Standard wire traps leave too much to chance. You have to position them perfectly in the armadillo’s path, fumble with boards, and hope the animal wanders in. In this video, Dusty Showers from Creepy Creatures Termite and Pest walks you through how to catch an armadillo in a live trap using a pre-scented wooden trap that works with the armadillo’s own instincts, covering everything from daily trap checks to safe relocation once you have one.
What you’ll learn: How to set and use a pre-scented wooden armadillo trap that requires no bait and no guesswork. Exactly what to do with an armadillo once it is caught, including why relocation is easier for armadillos than for almost any other animal.
The surprise: You do not need bait. The trap ships pre-scented with armadillo dirt, and because armadillos follow where other armadillos have been, they walk in on their own. No placement tricks required.
The proof: Dusty Showers has 30 years of professional pest control experience trapping armadillos in the field. This is the exact method his company uses on live jobs today, not a backyard experiment.
Stick around for the moment Dusty opens the trap and introduces the armadillo up close. He makes a point that surprises most people: armadillos literally cannot bite, their mouths are too small, which changes everything about how confidently you can handle the catch.
Key Moments in This Video
Click any timestamp to jump to that moment in the video.
- ► 0:54 — “the creators of the trap learned that armadillos will go where other armadillos go — we buy the traps pre-scented so they already smell like armadillos”
- ► 1:23 — “with the wire traps armadillos get caught and they try to get out and in doing that they scratch their nose — because there’s no harsh metal on this trap, it’s just built of wood, you don’t get the armadillos with noses that are scraped up”
- ► 1:53 — “if you do catch it and you don’t check it and an armadillo dies in there, that smell of the dead armadillo ruins the trap”
- ► 2:50 — “if they need a place to go all they need to do is dig a hole — they have houses everywhere, literally, they just need to dig a hole and they’ve got a new house”
- ► 5:41 — “it’s really blown out — I think it’s traced back to Louisiana somewhere where they had some in captivity for a study, they escaped with leprosy — but if you do ever choose to handle one, wear gloves”
How to Catch an Armadillo in a Live Trap — Full Walkthrough by a Pest Control Professional
Why Trapping Armadillos Has Never Been Easier
It’s Dusty Showers from Creepy Creatures Termite and Pest, and I am here with an armadillo and an armadillo trap. Trapping armadillos has become very easy because of this trap — it’s literally called the Armadillo Trap if you look it up online.
The Problem With Old-Fashioned Have-a-Heart Traps
The old-fashioned way used metal traps — what they call have-a-heart traps. You have to put them in the right place, get the armadillos to go into them, position them in the path where the armadillos are wandering. Sometimes you are fumbling around in there with boards or other things trying to guide them in.
The Secret: Pre-Scented Traps That Attract Armadillos on Their Own
What’s really amazing about this trap is armadillos just go into it. The secret is that the creators of the trap learned that armadillos will go where other armadillos go.
They put armadillos in the traps before they send them out, or at least they put armadillo dirt in them. So we buy the traps pre-scented — they already smell like armadillos. We put them in the general area where the armadillos are hanging out and they just walk in, trigger the trap, the doors close, and the armadillos are inside.
Why Wood Beats Wire — No More Scraped Noses
The cool thing about this trap that you don’t get with the metal or wire traps is that with wire traps, armadillos get caught and they try to get out. In doing that they scratch their nose. Because there is no harsh metal on this trap — it’s just built of wood — you don’t get armadillos with noses that are scraped up.
The Daily Check Rule You Cannot Skip
The important thing to know about armadillos is you always have to check the trap every morning. Do not ever set a trap if you cannot check it every morning. If you are not going to be available to check the trap and deal with an armadillo if you catch one, be sure to close the trap for that period of time.
One of the things about this trap is if you do catch one and you don’t check it and an armadillo dies in there, that smell of the dead armadillo ruins the trap. For that reason alone, check the traps daily.
Armadillos Cannot Bite — Handle Them Without Fear
Armadillos don’t mean any harm. In fact, they are not even capable of biting — their mouths are too small. There’s no need to abuse them if you catch one. Just do whatever you can legally do as far as relocating them.
A lot of people are afraid about armadillos when they have their pets around, but without them being able to bite they can’t do any harm to your pet in any way. They want to run from them anyway. They’ve got sharp claws but those claws are really meant for just digging. They don’t use them to defend themselves unless you actually try to touch them on the belly, in which case they’ll kick.
Why Relocating Armadillos Is Easier Than Relocating Other Animals
It’s my belief that armadillos are far different when it comes to relocating than other animals. If you relocate raccoons and squirrels, which are very territorial, they require a greater investment. A raccoon or squirrel needs to build a nest, needs to open up a house to get in an attic, needs a hollow part of a tree — housing that’s not readily available. They also need to seek out food, which isn’t always easy.
With armadillos, if they need a place to go, all they need to do is dig a hole. They have houses everywhere, literally — they just need to dig a hole and they’ve got a new house. And to eat, which means bugs and grubs, all they need to do is dig a hole. They don’t have to chase down prey or scavenge. They just dig holes and there are bugs everywhere.
Armadillo Litters — Always Four Babies of the Same Sex
Armadillos will always have four babies of the same sex. But that doesn’t mean you are always going to catch the mother and four babies. Sometimes babies move on — they get hit by cars, they join the circus, who knows. It’s not a guarantee that you’re going to catch the mother with babies. It’s also possible to catch multiple adults. When you deal with armadillos, you just don’t know how many there are.
How to Tell an Armadillo Burrow From a Gopher Tortoise Burrow
A lot of the time armadillo burrows are confused with gopher tortoise burrows, especially here in Florida. An easy way to tell them apart is that armadillos always burrow up against a structure — a shrub, a platform, a slab. Gopher tortoises tend to put their burrows out in the open without any structure around. You’ll see a hole in the ground with a great big pile of dirt, sometimes on little hills.
Armadillo burrows tend to be kind of an oval shape on end. A gopher tortoise burrow is the same shape as the top shell — the carapace — of the tortoise if it were turned sideways. They make their burrows so that they can walk in, turn around, and walk back out. Pretty smart tortoises.
How Much Structural Damage Do Armadillos Actually Cause?
While there are plenty of trappers who will tell you that armadillos do a lot of damage, after 30 years of doing this I don’t know if I’ve ever seen any real damage from an armadillo burrowing under a slab. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen for a smaller slab.
Armadillos tend to dig down at a deeper angle than a skunk might. A skunk will go under a slab and pull all the dirt out and it can collapse. Armadillos tend to dig down at a steeper angle, so they just don’t bring that much dirt out from the entire structure.
The Leprosy Myth — What You Actually Need to Know
The other thing armadillos are known for is leprosy. Well, it is possible that armadillos can carry leprosy, but it’s really blown out of proportion. I think it’s traced back to Louisiana somewhere where they had some in captivity for a study and they escaped with leprosy. For whatever reason everybody thinks of armadillos and leprosy, and it’s just not that widespread.
But if you do ever choose to handle one, wear gloves.
The Humane Case — No Need to Kill Them
A lot of people like to brag to me about how they kill armadillos and I am not impressed. Armadillos are harmless little animals. Almost all the damage they do is cosmetic, and there’s no need to hurt them. There’s no need to shoot them, no need to take a shovel to one.
If you feel like you need to get rid of them, just trap them and move them to a better place. Or even better, just try to live with them. I’d love to have them in my yard — which I do have them in my yard.
A Closer Look at How the Trap Mechanism Works
These traps have two doors, one on either side. All you need to do is pull this down a little, there’s a screw that latches right here. The doors are open on both sides — they’re solid doors.
The armadillo just smells the armadillos that have been in there, so it stinks like an armadillo. They walk in there looking for their buddies, they hit this trigger with their nose from the inside, and the door closes. It’s really nonviolent, and it’s the best armadillo trap on the market.
If armadillos are tearing up your lawn or burrowing under your slab, the good news is that this is one of the more solvable wildlife problems you will face. Unlike raccoons or squirrels that need established territory and shelter to survive a relocation, an armadillo can dig a new home and find a meal in the same hole. That makes trapping and moving them a genuinely humane outcome for the animal and a permanent solution for you.
Your next step is straightforward: get the pre-scented trap, place it in the area where you’re seeing activity, and commit to checking it every morning without exception. That daily check is the one rule the video comes back to more than once. It protects the trap, it protects the animal, and it keeps the whole process clean. Everything else about how to catch an armadillo in a live trap comes down to letting the trap do what it was designed to do.
Once you’ve made the catch, resist the impulse to overthink relocation. As Dusty puts it, all an armadillo needs is a place to dig. There are very few places on earth where that’s not an option. Move it, release it, and you’re done.