Let me guess, the rabbits are now frolicking in rabbit heaven? :rolleyes:
The only way to take on an armadillo is with a car.
I like armadillos; I follow a live and let live philosophy with them; they can be mean. I’ve killed many a possum for acting out with me and I’ve snuffed every scorpion I could. Just to be clear, I hate Texas with an undying hatred.
Interesting…my wife grew up in Brazil, on a farm. She had a pet armadillo as a child-the animal was quite intelligent 9it would eat out of her hand). These are not normally social animals, as far as I know, they are not overly intelligent.
If it was in Brazil it probably was a Three Banded armadillo,those things are cute as a button and the only way they could harm a person would be to roll into a ball and drop themselves into someone’s head from a fifth floor.
Armadillos are easy to sneak up on because their hearing isn’t very good and even that is compromised because they themselves make a lot of noise rooting around. The weirdest thing though is that if you see one, walk up behind it and surprise it by, say, stomping your foot on the ground, it it’ll jump straight up into the air about 18".
Unfortunately for them, the average height of a car bumper travelling down some rural farm to market is, oh, about 18". It’s like hitting a cue ball with the rubber stub on the bottom of a 21 oz. stick.
Anne-The horror of being charged by a dillo was so great I was unable to speak…or scream like a little girl. I didn’t even CUSS, I was so startled! Also the nuking from orbit seems like an excellent way to deal with the dillo problem, but I just bought the house, and am not quite ready to give it up…
Taters, opossums ARE scary. Came upon one that had fallen in a trash barrel and couldn’t get out when I was a kid. It HISSED at me. Had nightmares for a week.
Moonlitherial I feel your pain. My (thankfully, but that’s another story) ex husband used to coon hunt, and I was exposed to enough coons to realize that they aren’t the friendly little fun-loving creatures that Disney would have you believe they are.
As far as the rabies concern-I don’t think the dillo was rabid. When we retreated onto the porch it pretty much forgot about us, and went on about its evil grub digging business. It was not in the least aggressive the second time I went out in the yard, just waddled off. I think next time I see it, I’ll chase it down and run over it with my car.
Ale, that is EXACTLY what I was afraid of. The Armadillo With a Thousang Young, perhaps…
GusNSpot-Wanna come over? I’ll make fried chicken… 
We could have them here, too. I’ll have to work harder on convincing Mr. Neville to move to Alberta (there are no rats in Alberta, and no armadillos).
I love armadillo, my personal totem animal. I’ve got dozens of 'em all over the house (in wood, brass, beads, silver, plush and ceramic and one origami one made from a dollar bill). We lived in Mississippi for 9years, and they’d come up on our porch to eat the bugs that our porch light killed. If you stood quietly on the lawn in their path, they’d walk over your feet like it was a bump in the lawn. I would’ve freaked out if I ever saw one act aggressively like that!
I rented a room where the back wall was against a mountain. Basically, the room was partially underground.
One night, while I was sleeping, I could feel something crawling on my bed against my leg. I casually pushed it onto the floor. A few minutes later, I could feel it crawling on the bed again, so I decided I had to take care of it more permanently. When I turned on the light, it was the largest centipede I had ever seen, maybe 8-10 inches long. I took a clothes hanger, and aimed for its head, snapping it in two, and then I threw it outside.
Later, I felt guilty because, well, it just wanted cuddles.
And the smell makes a bachelor’s refrigerator seem like a field of roses.
Meet Tonka! He is a six-banded armadillo from South America. We are getting to be good buddies - he just joined our education collection at the zoo I work at. He is a little smelly, but so much fun. He is very curious, and yesterday ate a grape and a pinkie mouse from my fingers. His enclosure has a big kiddie pool full of dirt, and he is a VERY good digger - hence his name.
That curly bit in the middle? Yeah, that’s what you think it is. That’s retracted. When extended, it is 2/3 the length of his body, amongst the longest compared with body size among mammals.
He’s, ah, breath taking.
No, then you would run into the dread space armadillio
Heh, here in Toronto there are more racoons living about the place than people - I have a whole clan of them that likes to visit my back yard come evening; mommy (I assume) and her family of not-so-little 'uns.
I find the hose to be the best discourager.
The worst is when two racoons get to fighting. The screaming has to be heard to be believed - it sounds like a sack of cats being roasted over a BBQ.
My efforts at securing a birdfeeder from raccoon infiltration, with illustrations. (That entire thread is hilarious).
I used to visit my grandparents in Florida when I was little. They had a cute little armadillo that lived under their house. It was adorable and super cute. I had no idea they could be aggressive. I used to stand really still and it would waddle over my feet.
In our Wrigleyville apartment we had a nasty little opossum we’d sometimes find by the laundry room steps. If you stomped it would run away. Until one day… I stomped and told Oliver (we named it that because we were certain it was British and homeless) to leave. It turned and hissed at me… WITH GLOWING EYES AND A FROTHY MOUTH. I turned and ran so fast. I swear it called me a bad name and did something awful with a crucifix. I called animal control. Poor Oliver caught the rabies.
That was my first thought, too. Assuming nobody got bit, you probably wanna make sure the dogs have their shots. You really don’t want to have to go Old Yeller on them.
They’ve gotten something to the Andromeda galaxy? Impressive.
I read this as “When Amontillados Attack”. I had visions of a bunch of casks forcing someone into a cellar alcove…
At least it wasn’t a Glyptodon.
Armadillos are pretty much the coolest of all armored creatures IMO. I’ve got a lot of respect for any wild animal that manages to live peacefully among the McMansions and strip malls of today’s suburbs.
As for possums: they love to eat roaches. Enough said.