Armadillos

You will usually meet the damage before you meet the animal. UF/IFAS Extension states that armadillos rest in a deep burrow during the day and become more active during the late evening, night, or early morning, and Alabama Cooperative Extension System states that armadillos are mainly nocturnal, which means they are active at night. What is left in the morning is a lawn full of small holes and, somewhere nearby, a burrow entrance.

This page covers the animal, the damage and the control methods. The trap question — what actually changes the outcome, where to set one, and what size the sources call for — is on the traps page.

What It Is

One species is involved. UF/IFAS Extension identifies it as the nine-banded armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus. Alabama Cooperative Extension System explains the name: it is so called because of the nine moveable rings of armor between the shoulder and the hip shields.

• Size. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission states that mature armadillos are 15 to 17 inches in length excluding the tail, and its species profile gives the same figure as 15 to 17 inches long not counting the tail.
• Weight. UF/IFAS Extension states that adults normally weigh from 8 to 17 pounds. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission gives the same range, 8 to 17 pounds.
• Shell. UF/IFAS Extension describes a shield-like shell covered with horny scales, and notes that joints in the shell are flexible, which enable the animal to bend and twist. It adds that only the ears and belly of the armadillo are without bony armor.
• Senses. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission states that armadillos have poor eyesight, but their well-developed sense of smell is used to detect insects and other invertebrates under the soil surface at night.

Range and Spread

This is a moving front rather than a fixed map, so the date on the figure matters more than usual. DeGregorio and Deshwal state that the nine-banded armadillo was first recorded in the United States in the state of Texas in 1849 and has been expanding its range northward and eastward since then.

The distribution below is the state of the range at the February 19, 2025 publication of DeGregorio and Deshwal in Diversity, measured against the previous distribution report of 2014. (as of February 2025)

• Armadillos have expanded to cover the entirety of Missouri and established in southern Iowa.
• They have expanded modestly within Kansas and Illinois.
• They have expanded northward and eastward in Indiana.
• They have expanded eastward in both Kentucky and Tennessee.
• They have established throughout the entirety of South Carolina and Georgia.
• They have established in the western third of North Carolina.

The same authors state that their species distribution model indicates that there is substantial opportunity for the species to continue to expand its geographic range, particularly in the Eastern United States. There is a constraint on all of it: UF/IFAS Extension states that cold weather limits the northern boundary of the armadillo range. For a sense of how quickly a state fills in, Alabama Cooperative Extension System reports that armadillos have expanded their range to 59 of Alabama’s 67 counties.

What the Digging Looks Like

There are two different kinds of hole and confusing them makes the damage sound worse or better than it is. The feeding holes are small, shallow and numerous. The burrow is a single large opening.

• Feeding holes. UF/IFAS Extension states that, using its long nose and forefeet, a single individual may dig dozens of shallow holes 2 to 6 cm wide and up to 15 cm deep each night. University of Georgia gives the same damage in imperial units: armadillos dig shallow holes, 1 to 3 inches. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission describes a wider spread, stating that holes vary in size, ranging from very small to one foot in diameter. The three figures are measured differently and are reported separately rather than blended into one number.
• Rooting. Alabama Cooperative Extension System states that they root about in ground litter searching for insects, grubs, and other invertebrates.
• Burrow diameter and length. UF/IFAS Extension states that burrows are about 7 to 8 inches in diameter and can be up to 15 feet long.
• Where the burrow is. UF/IFAS Extension states that burrows are usually located under brushpiles, stumps, rockpiles, dense brush, or concrete patios. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission adds that a single armadillo can have several different burrows with multiple entrances, so one animal does not mean one hole.
• Structures. University of Georgia states that their burrowing can damage tree roots and building foundations. UF/IFAS Extension states that armadillos are blamed for causing structural instabilities when they dig burrows around and under buildings.
• Where it happens. UF/IFAS Extension lists lawns, flower and vegetable gardens, golf courses, sports fields, cemeteries, nurseries, and orange groves.

Why They Dig

The digging is feeding behavior, and knowing that is what makes the rest of this page make sense. UF/IFAS Extension states that these animals feed primarily on insects and their larvae, and puts the proportion at approximately 75 percent of their diet by volume, mostly beetles. University of Georgia puts it higher, stating that the diet often consists of more than 90 percent insects, grubs and earthworms.

Two consequences follow from that, and both are stated by sources rather than inferred here. UF/IFAS Extension notes that removing the food supply with insecticide is not a solution, because widespread application of insecticides can have negative side effects on non-target species and the environment. Alabama Cooperative Extension System reaches the same place from the practical direction, stating that ridding the soil and vegetation of all insects, worms, and grubs may not be practical and may be detrimental to the plants and other life forms in the area.

Control: Trapping

Trapping is the method the extension sources describe in most detail, and the detail is not about which trap you buy. UF/IFAS Extension describes the habit that makes trapping work at all: armadillos follow barriers, and temporary garden fencing or wooden boards can be used to funnel armadillos travelling along such barriers into traps.

• Wings are the mechanism. UF/IFAS Extension states that the trap is most effective when wings, given as 1 by 6 inch by 6 feet boards or other material, are added to funnel the animal into the trap. University of Georgia built the same thing from two 2 inch by 6 inch boards, 6 feet long, attached at one end of the trap, and states that traps should include wings or funnels to direct the animal into the trap.
• Placement. UF/IFAS Extension states that traps are most effective when placed near the entrances to active armadillo burrows, or along barriers such as fences in areas where armadillos regularly travel. University of Georgia adds the suburban version: near natural barriers or fences such as the walls of patios, edges of buildings or landscaping features, or near natural fences such as fallen trees.
• Timing. UF/IFAS Extension states that because armadillos are nocturnal, all trapping techniques designed to capture armadillos emerging from burrows should be applied late in the afternoon and checked several hours after darkness.
• The floor of the trap. UF/IFAS Extension states that armadillos are more likely to enter a cage trap when leaf litter or soil is placed over the wire bottom.
• What the outcome actually is. University of Georgia, which ran the trapping study, states that given that capture success was quite low, it is unlikely that trapping is an effective method of quickly reducing local armadillo populations. UF/IFAS Extension says the same of the general case, that capture rates are extremely low.

The trap sizes the sources name, and the reason bait is not on this list, are on the traps page.

Control: Exclusion

Three sources give the same fence specification, which is unusual enough to be worth saying outright.

• UF/IFAS Extension states that these fences should be approximately 24 inches above ground with the bottom of the fence buried 18 inches below the surface of the ground, and scopes it to where highly valued plantings are in need of protection.
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission states to install fencing at least two feet high and bury 18 inches deep.
• The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission species profile gives it as fencing at least 2 feet high and with an apron buried at least 18 inches deep.
• For hard surfaces rather than beds, UF/IFAS Extension states that laying chicken-wire along a patio, driveway or house foundation will also discourage them from burrowing.
• Alabama Cooperative Extension System offers a different approach for a garden, stating that polytape electric fence wire with a New Zealand-type charger makes an effective and safe exclusion device.

And the stated limits, which matter as much as the specification. UF/IFAS Extension states that exclusion with fences is challenging because armadillos are good at both burrowing beneath and climbing over them. University of Georgia states that methods such as habitat modification and exclusion are often impractical, expensive, or ineffective.

What Does Not Work

On this animal the list is short and unusually clear, because it is a question of what is registered rather than a question of what has been tested.

• Repellents, toxicants and fumigants. UF/IFAS Extension states that there are currently no repellents, toxicants, or fumigants registered for use with armadillos.
• The same finding, scoped to a state. UF/IFAS Extension states elsewhere that no chemical repellents or fumigants are registered for use in Florida, and Alabama Cooperative Extension System states that no toxicant, fumigants, or repellents are currently registered for armadillo control.

Registration is a regulatory fact and not a measurement of effectiveness, and it is reported here as what the sources say rather than extended into a claim about every product on a shelf.

Hansen Disease

The association between armadillos and Hansen disease is real, it has been measured, and the measurement is more specific than the reputation. A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis in Zoonoses and Public Health by Deps, Antunes and Collin pooled nine studies comprising 1,124 cases and 2,023 controls and reported that direct contact with wild armadillos was strongly associated with an increased risk of Hansen disease, at an odds ratio of 2.60 with a 95 percent confidence interval of 1.78 to 3.80. Broken out by exposure, the same review reported an odds ratio of 2.54 for hunting and 2.29 for eating armadillo meat, and a weaker 1.39 for indirect contact, stating that evidence for an increased risk from indirect contact was weaker. The authors state that the fraction of Hansen disease in endemic countries attributable to zoonotic transmission from armadillos remains unknown, and that most of the included studies had moderate risk of bias. UF/IFAS Extension adds the biological reason the question arises at all, that nine-banded armadillos are the only animal other than humans capable of hosting the bacteria that causes leprosy, and reports that it has been detected in armadillos from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Alabama Cooperative Extension System states that there has been no conclusive evidence that human beings can contract leprosy from contact with armadillos. Those are the findings this page can support; it offers no guidance on handling, because no source giving such guidance was obtained.

Before You Set Anything

Rules are set state by state. Two states were checked from primary text for this page, and no others were checked, so nothing below should be read as a national rule.

Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department lists armadillos among nongame animals in its Outdoor Annual, which states on its face that it is valid September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027. For nongame species that page states that a hunting license is required for the take of nongame species, that there are no closed seasons, bag limits or possession limits, and that they may be hunted at any time by any lawful means or methods on private property. It also lists, among unlawful activities, to possess armadillos for the purpose of sale.

Florida

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists the armadillo species status as native, and states that armadillos are now common throughout most of the state and are considered to be naturalized, meaning they arrived in Florida as part of natural range expansion. That classification is the agency’s own and it is the one that governs here, because the release rule below turns on whether a species is native. UF/IFAS Extension describes the nine-banded armadillo as considered an invasive species in Florida, which is a different characterization from the state wildlife agency; both are recorded rather than reconciled.

The Commission states that the armadillo has a year-round hunting and trapping season in Florida, and that an armadillo can be taken as a nuisance if it causes or is about to cause property damage, presents a threat to public safety, or causes an annoyance in, under, or upon a building. Rule 68A-9.010 of the Florida Administrative Code sets what happens next: wildlife live captured by any method shall be released or euthanized within 24 hours following capture or inspection of a trapping device containing wildlife, and any non-target wildlife shall be released immediately at the site of capture. The same rule permits release only where the nuisance wildlife is released on the property of the landowner provided the release site and capture site are located on one contiguous piece of property, or where the nuisance wildlife is a native species, the property where it is to be released is within the county of capture and is a minimum of 40 contiguous acres, and the person releasing it is in possession of written permission from the property owner. The rule also lists, among methods that may not be used, live traps and snares unless they are visited at intervals not exceeding 24 hours.

Everywhere else

Check your state wildlife agency before you set anything. Two states out of fifty were checked against primary text for this page.

On moving an animal rather than removing it, two sources are direct. UF/IFAS Extension states that relocating problem animals to another area is not recommended. University of Georgia states that armadillos should never be relocated off-property. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approaches the same question from the other side, stating that lethal control should be considered a last resort, and that removing one or more armadillos does not prevent others from using the same areas in the future.

Questions

Sources

Every factual claim above names the source it rests on, in the sentence that makes it or in the text immediately adjacent to it, and every source named is listed below. Framing, ordering and emphasis are our own judgement and are not a finding of any source. Where sources give different figures for the same measurement, all are reported and attributed rather than averaged.

1. UF/IFAS Extension, University of Florida (J.M. Schaefer and M.E. Hostetler). The Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), WEC 76. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/UW082
2. UF/IFAS Extension, University of Florida (H.K. Ober, L.W. DeGroote and R.F. Mizell III). Baiting the Nine-Banded Armadillo, WEC 317. 2011. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/UW362
3. Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Controlling Armadillo Damage in Alabama. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/forestry-wildlife/controlling-armadillo-damage-in-alabama/
4. University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Evaluating Attractants for Live-Trapping Nine-Banded Armadillos, C889-3. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/C889-3/evaluating-attractants-for-live-trapping-nine-banded-armadillos/
5. B.A. DeGregorio and A. Deshwal. Current Distribution of the Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the United States. Diversity 17(2):138. February 19, 2025. https://doi.org/10.3390/d17020138
6. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Living with Armadillos. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://myfwc.com/media/27208/living-with-armadillos.pdf
7. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) species profile. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/mammals/land/armadillo/
8. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Rule 68A-9.010, Florida Administrative Code — Taking Nuisance Wildlife (History: New 7-1-08, Amended 7-1-10, 7-27-10). Accessed August 21, 2026. https://myfwc.com/media/1935/68a-9-010.pdf
9. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Outdoor Annual — Nongame, Exotic, Endangered, Threatened and Protected Species. Valid September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/nongame-and-other-species
10. P. Deps, J.M.A.P. Antunes and S.M. Collin. Zoonotic risk of Hansen disease from community contact with wild armadillos: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Zoonoses and Public Health 68(2):153-164. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/zph.12783