To Catch an Armadillo

One of the things I love about where we live is that, even though we're in a well-established neighborhood, there is never a shortage of exciting things for us to discover in the great outdoors.  I've had deer in my front yard munching on the acorns... had a fox scare the bajeezus out of me on a morning run... had my dog barking madly at an opposum who was, well, playing 'possum!

I've also had the not so pleasant discovery of another creature - the nine-banded armadillo.  Little did I know how destructive these guys were... they've dug up most of my mulch in the flowerbeds looking for grubs.  They've left behind a mine field of holes in my backyard that are capable of breaking your ankle.  And they've managed to dig themselves some nice entryways under the fence between our yard and the field behind the house.

Little nine-banded devils, no doubt.

So what does a gal do?  I went against all of my Texas roots and put away the artillery in favor of a live animal trap.  I did some research on how to bait an armadillo, but it was not something I was interested in - Meal Worms, Maggots, Spoiled Meat, Sardines??!!

Darnit.  Fresh outta maggots.

Ew.


So Mr. HM set up the trap at the point of entry into our yard, and we waited.

And waited.

And waited... until...

Oh SNAP!

Why hello there!

We caught us an armadillo - (no maggots required).  It was quite a feat getting a good picture of this big guy - he was squirming around like crazy in the trap!  I must say that I was channeling a little Steve Irwin - this creature really is beautiful, in an armor-plated, long-toenail kind of way.

And for those of you worried about this fella's fate, fear not.  We're a catch and release kind of household... so Mr HM relocated him to a lakeside piece of property down the road.  Far down the road.

The score so far:

home.made. - 1

Armadillos - 0

Stay tuned for the remainder of the story...