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 The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), named for the nine breaks in the leathery armor that allow it to flex its stiff hide, is an odd-looking mammal about the size of a cat. A mature armadillo is 15 to 17 inches long (not counting the tail) with a weight of 8 to 17 pounds. 

This native mammal of southwestern North America has expanded its range into Florida. Introductions of armadillos also occurred along the east coast of Florida as early as the 1920s and in southern Alabama in the 1960s. Armadillos are now common throughout most of the state and are considered to be naturalized. Armadillos prefer forested or semi-open habitats with loose textured soil that allows them to dig easily. They eat many insects, other invertebrates, and plants. They are most active at night, and have very poor eyesight.

Armadillos can carry diseases such as St. Louis encephalitis, leptospires, arboviruses, and leprosy. The Florida Department of Health is an excellent resource for learning more about these diseases. 

Armadillos dig burrows for their homes or to escape predators, and a single armadillo can have several different burrows with multiple entrances. Pregnant females always give birth to identical quadruplets. She produces one egg that splits into four identical offspring that are either all female or all male. This trait differs from most other mammals.

Armadillos are fascinating in other respects. When they need to cross narrow water bodies, they often walk on the bottom underwater. If it is a wide body of water, they will inflate their stomach to twice its normal size, allowing for enough buoyancy to swim across. When startled, armadillos often leap high into the air, and then run quickly to a nearby burrow.

Harassing burrows causes animals to feel unsafe and can convince them to relocate on their own without additional intensive and sometimes expensive eradication efforts.  Illuminate burrows with a bright spotlight or flashlight and/or put a radio in or near the hole, without blocking the animal from exiting.

It is lawful for a landowner to live-trap or humanely destroy nuisance armadillos, although they are difficult to capture with live traps. All live-captured nuisance armadillos must be euthanized, released on-site, or released on a property within the same county of capture, that is 40 acres or larger with written permission from the landowner.

Information and photos are provided by: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission  

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