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Armadillo Fence. Wholesale direct DIY armadillo fencing, keep armadillos out

Armadillo Fences

Bothered by armadillos? You’re not alone. Rooting about for grubs and other soil-dwelling bugs, they commonly damage yards and gardens. Our fences offer an effective way to keep them out.

Types of Armadillo Fences

You don't need a heavy conventional fence – say a picket fence, or a chain link fence with posts in cement footings. That's overkill. What you need is a strong, light, low metal fence, with some of the fencing laid out flat (toward the armadillos) or buried underground to discourage digging. That's what we offer here.

Fence Height: Don't be dismayed by our wide range of kit offerings. We started out as a deer fence company, and some of our kits make really tall fences. It's perfectly true that no one needs an "Armadillo" fence ten feet tall. However, if you click on the title below that reads "Armadillo Fence Kits with Overlap" and scroll down through the plastic ones and the tall all-metal ones, at the end of the list you will come to two kits, numbers 055 and 056, for fences 2 and 3 feet tall, that keep out armadillos really well.

Get a 3-footer if your armadillos seem strongly driven to enter the enclosure. Otherwise, if their interest in what's inside doesn't seem vastly greater than their interest in what's outside, by all means get the 2-footer.

Fencing Material: You'll find that both kits "automatically" come with 2" x 2" welded wire fencing, but there are various options. Our favorite is the black galvanized 1" x 1" welded wire option, because armadillos do have limited climbing ability, and this 1" x 1" fencing offers less encouragement to climb than the larger mesh. Please note that all of our welded wire fencing is heavily galvanized (over the weld), coated with black PVC, and approved for both salt spray exposure and soil contact.

The Bottom Fold: Armadillos do burrow, so they should be discouraged from digging under the fence. Accordingly, both the 2 and 3-foot kits come with fencing material 1 foot wider than the fence is tall. This allows for an extra foot of fencing at the bottom.

If your armadillos seem slightly to moderately inclined to dig, fold this extra foot outward on the ground (toward the armadillos) and stake it down with the foot-long ground stakes provided in the kit. If they seem intensely inclined to dig for the specific purpose of entering the enclosure, spend the extra time and effort needed to bury this foot of fencing material underground, angling it outward at 45 degrees.

About Armadillos and Armadillo Control

  • Habitat: Armadillos like it warm. They’re most at home in places like Texas, Louisiana, and Florida; also inhabit the South and West as far north as Oklahoma and South Carolina; and have made occasional appearances as far north as southern Nebraska and Illinois.
  • Night Life: These creatures are nocturnal. That makes it hard to tell if you have armadillos or not, because all you see is the damage. However, if you see holes dug in the lawn that are 4+ inches wide and 2+ inches deep, and you’re in the right part of the country, you’re apt to be dealing with armadillos.
  • Food: Armadillos live mostly on insect larvae, other insects, and similar creatures like earthworms and spiders. There’s some evidence they’ll also eat fruits and vegetables, though most of the damage done to plants is done while rooting about for underground delights.
  • Navigation and Trapping: Think of armadillos as small tanks. They see poorly and tend to lumber rather than leap about. They have a keen sense of smell; but since it’s hard to bait a trap with their favorite food, the best way to trap them is to create a large funnel approaching the trap in the same direction from which the armadillos are thought to be approaching. This process, like the armadillos themselves, is rather cumbersome – and also time-consuming.
  • Other Control Measures: No other control measures are sure-fire. Shooting works where it’s allowed -- until new armadillos move in, and assuming the shooter is willing to stay up really late. Repellents have mixed reviews. Getting rid of brush and potential hiding places is useful but often proves a half-measure. And decimation of underground insect populations with pesticides is likely to intensify the armadillo’s rooting about by increasing its hunger. Hence the appeal of fencing.

More Fence Information

  • Visibility: In terms of appearance, the main point of a yard or garden is not the fence. So it helps for the fencing to have low visibility, as ours does, and for the fence posts to be good looking, as ours are.
  • Our Posts: The posts in our 2 and 3-foot kits are round black galvanized steel posts 1-5/8 inches in diameter. At a height of 2 to 3 feet, they don’t need corner or end bracing, being plenty sturdy enough to support the fence and avoid being batted down by armadillos.
  • Post Sleeves: Our posts come with sleeves for easy installation. The sleeves get driven into the ground with a hammer (no sledge hammer is needed), and the post gets inserted into the sleeve. The sleeve is long enough to avoid any need for cement footings.
  • Post Spacing: The posts in our kits should be spaced about 7 feet apart. That’s plenty close enough to make these short fences look good and to prevent the welded wire fencing material from sagging.
  • The Tensioning Option: One should consider our tensioning option if there’s worry that the armadillos will pull the fencing down the posts. However, the fencing, secured to the posts with very strong zip-lock ties, is robust and not inclined to slide down a short fence. So in most cases the tensioning system isn’t needed.
  • Gates: No gates come with our kits, but these can be purchased separately on our gates pages. Please note that these gates do not come with fencing material for the gate door, so that purchasing a gate does not increase the length of the fence provided by the kit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I install an armadillo fence myself?
Yes. Unless you are infirm or the ground is incredibly hard or rocky, it’s a breeze. However, you are working with unfamiliar materials, so be sure to watch our videos and read our written installation instructions.
Should I hire an installer?
If you want to save the time and effort needed to install the fence yourself, by all means hire someone to do it. But avoid professional fence installers. They will rightly charge more for their specialized fence knowledge about chain link and other fences, knowledge that does not apply to our fences. And, thinking they know how to do it, they will tend to make mistakes. So it’s better to hire a capable handyman or landscaper comfy with English and to have him see our videos and read our written instructions. That will typically produce a better job for less money.
Is an armadillo fence harmful to other wildlife?
It’s possible, if the other wildlife is living off plants in your yard or garden, or has a home there, and is stopped by the armadillo fence. Except in this unlikely scenario, there’s little chance that your armadillo fence will be harmful to other wildlife.
How should an armadillo fence be maintained?
Pretty much like any other short fence. Look around periodically, especially after big storms, to make sure the fence is intact. Or, if armadillos are getting in, find out why and fix the problem. It’s true that no fence should be considered maintenance-free. But it’s also true that maintenance of this short fence is an occasional rather than a daily task.
How effective is an armadillo fence?
Armadillo fences should be matched to the determination and drive of the armadillos. If they are much more interested in what’s inside the enclosure than in what’s outside, then you need a relatively taller fence (so they cannot climb over), one with a longish buried bottom extension (so they won’t dig underneath). However, if the armadillos’ interest is less intense, a more modest fence (shorter, with a simple bottom fold) will do. That being said, a soundly constructed armadillo fence properly matched to the armadillos’ incentives will be highly effective and will reliably keep them out.
How about an electric armadillo fence?
These tend not to be reliable because the armadillo’s armor resists the electric charge. Hence, the animal needs to touch the charged wire with its nose, mouth, or paw. If you put up a barrier armadillo fence first and put the electric fence ahead of it, the electric fence will tend to increase the reliability of the barrier fence. Alone, however, the effectiveness of an electric fence is limited.
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