While armadillos are seemingly harmless to humans, given that they tend to cower or run away when threatened, they can become pests.
The major downsides of having armadillos in your yard are that they will dig up your lawn and ultimately tear it up.
Although these creatures do carry the benefit of eating unwanted pests and insects, the cons outweigh the pros when it comes to their presence. Luckily, you can ward them off relatively quickly and spare your flowerbeds, lawn, and the earth beneath your home structure by using fences, cayenne pepper, and rocks in place of mulch.
In this guide, we explore topics related to getting armadillos out of your yard, including three quick ways.
We’ll also discuss some extra tips to help you keep your yard free of this wild animal.
- What kind of damage do armadillos do to yards?
- How do I install a fence to keep armadillos out of my yard?
- How does cayenne pepper ward off armadillos?
- How do rocks ward off armadillos from planters?
- Do mothballs really work to ward off armadillos?
Table of Contents
What Kind of Damage Do Armadillos Do to Yards?
Armadillos can become pesky if they find their way into your yard.
Although they’re not a very dangerous mammal, they have an ability to dig that rivals that of moles, voles, and vermin that often wander into residential yards.
Armadillos seek grubs, worms, and other insects or pests that tend to live in the dirt or underground.
Because of this, if you have a lot of bugs in your yard and live in an armadillo-friendly area, you might draw in armadillos seeking food.
Not only will armadillos tear up your lawn to get to their food; they sometimes even burrow and tunnel through the earth underneath.
In Some Cases: armadillos who struggle to find bugs to eat will dig into the ground beneath your home or your driveway, causing structural issues or other problems that are hard to fix. So, in short, most people have good reason to rid their yards of armadillos.
1 – How Do I Install a Fence to Keep Armadillos out of My Yard?
Installing a fence around your yard is a pretty surefire way to keep out armadillos, but you need to do it the right way or it won’t work. The fence doesn’t have to be very tall since armadillos can’t jump or climb very high.
However, they do burrow, so you need to make sure the fence goes at least 18 inches below the surface to prevent armadillos from digging under the fence and doing more yard damage.
Note that this method is more expensive if you don’t already have at least some fencing in your yard.
However, if you have an existing fence, you may be able to push it deeper into the ground to keep out armadillos.
2 – How Does Cayenne Pepper Ward off Armadillos?
The second quick way to get rid of armadillos from your yard is to use cayenne pepper. Now, this may seem unconventional, but it works as a natural odor deterrent.
Armadillos are averse to the strong smell of this spice, so if you sprinkle it on the areas of your yard that seem to be prone to armadillo digging, they will get turned off pretty fast.
Cayenne pepper is not only an effective method; it’s also a pretty cost effective method since you can buy a jar of it for just a few dollars at a grocery store or supermarket.
It’s also a more humane method than setting traps or putting down chemicals that could also negatively impact other wildlife.
3- How Do Rocks Ward off Armadillos from Planters?
Third, replacing mulch in your planters or parts of the yard with rocks is a suitable and quick way to deter armadillos from digging. This isn’t so much because armadillos are averse to rocks and gravel, as it is because armadillos struggle to dig through rocks.
Furthermore, mulch tends to be a breeding ground for bugs, so if you eliminate the bugs’ home, you eliminate the armadillos’ food source.
This method may not eliminate the entire food source for armadillos in your yard since the lawn gets left vulnerable.
However, it is an effective way to start cracking down on the armadillo problem that pervades your yard.
Do Mothballs Really Work to Ward off Armadillos?
There is a pretty common misconception that mothballs will ward off armadillos due to their smell.
Armadillos have a pretty strong sense of smell, which is why we suggest using something like cayenne pepper to ward them off.
However, mothballs don’t work very well at deterring armadillos in your yard. It’s really just a theory that many people have for getting rid of armadillos.
In reality, though, dropping mothballs in your yard – a substance with chemicals that are toxic – puts both nearby humans and pets at a health risk.
Furthermore, it’s not a very humane way to deal with the armadillo problem since other wildlife or the armadillos themselves might mistakenly consume the mothballs and get sick or die.
Conclusion
There are many ways to get rid of armadillos from your yard so that you don’t have to deal with their damaging and incessant digging habits.
However, we think that three of the easiest and quickest ways to deal with the problem are to replace mulch with gravel, make sure your fence goes deep into the ground, and use cayenne pepper to ward them off with odor.
