The armadillo, that official small mammal of Texas, is waddling its way north

Houston Chronicle ^ | 9-4-06 | JEANNIE KEVER

[Snickering Hound]

Bush's fault

[cripplecreek]

Blame global warming. Or maybe just wanderlust

The oppossum has been wandering northward for thousands of years. Must be global warming started sooner than we thought.

[capt. norm]

armadillo = "possum on the half-shell"

These critters have been expanding their range northward for hundreds of years. Has nothing to do with "global warming", but the "Warmists" will find a way of claiming that's what's happening.

They can attribute everything from a bad hair day to a volcano to be caused by their sacred global warming".

[Oberon]

The oppossum has been wandering northward for thousands of years.

Wow...I bet he's tired by now.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

These critters are just now arriving in large numbers here in mid-Missouri and are proving to be quite destructive. I've put down stinky fertilizer, live traps and have taken one with my .22 via the deck.
Does anyone have a method to keep these things away ?

[TexasCajun]

Not the only thing moving north.

In the Kemah/Seabrook area and south on 146 to Galveston there are now a few thousand small green parrots.

They build huge nest in the power line towers.

They're everywhere down here.

[capt. norm]

The nine-banded armadillo, the most prolific of the 20 species of armadillo and the only one to live in the United States, crossed the Rio Grande about 150 years ago.

They have been here in Florida (entire state) forever.

From the Rio Grande to the southern end of this state is quite a walk.

[peggybac]

I have a few in my backyard in KC.

[stboz]

Mammal or marsupial?

[mosquewatch.com]

All this talk of possums and armadillo's is makin' me hungry. (sarc off)

[tet68]

Atlanta Georgia too, thirty years ago you never saw one.

[Howard Jarvis Admirer]

Armadillos were known as "Hoover Hogs" during the depression. Apparently the "Hogs" were barbequed, roasted, and stewed when food was scarce. Who knows, maybe they taste good with the right recipe. You might even become a "Hoover Hog" rancher - the "new white meat" so to speak. Anyone know if "Hoover Hogs" are tender and tasty or tough and gamy?

[cripplecreek]

Wow...I bet he's tired by now.

They don't really play dead, they just fall over from exhaustion.

[elcid1970]

At annual training in Camp Shelby MS, 'dillos were described to the uninitiated as "the M1A1 armorplated possum".

[stboz]

You better have steel toes in your shoes if you try to kick one.

[Ikemeister]

I lived in Texarkana Texas for a year in the 70's, and yes, the folks down there do eat Armadillo. I never could bring myself to try it, but they told me it tastes like................pork (you thought I was going to say chicken, didn't you?).

[martin_fierro]

[RichardW]

I hope they all leave Texas. I've got a regular armadillow boot hill out in back. They are highly destructive animals that will dig under the foundation, sidewalks and driveways. And they have been known to carry leprosy. Filthy creature.

[Osage Orange]

Why did the chicken cross the road?

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To show the armadillo it could be done.

[RichardW]

Get one of those animal traps. Then use your trusty 22 and drop him in a hole after he quits flopping about. They will outrun you and I gave that up a long time ago. However, they don't see very well. You could camp up on your roof and wait to see them at night and then shoot them with the 22. But the animal traps are the best. We caught about eight of them last year and one small one got into my fenced yards. I shot him with my 22 pistol and then buried the varmit.

I have found that if you place the traps along a fence they will often just wander in there on their own. It may take a little experimentation but that's my preferred way. We put quite a dent in their population last year.