Our new "neighbor"

[featherfooted]

That's what we call a oppossum on the half shell. They can sure tear up a yard.

 

[Godsgrl]

I love armadillos.

They are cute, clever, and just fun to see running around the yard. Recently I had one that was getting chased by not only my dog, but an owl. Poor thing, but he made it to the burrow in time. Thank you so much for sharing your pictures!

Oh, and the leprosy thing is if you eat them raw. Otherwise, I think you'll be okay.

 

[awesomefowl]

THose things are CREEEPY!

 

[teach1rusl]

MUCH cuter than our 'possums!! So are they the southern/southwest equivalent of our groundhogs when it comes to digging (for those who said they tear up yards)??? Heck, if they eat spiders, the little fella can come live with me (spiders...

)...

 

[jbowyer01]

Quote:
I was thinking the same thing, the holes hurt when your mowing the lawn on a riding lawn mower.....bump........bump.......bump..........bump. Makes your mower rattle after a while lol.

 

[BayouPoules]

I think it's cute. Daddy ran over a nest in the pasture years ago and killed the mom,. so we raised the 2 babies for a couple of months 'till we could turn them loose. I know that Texas and Louisiana Dillo's can carry leprosy,. but it's like 5 percent and if ya don't handle them,.. you should be safe,. that's just from reading the material.
the babies are adorable waddling everywhere. I don't know if you want them under your porch though,. they dig up some pretty mean burrows,.

 

[silkiechicken]

I thought those things destroyed foundations? I have only seen them in the zoo as they don't live around here. As for eating one...you can....

 

[herefordlovinglady]

Sorry to be the first negative post on these little buggers. We have cattle and have tons of armadillos, they dig huge holes in the pastures and it never fails one of the bulls or cows walks into a hole and breaks or injures their leg. they tear up the flower beds, and make a mess of the yard -- but really I have a dog that digs for moles and tears up the yard, and chickens that scratch in my flower beds, so the armadillo really is not much of a problem there anymore. It just the pasture holes, plus riding on a tractor and hit one -- ouch.

I have to agree they are kind of cute, and really they are not much of a problem, besides the holes and disease they carry.

 

[gritsar]

You'd basically have to eat armadillo on the half-shell (pun intended) to get leprosy from it:

https://www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/armadillo/faq.html#04

We've had one living under an outbuilding in the yard since 2004. Him or his descendants, whichever. The dillo's tunnel extends from under the outbuilding, across to the chicken yard; approx. 50 ft. This way he can come and go without entering the yard and having to deal with the dogs. Our older GSD already got ahold of him once and the dillo stayed out of sight for a few days.

I refuse to let my DH kill him. He's not doing any harm. There are no huge holes in our yard (except ones dug by the dogs) and the dillo eats grubs, which also destroy a yard.

 

[verity]

I am so jealous!