I Declare A Blood Feud

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

My winter garden WAS so pretty - safely tucked away under sliding glass doors. Left a glass panel up last night since it was warm and I wasn't going to be available today to open them for letting out heat. One Armadillo - Garden TRASHED - almost a total loss - he (???) did the same thing to my tomato garden in late summer. I declare a BLOOD FEUD!!!

[rags57078]

dang he belongs in the compost pile

[nehimama]

That is just heart-breaking. I'm so sorry for the loss of your hard work and your winter garden.

[Belfrybat]

Oh, how I hate racoons! I hope you get that sucker but good.

[Waiting Falcon]

My aunt had the most beautiful flower bed along the walk abd steps to the porch. One night they were awakened by a strange bumping noise. It was TWO armidillos fighting!!

There was nothing left of that carefully tended bed, nothing!! Both of the wreckers met their demise. I have no use for those creatures can cause so much damage - they can even undermine building by digging under the foundation.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I do hope you were able to catch the rascal.... possum on the half shell is considered a delicacy in some circles.

[texican]

Peering into my crystal ball, I 'see' hardware cloth in your future. Or, dillo on the halfshell...

I picked up a trailerload of 3'x6' sheets of it about 8 years ago, and still working on that huge pile.

[Home Harvest]

Does armadillo taste like chicken? After I fed a groundhog my garden peas last spring, he/she tasted pretty good in my stew pot. (True yankee here. I've eaten about everything from groundhog to squirrel, but not sure what you southerners eat?)

[ninny]

Originally Posted by Home Harvest

Does armadillo taste like chicken? After I fed a groundhog my garden peas last spring, he/she tasted pretty good in my stew pot. (True yankee here. I've eaten about everything from groundhog to squirrel, but not sure what you southerners eat?)

More like pork. We eat pert near anything that is considered edible and probably some things that aren't considered edible.

.

[DryHeat]

I ate some at a boy scout survival training workshop back in Florida in the '60s. At the time I thought it was delicious and compared it to a combination of pork and beef. Over the years since then I've heard comments on how 'dillos, having a rather cool body temperature for mammals, are the only critter other than humans at risk from the leprosy bacterium. I pretty much dismissed all that until I did some searching a year or so back and saw enough detail that I've shifted my opinion. Where the populations in Florida actually don't seem to have the problem, going north and west into LA, MS, AR, TX, in many areas a very real percent of them (like 20%, 30%) at least harbor the bacteria. Brazil still has a serious leprosy problem in its human populations and it's been shown those ill are correlated strongly with having handled armadillos going to sale in food markets, if not actually dressing and cooking them. Zoo keepers here in the states, even, are at some slight risk. So, personally, I would never mess with an individual of that species that had visible skin lesions, and would use good disposable gloves for burying any garden wreckers dealt with appropriately, keeping dogs and such away. I'd still eat one, especially in Florida, but would want it well-done completely through the bones and again, insist the preparers use one-time gloves with serious kitchen cleanliness. Think dressing wild rabbits with possibilities of tularemia.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Nope, I'll shoot him when I can catch him and then he goes along side the road for Buzzard Bait. Even Buzzards need to eat.