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I've been seeing more and more Armadillos in this neck of the woods. I know they have plenty down in Texas. My question is, has anybody ever seen one alive?
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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The best way to look for them is at night with a spotlight... you can actually see them a little better if you view them through the scope of a .22 rifle...
Edited to add: Ooops, George. I ain't from Texas, but we do have them Possum on the Halfshell rootin' our yards up every night around here too...
[ May 07, 2007, 06:58 PM: Message edited by: Jon Jantz ]
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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Tony, I don't appreciate you calling my wife 'Honey' without even knowing her and all... I don't care what y'all say in MO.... besides my money would be on her in a fight with a black bear.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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About 13-14 years ago, I stayed at Fort Wilderness at Disney World. One lumbered across my path about 4' in front of me, it was actually on a wooden porch right in front of a store. They're very strange creatures. They seem prehistoric. I actually saw a couple more while I was there, but none so close. That was in Florida.
Strangely, I lived in Texas for a couple years, near Dallas, and have visited since, but I've never seen one there, not even a dead one.
-------------------- Tracie Johnson Signovations Ventura, California Posts: 444 | From: Ventura, California | Registered: Nov 2005
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What they do is hide out under your trailer or house, until they think you aren't looking, then they venture out at night and eat up your yard.
They will dig holes, they will act ugly, and in general, will not cooperate with the whole idea of having grass or plants , because they are blind to your ambitions.
They like roots , and are obsessed for awhile with what you have to offer.
If they get a chance, they will make you feel incompetant.
But that's only because they don't know what you, as a human being, had in mind to begin with.
In the spring like this, they act kind of out of control, 'cause they are in love . Don't be the same way...unless you want to be.
Don't worry about them...they'll get over acting stupid...they always do.
-------------------- Jeff Ogden 8727 NE 68 Terr. Gainesville FL, 32609 Posts: 2138 | From: 8827 NE 68 Terr Gainesville Fl 32609 | Registered: Aug 2002
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We used to see them all over in Slidell. They part of the landscape. And yes they will root up your yard into rambling furrows in just a few hours.
Now I hear they are all the way up into hoosier country Indiana. You gotta be carefull. If you run over one with a VW Bug they kick so hard they can tip the bug over.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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hahaha Curtis.. hadn't heard that before. I have seen them jump straight in the air in an attempt to bust out grill and radiator... this usually only happens when you swerve over in the other lane, and they realize that you are actually 'trying' to hit 'em.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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Do you know why the Chickens in Missouri cross the road????
To show the Armadillos it really can be done lol.
I lived in southern Missiouri for 6 years and never saw a live Armadillos or possum. saw lots of road kill tho.. Funniest thing is i had never seen a live possum till i moved to pasadena calif.. (which is city living) I have a possum that lives in the ivy in the back yard.. Uglyyyyyyyyyyyy animals..
-------------------- sue brown american instant signs pasadena, calif Posts: 90 | From: southern california | Registered: Jul 2006
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Armadillo's are the live ones ...what you're seeing are Armadidn'ts.
Armadillos maybe the stupidist animal alive they sit perfectly still in the middle of the road and when a car goes over them the jump straight in the air and into the undercarrige...sounds something like a rolling cannon ball.
But the meat is good...tender too after the tumble!
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
Some years ago, I had a shop foreman who loved animals. It was a slow day if Billy didn’t have at least a half dozen species in his truck when he arrived at work, and one day he showed up with a baby armadillo. Since a very off the wall country radio station was one of our good customers and their mascot was an armadillo, we brought them the live armadillo the next time we were working there.
This wasn’t the first animal of ours that had graced their studio. Whenever we came, they wanted to know what surprise Billy had for them. The eight foot bull snake presented to the station engineer, the racoons in the lobby, and the rattlesnake pulled out while the DJ was on air are different stories, however, everyone loved the cute little armadillo and played with it and then we brought it back to the shop.
We kept Speed Bump in a box for a few days and he gorged himself on every bug presented. We then turned him loose in my back yard. Armadillos love earthworms and he immediately started to dig. Worms would sense the vibrations and come out of the ground, headed away from the commotion. Armadillos have very poor eyesight but an excellent sense of smell. Speed Bump could tell there were worms around and he would stomp all over the place, squashing what he could and then come back, sniff them out and gobble them up.
Shortly thereafter, he decided to dig a burrow under my garage. In no time, he was out of sight. A few minutes later, he emerged and started gathering twigs. He would pull together a bundle like a sheaf of wheat and hold them cross ways to his body between his front and back legs and hop then backwards across the yard with the bundle and drag them down the burrow. That critter was 100% motion and never stopped working. I came out of that experience with a new respect for armadillos. They are most industrious creatures.
One reason so many get killed on the road is their instinct to jump when startled, causing them to leap into the underside of a vehicle that might otherwise straddle them. This brings me to my next armadillo account.
Twenty five years ago, as I was attempting my first ever night landing, I did some incidental tree trimming, not in the flight plan and completely unauthorized by the FAA. In my defense, I will point out that I never had a flight lesson up to that day and the pilot just turned the controls over to me and told me to land the plane. He kept asking if I was too low and I kept replying, “I don’t know” until we heard the thump, at which point, he resumed the flying.
Later, as we were getting the bent propellor fixed at the prop shop, I mused that guys like me must keep them in business. The technician told me the aerial pruners only gave him a little extra spending money, the “gear up idiots” provided the big bucks. As I gazed out at the sea of mangled air screws, I remarked that there must be a story behind each one of them.
He started to tell me the tales. “This guy grabbed the wrong lever and retracted the gear instead of the flaps at touchdown. That guy hit a cow on the runway–didn’t kill it, just a clean amputation. That one caught an armadillo in the prop.”–Yes, they do jump when startled! The man relating all these anecdotes was hopping around the shop on his only leg. I didn’t ask what happened to him.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5089 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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David, you have a very unique story telling ability. Good writing. It's easy to picture the events as you tell them. I liked the tree trimming analogy.
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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My brother and I were playing golf in Florida and just a few feet from the cup on one of the holes was an armadillo. I decided to sneak up on him and grab him. I didn't know they jumped and as I grabbed him he jumped about two feet in the air and ran for the hills. Their heavy body mass makes them nearly impossible to hold onto after they launch.
Two things I'll never forget Alton Gillespie telling me about armadillo's is (1) they are born dead on the side of the road and (2) it sounds like you've hit a trashcan when you run over one.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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In the wilderness Armadillos bury their dead. I guess they think the ones that are dumb enough to get run over can just lump it. I have a couple of armadillos around here I see them in the mornings early, They really like avacado roots, have killed a couple of my avocado trees. I hope they all go to Indiana. Bill
-------------------- Bill & Barbara Biggs Art's Sign Service, Inc. Clute, Texas, USA Home of The Great Texas Mosquito Festival Proud 10 year Supporter of the Letterheads Website www.artssigns.com "MrBill-" on the chat page MailTo:biggsbb@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1020 | From: Lake Jackson,Tx | Registered: Nov 1998
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truth is bill biggs and ray chapman are raising and distributing them....ALL OVER THE U.S.A.)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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