  He said they ate good.


The guy has had some adventures!
Jim

[Ritchie200]

I just read a woman in Texas got killed by a herd of wild feral boars after getting out of her car in the dark early yesterday morning.  I always knew it was pretty much open season on them in Texas but had no idea it was that bad.


Jim

[Ed_Chambley]

Can I hand-catch those?

Yup, ONCE 
just like the sparky wires we've all done ONCE 

Once?

[Ed_Chambley]

Armadillos are odd creatures.  They already have the pot to cook them in.  Well I'll tell ya, back in the good ole days when times were bad, we used sell peas in a bucket on Saturday afternoon.  Didn't make much money so all we could afford Turtledillers.  All ya gotta do is build a fire and flip them over in it.  Yum Yum!


Then one day I saw one of those dillers get driven over by a Green on Green Ford Pinto.  Bout a 73 if it matters.  Well that sucker decided to jump and jumped right into the gas tank on the Pinto and it exploded!  The driver got out quick and was fine.  Car now on fire and just rolling slowly and rolled right into a pile of coal right outside the mine shaft.


Nobody knew it, but eventually it made a town in Pennsylvania where there is fire under the streets all the time and IS what caused all them mountains like Mt Saint Helena, to become volcanic.  Yep, the California Fires are caused by it too!


Anyway, the guy driving the pinto sat down with me and had some turtle soup!

[shooter]

Anyway, the guy driving the pinto sat down with me and

Smoked a big fatty,

had some turtle soup

, woke up on the windmill, followed dillers to a pot of gold, smoked some more.........

[Ed_Chambley]

Anyway, the guy driving the pinto sat down with me and

Smoked a big fatty,

had some turtle soup

, woke up on the windmill, followed dillers to a pot of gold, smoked some more.........

Woke up naked, swinging on a windmill!   


Nice clips!

[Ed_Chambley]

Seriously, it sounds like Platefire is getting some training.  They are tough and trying to feed them blood thinners or poison is dangerous to other animals around, even pets.  Maybe weld some rebar to the cage.  The only thing I use the havahart for possums, and they are easy since they will eat vegetables cats don't.


Catching someone's pet can be a problem, but chasing them through a tunnel into a cage sounds cool, but I know how much trouble they can be.

[Platefire]

They say that Dillers don't hybrenate. That they can't build up enough body fat to go without eating very long. I've been keeping an eye on some active borrows around the house and they haven't stirred in about two months now. They bound to be getting pretty hungry by now

[sluckey]

I've been keeping an eye on some active borrows around the house and they haven't stirred in about two months now.

Those burrows are not active. They are sleeping elsewhere now. Doesn't mean they won't come back.

[Platefire]

Well I have a method of keeping track of the borrows they are coming in and out of. You can put sticks across the front of the hole like bars on a jail cell. When you go to observe the borrow and none of the sticks have been disturbed then you know they haven't came out. However that don't always work because sometimes they will make multiple openings to the same borrow. Another thing, sometimes they put their borrow in or around a bunch of debris as to disguise the location of it. I don't know if they do that on purpose or by accident.

I did notice that on one borrow it appeared the diller came out and foraged a little just around the entrance of the borrow and apparently went back in. In the summer time though they go up to several hundred feet from their borrow. That's when they get in my yard.

There also has been a bad problem with wild hogs in our area. When they forage, they do major damage as compared to a diller. A friend of mine that has property not to far from me has been batteling the hogs on his property and he says they tear the ground up so bad it's hard to bush hog it because it becomes so rough. I haven't had no problem with the hogs so far. Hope I don't. I don't have any creeks or springs close by only drains that have water when it rains---so maybe lack of water is keeping them away?? Platefire

[shooter]

batteling the hogs

HA, I'm camping in South GA, woke last night to some "unusual" noises, shined the light n Found me a 200 pounder about 20' from my site 

looked this morn n there was a 5' diameter dig about a foot deep.

I like to "rake out" the borrows, then in the morning I can get a pretty good sense of who's livin there from the tracks, winter is easy God puts white stuff down to make trackin easy 

[tubenit]

Some research is showing armadillos as a carrier of leprosy with cases reported in Fla.

With respect, Tubenit

[Platefire]

Thanks, I am aware of the leprosy. I do wear gloves every time I handle traps or anything related to Dillers, wash and disinfect my hands when I'm done.

If your really really serious about catching Dillers with a live trap they make a wooded scented trap for $155 Free shipping. The Diller's vision is very poor but he has a very strong sense of smell. So when the Diller smells the trap with familiar Diller smell, he goes right to it. I'm told with this one you don't have to use wooden guides to direct them into the trap. You just sit this trap out where they are traveling and they find their way and let themselves in. Here is a link to the scented wooden trap:
http://thearmadillotrap.com/