A few nights ago my dad’s dog, Buster, woke me up at about three o’clock in the morning barking his fool head off. I could tell by his bark that it was not a human intruder but rather a critter alert. It was a full Moon and I figured he probably saw a bug or something crawling across the yard and felt the need to inform the entire neighborhood. I yelled at him out the window to shut up and unbelievably he did. The next morning, as I was preparing to mow the grass, he started barking again and seemed to have something cornered under my dad’s big leaf blower machine. Remembering a week or two earlier, when he had tangled with a snake (killing it), I removed Buster to the pen and my dad and I went to investigate. We moved the leaf blower and exposed a hole in the ground about ten inches across. At first I couldn’t see anything in the hole but then I noticed movement and a large scaly rear end and tail. Then dirt began flying out of the hole. It was an Armadillo apparently trying to dig a hole to China to escape Buster. We found our old animal live-trap and I proceeded to dig the critter out with a shovel while he tried to outdig me and go deeper. I finally dug him out, herded him into the cage and relocated him about a mile into the woods behind our house.
They’ve been migrating this way from the Texas/Oklahoma area for a few years now. As my wife says, “Judging by the number we see squished on the highway, they’ve been traveling by way of I-40 eastbound….” This is the first time we’ve seen one here on our property.
Excellent picture! It’s danged near impossible to snap a picture even if you are camping where we were at a NPS campgrounds in northern Florida, and waiting with a camera. We could hear the rustling in the underbrush but they are fast little critters. Thanks for the great picture!
Thanks. We seem to be seeing more and more of them. Saw two in the front yard a couple of days ago!