Filling an armadillo hole is usually the right call if it is on your property and poses a safety or structural risk, but the timing, method, and type of hole all matter. Armadillos leave behind two very different kinds of excavation, and confusing the two leads to wasted effort or incomplete repairs. The decision also carries a few wrinkles most homeowners do not expect, from disease risk in the soil to the surprising number of other animals that may already be living in an abandoned burrow.
Foraging Holes Versus Burrows
Armadillos create two distinct types of holes, and the approach for each is different. Foraging holes are the shallow, cone-shaped divots you find scattered across a lawn or garden bed. These are typically one to three inches deep and a few inches wide, left behind when an armadillo roots through soil for grubs, beetle larvae, and earthworms. A single armadillo can leave dozens of these in one night. They are cosmetically annoying and can damage turf, but they are structurally harmless.
Burrows are the real engineering projects. A nine-banded armadillo burrow typically has an entrance roughly seven to eight inches in diameter and extends several feet underground, sometimes branching into multiple chambers. An armadillo may maintain several burrows across its home range, rotating between them. These tunnels can undermine sidewalks, driveways, foundations, and garden walls if they happen to be dug in the wrong spot. Knowing which type of hole you are looking at determines whether you need a rake or a shovel and a plan.
How to Fill Foraging Holes
Foraging holes are straightforward. You can rake the displaced soil back into the divots, tamp it down lightly, and reseed any bare patches of grass. If the soil has dried out or been scattered, topdressing with a thin layer of topsoil or compost before reseeding helps the lawn recover faster. There is no need to pack the fill tightly or use gravel. The holes are shallow enough that they will settle on their own after a rain or two.
The main frustration with foraging holes is that filling them feels pointless when the armadillo comes back the next night and digs more. If you are filling foraging holes repeatedly, the real issue is not the holes themselves but the armadillo’s continued presence, which is a separate problem covered further down.
How to Fill a Burrow Properly
Filling a full burrow requires a bit more effort. First, confirm the burrow is no longer active. An active burrow usually has a clean, freshly scraped entrance with loose soil fanned out in front. Cobwebs, leaf litter, or debris partially blocking the opening suggest the armadillo has moved on. You can also place a loose wad of newspaper or a few sticks in the entrance. If they are undisturbed after two or three nights, the burrow is likely abandoned.
Once you are confident the burrow is empty, fill it from the back forward if possible. For burrows near foundations or under structures, this may mean excavating above the tunnel and packing fill in stages. Use a mix of soil and gravel or crushed stone for the lower portion. Gravel discourages re-excavation and provides structural stability, which matters if the tunnel runs under a walkway or slab. Pack each layer firmly before adding the next. Top it off with native soil and sod or seed.
If the burrow is in an open area away from structures, you can fill it entirely with compacted soil. Push the fill material in with a garden hose running a slow trickle of water, which helps settle the soil into side chambers you cannot see. Overfill slightly, since the material will settle over the following weeks. A burrow that is not fully packed can collapse later and leave a sinkhole, which is sometimes worse than the original hole.
Why Leaving a Hole Unfilled Can Be a Problem
An unfilled armadillo burrow near your home or in a high-traffic area is not just an eyesore. The most immediate risk is a twisted ankle or a broken leg, especially for children, elderly family members, or anyone walking the yard at dusk when the holes are hard to see. Livestock are also vulnerable. A horse or cow stepping into a burrow entrance can suffer a serious leg injury.
Structural damage is the more expensive concern. Burrows dug under driveways, patios, or house foundations can cause the soil beneath those structures to compact unevenly or wash out during heavy rain. Over time, this leads to cracking, settling, or in severe cases, partial collapse of the supported surface. The damage tends to be slow and invisible until it is costly to fix.
Abandoned burrows also attract new tenants. A study in Arkansas using motion-triggered cameras at 35 armadillo burrows documented 19 species of mammals, 4 species of reptile, 1 amphibian, and 40 species of bird interacting with those burrows.1PubMed Central. Wildlife associates of nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) burrows in Arkansas Raccoons, opossums, cottontail rabbits, coyotes, gray foxes, bobcats, and various rodents were all recorded entering burrows, with some species rearing young inside them. If you leave an armadillo burrow open near your home, you may end up hosting animals you did not bargain for, some of which bring their own set of problems like raiding garbage, preying on pets, or introducing additional parasites to your yard.
Health Risks Worth Knowing About
Armadillos are one of the few non-human animals that naturally carry the bacterium responsible for leprosy (Hansen’s disease). Research confirmed zoonotic transmission of leprosy from nine-banded armadillos to humans in the southern United States.2Current Tropical Medicine Reports. Leprosy Transmission in Amazonian Countries: Current Status and Future Trends The risk to a homeowner filling a hole is low but not zero, particularly if the soil has been contaminated with armadillo excreta. A systematic review of leprosy transmission found that exposure to armadillos or their excreta can lead to infection, though the exact risk depends on the intensity and frequency of contact.3PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Reservoirs and transmission routes of leprosy; A systematic review The practical takeaway: wear gloves when handling soil from an armadillo burrow, and wash your hands and arms thoroughly afterward. Do not handle a live or dead armadillo with bare hands.
Leprosy is not the only concern. Studies of wild armadillos in Brazil have found them infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, and with antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. All seven armadillos tested from one region were positive for the fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, which causes a serious lung infection.4PubMed Central. Zoonotic parasites infecting free-living armadillos from Brazil While these particular pathogens are more relevant in Central and South America, they illustrate a broader point: armadillo burrows can harbor disease organisms in the soil and among the ticks and fleas that accumulate inside. Treating burrow soil as potentially contaminated is a sensible default, especially if you are immunocompromised or have open cuts on your hands.
When You Might Want to Leave a Burrow Alone
Not every armadillo hole needs to be filled. If a burrow is in a wooded area, a back pasture, or a part of your property where nobody walks and no structure is at risk, leaving it alone has genuine ecological value. Armadillo burrows function as shared infrastructure for dozens of other species. Camera-trap studies in both temperate and tropical settings consistently show a long list of animals sheltering in, hunting around, or raising young inside abandoned armadillo excavations.1PubMed Central. Wildlife associates of nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) burrows in Arkansas The burrows also moderate temperature and humidity underground, staying cooler than the surface in summer and warmer in winter, which makes them valuable refuges during extreme weather.5Journal of Zoology. Excavations of giant armadillos alter environmental conditions and provide new resources for a range of animals
In landscapes dominated by agriculture or development, where natural cover is scarce, armadillo burrows can be one of the few underground shelters available to wildlife. The Arkansas study found that burrow use by other animals was highest in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, a region dominated by farmland where natural refugia are limited.1PubMed Central. Wildlife associates of nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) burrows in Arkansas If you are on a rural property and the burrow is not causing harm, you are effectively providing free habitat by doing nothing.
The probability of other animals using a burrow does decrease over time as the entrance deteriorates and the tunnel fills with debris, so an abandoned burrow in a safe location is a naturally self-limiting resource rather than a permanent fixture.5Journal of Zoology. Excavations of giant armadillos alter environmental conditions and provide new resources for a range of animals
Stopping the Digging in the First Place
Filling holes without addressing why the armadillo is there is a losing battle. Armadillos dig where food is, and their food is almost entirely soil-dwelling invertebrates: grubs, earthworms, beetle larvae, and ants. A lawn with a heavy grub population is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Treating your lawn for grubs with a biological control like milky spore or a chemical grub killer reduces the food supply that draws armadillos in. This will not produce overnight results, since grub treatments take weeks to months to fully work, but it addresses the root cause.
Fencing can be effective but requires some specifics. Armadillos are strong diggers, so a fence needs to extend at least 12 inches below ground level to prevent them from tunneling under. A sturdy wire mesh or hardware cloth buried in an L-shape at the base works well around garden beds or small areas. Fencing an entire yard this way is expensive and labor-intensive, so most people reserve it for high-value areas like vegetable gardens or flower beds.
Live trapping is legal in many states but check your local regulations first, because armadillos are classified differently depending on where you live. Cage traps set along fence lines, building edges, or near active burrow entrances tend to work best, since armadillos follow edges as they forage. Bait is generally unnecessary; armadillos wander into traps placed in their travel paths. Relocating a trapped armadillo typically means driving it at least five miles from your property to reduce the chance of it returning, and some states require you to release it on public land designated for that purpose.
Motion-activated sprinklers and ultrasonic deterrent devices are marketed for armadillo control. The evidence for their effectiveness is mostly anecdotal. Some homeowners swear by them; others report the armadillo ignoring the device entirely. If you try one, treat it as a supplement to habitat modification rather than a standalone solution.
Armadillos Under Structures
The most urgent scenario is when an armadillo has burrowed under a house foundation, porch, shed, or air conditioning pad. These burrows can cause real structural damage and should be dealt with promptly. However, filling the burrow while the armadillo is still using it just forces the animal to dig a new entrance, often right next to the old one, which doubles the damage.
The standard approach is exclusion. Once you confirm the armadillo has left the burrow (they are nocturnal, so they typically leave around dusk), install a one-way exclusion door or a piece of hardware cloth angled outward over the entrance. This lets the armadillo leave but prevents re-entry. After confirming no animal is inside, usually by monitoring for several consecutive nights, remove the exclusion device, fill the burrow with compacted gravel and soil, and install a permanent barrier such as buried wire mesh along the foundation line to prevent future digging.
For burrows under concrete slabs, some homeowners use expanding foam or flowable fill (a low-strength concrete slurry) to stabilize the void. This is most appropriate when the tunnel has already caused settling and you need to prevent further movement. For small residential jobs, a sand-and-gravel fill tamped in stages is usually sufficient. If there is visible cracking in a foundation wall or slab, it is worth having a structural engineer or foundation repair specialist assess the damage before you fill anything, since the fill method matters for the repair.
Seasonal Patterns and Repeat Visitors
Armadillos are most active in your yard during warm months, roughly late spring through early fall in the southern United States. Their foraging intensifies during dry spells, when soil invertebrates move deeper and the armadillos have to dig harder to reach them. You may notice more holes appearing after a period without rain, followed by a lull after heavy storms push grubs closer to the surface where they are easier to reach without deep excavation.
Female nine-banded armadillos give birth to genetically identical quadruplets, usually in late winter or early spring. The young stay in the natal burrow for several weeks before venturing out. If you see multiple small armadillos near a burrow entrance in spring, that burrow is actively in use as a nursery and filling it would trap the young inside. Wait until the family has dispersed, typically by early summer, before sealing the entrance.
Armadillos tend to reuse the same network of burrows over months or years. If you fill one burrow and the armadillo simply moves to another on your property, you have not solved the problem. Combining burrow filling with exclusion fencing and food-source reduction is the approach most likely to produce lasting results. One hole filled in isolation is a temporary fix at best.