Hmmm, that's funny. The only armadillo's I've ever seen were of the dead road kill variety, none I've ever seen were still alive. Do live armadillo's even exist?

 

One of the funniest sights I have seen was my Rat Terrier chasing an armadillo out of the yard. I never knew those things could move so fast. They come into the yard to eat grub worms, usually gone by daylight. Sometimes see on on the golf course.

 

My Dachshund likes to dig up grubworms. I have heard of armadillo's eating roots and digging up people's well-manacured yards, but that's more likely in your neck of the woods. Although the woods aren't too far from me. I have seen numerous rabbits, heck even box turtles. We have a neighborhood hawk that likes preying on birds eating seed in of all places my parents backyard, who don't live too far from me. We know a hit has taken place when we find a swath of dove feathers in the yard.

 

Probably for the same reason all men watch it...

J. Lo in shorts, and that hot white girl that got eaten.

 

Them bad boys are quick and they make a grunting noise when running away......they have sucky vision and don't notice you until you're right on them, maybe that's why they can't dodge tires.


Hey Hersh, maybe it was a R.O.U.S.??

 

Well they move around here and I'm not in texas......
My first encounter was about 5 years ago, one was trying to dig under a 35+ year old elm tree in my yard. I freaked out, called Missouri Conservation and asked them what to do? They told me to shoot it, burn it, then clean the area with lots of bleach water (becasue they carry leprosy). (HEHEHE, dont have to tell me twice.) I walked right up to it, behind it. It never knew I was there! I stuck the barrel right to it's head, right behind the helmet plate and BAM (Head shot... one shot, one kill.)

When I was a kid I can remember having opossum at a friends house. Several people were curious about it and they found some recipes. They had fixed it as fried and Bar B Q.
Since dillos and possums are closely related with similar diets. One lives in trees the other lives under them. I'd say they would be about the same.

For those interested...
Oppossum is a white meat, (but not like chicken)
It is very greasy, not as greasey as duck or ground hog but pretty greasy.
Texture is similar to a fine-grained, high-quality pork, but all you taste is the grease.
I wouldn't eat dillos unless I was starving because they can carry leprosy. An under cooked dillo that is carrying the leprosy bacteria could be fatal.

 

R.O.U.S.? Rodent of Unusual size & strength! LOL

I still remember that from a movie I saw in the 80's...
But, from what I can tell, they don't exi.....

 

They do have bad eye sight. Armadillos are not blind, but they do have poor eyesight. They rely on their ears and noses more than their eyes to detect food or predators. If you are close to an armadillo, and you stay quiet and stand still, the chances of it not noticing you're there, are fairly good.

When I was a little jamzwayne, I used to catch em all the time. I grew up in central Texas out in the country. They were everywhere. You have to be ready for a pretty good fight sometimes, and ready to get a scratch or two. They have pretty strong legs for their size, and some wicked claws.

What you do is...be vewy, vewy quiet...slowly sneak up behind them, and only move toward them when they are rooting (digging). When they stop moving, you stop moving, etc. Take your time, and be patient. When your close enough, reach down and grab his/her tail, and quickly stand up making sure to hold him/her away from your body. It's little legs will be going a thousand miles an hour and he will be wiggling, so try to hold the legs away from your body by facing his back towards you.

At first he/she will freak out and try it's best to get away...naturally. After a few minutes he/she will calm down. At this point you can place him/her on the ground (because they get heavy), but make sure you are still holding on tightly to the tail. Show him/her to the kiddy's, examine the creature with the kiddy's or whatever. Kids love that kind of thing, and it's always good to show younger children the beauty of mother natures creatures. Then release the nasty beast back into the wild.

Yes, they are a menace, but they are still a part of our eco system. I treat all animals with respect. Remember....It's their planet too.

 

I had a "Possum" try to punk me one night.

I was coming home from school, and as I entered the alley, I saw something short, wide and stumpy waddling up my alley at a decent clip, but not in a big hurry. I noticed it was mostly black (I know, most possums' are white) but, this was dark brown (Almost black) with white markings (No, it wasn't a skunk).

So, being hit by the head lights, he started running, as best he could. I wasn't gonna run over him, but apparently he didn't know that- so he kept going. I'm hoping he'll eventually run off into a yard or something, but he kept going straight, at about 10-12 MPH (He was booking it), you've never seen something so low to the ground, and wide move so fast on all 4's.

He must've realized he wasn't gonna make it, and decided to turn and fight. This thing stopped, so I stopped, it stood up on it's hind legs- and all I saw was a mouth full of teeth and claws. I thought to myself- "I shoudl squish your little @$$, but- being animal friendly- I decided not to treat him to my 295/60/16's that were wrapping my American Racing Atlas wheels. After he "punked" me, he ran into a neighbors yard, which was only maybe 4 houses down from mine.

I never saw him again- but that was the first time I'd seen "wildlife" in my neighborhood. Since then, I've seen what has to be a guiness-book sized Racoon beside my neighbor's garage door, and a similiar (albeit larger)creature as to the one I saw in my alley (this time, in broad daylight) at my mother-in-law's house, coming out of a patch of magnolia's she has growing.

I called it a possum, but these might be badgers. The possums I saw in Louisiana were all white; these things, although similiarly shaped, are bigger than any possum I ever saw in Louisiana.

PS- I thought a Possum (essentially a large rat) would be a meal for cats. But, as I arived at home on night, I backed into my mom's driveway, and in my reaview mirror, I saw what looked like a big-*** rat, coming from where the cats normally hang out. I thought to myself- you are one lucky emmer-effer. As it got closer, I saw that was no rat, but an Opossum. Not being armed, or wanting to risk rabies, I let him stroll right past my car. As he exited the property- I got out of the car, wondering where all the cats were.
They were all on top of my Mom's car, lookign down at where the Opossum had just come & gone. I told my Mom about it, and she said, "Those cats didn't want to tangle with that 'Possum. Not with all those teeth...


Yep, it was a badger!
Right in Plano! That's what I've seen here, twice; but, both were larger- the one at my mother in laws house, looked like a baby panda- freom the way he was walking. Like he was the siht!

 

Dude . . . that's a Zebadger! Part Zebra part badger!

We got plenty of Opossum in the hills here. (Along with lots and lots of skunks, some deer, lots of coyotes, some fox, and brain dead surfers who say "dude" a lot (guess I say that too, now I know where I got it)) -

I remember the first time I saw an Opossum. It was at night and I saw it when my car's headlamps shone on it. I thought it was a giant rat. Scared the crap (not carp) out of me.

 

Hersh Hersh Hersh you should know, EVERYTHIGN is bigger in Texas

 

Aw Bighersh, you need a dachshund. They were bred to hunt badgers. No badgers in my neighborhood!

 

Neighbor across the road has a long haired dachshund and someone down the road has another one. Now that I think about it, never seen a badger around here, never connected the two facts.

 

Yeah, and I don't see any rats (rat terrier) or cucarachas (chihuahua) either. Not even armadillos.

 

Just an added note. A dog has to be really obnoxious or pretty worthless for me to not find some redeeming factor. That longhaired dachshund across the street is pretty much an obnoxious worthless mutt. As usual, the dog takes after it's master. I have to remind myself, it is probably not the dog's fault.