We have them, too. They dig up little divots at night in my backyard where the trees overhand the property and it’s shady. I talked to our county agent about them and there’s really nothing you can do, as they’re difficult to trap and breed prodigiously.
I did take a baseball bat to one once, sort of like a golf club. Knocked the little sucker about 30 yards back into the park behind the house. I was not happy as I had just about turned my ankle in one of their little divots the day before while cutting grass. I wonder what a .22 would do to them since they’re “armored”? -D > On Dec 17, 2018, at 3:32 PM, OK Don via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > wrote: > > We have armadillos here - mostly benign critters - the squirrels are not in > danger from them. they do dig little pockets in the lawn, but not bad > enough to get excited about unless you putt on it. They can carry leprosy, > but you'd have to eat them to contract it from them, so don't eat them. > > On Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 2:10 PM Andrew Strasfogel via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > >> It's just a matter of time before they march east to new England and >> eradicate the squirrels >> WILDLIFESt. Louis is 'on the cusp of the armadillo invasion'Published: >> Monday, December 17, 2018 >> >> The nine-banded armadillo is settling into the St. Louis area after >> marching from Texas across the country for the last 169 years, according to >> wildlife experts. >> >> Missouri Department of Conservation wildlife biologist Tom Meister told >> < >> https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/march-of-the-armadillo-the-odd-little-armored-animal-that/article_61e47c48-976a-50ce-a775-40d4e305e9ca.html >>> >> the *St. Louis Post-Dispatch* that armadillos were first spotted in >> southern Missouri in the 1970s. The mammals are now sighted in every county >> in the state, Meister said. >> >> Michael Beran runs the company Wildlife Command Center, which helps pick up >> roadkill in St. Louis County and responds to nuisance armadillo calls from >> residents. Beran said the St. Louis area saw a growing number of armadillos >> this year. >> >> The Wildlife Command Center's armadillo roadkill pickups roughly doubled >> from about five a month last year to around 10 to 12 a month this year, >> according to Beran. >> >> "We're on the cusp of the armadillo invasion," he said. >> >> The armadillo comes from South America. But only one species, the >> nine-banded armadillo, has made it to the U.S., starting in Texas in 1849. >> >> Missouri State University professor emeritus Lynn Robbins was one of the >> first researchers to study armadillos in the state. He's been tracking the >> animal's travel and co-authored a type of armadillo census in 1996, when >> the animals were sighted only as far north as the Missouri River. >> >> When Robbins updated the study in 2014, he found armadillos had made their >> way across the Mississippi River into southern Illinois. >> >> "They just keep moving," he said, adding that the mammals have since been >> spotted in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Wisconsin. >> >> Armadillos need water and bugs to survive, and they can live in any area >> with a minimum average daily temperature of roughly 18 degrees in January. >> With winters growing warmer across the U.S., there are more areas that >> armadillos can find welcoming, according to Robbins. >> >> Industrial development has also removed many of the animal's predators and >> transformed grassland into areas where armadillos can live, such as parks >> and golf courses. >> >> "We've changed the landscape," Robbins said. "That means some animals die >> off, but the armadillo has taken advantage of all the change." *— >> Associated Press* >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> > > -- > OK Don > > *“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of > our people need it sorely on these accounts.”* – Mark Twain > > "There are three kinds of men: The ones that learns by reading. The few who > learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence > for themselves." > > WILL ROGERS, *The Manly Wisdom of Will Rogers* > 2013 F150, 18 mpg > 2017 Subaru Legacy, 30 mpg > 1957 C182A, 12 mpg - but at 150 mph! > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
