More And More Nine-Banded Armadillos Are Being Spotted In North Carolina And Here’s What You Should Know

By 1995, it had successfully pushed into South Carolina and, within a couple of years, had spread all the way across the state. Its rapid movement quickly led the species into North Carolina.

The population spread has been at a startling rate. So much so, that in 2009 there was a suggestion for North Carolina to have an open season on hunting the armadillo.

One might think such a service of ridding the yard of unwanted insects would be a good thing to have around. But think again!

An armadillo burrow is typically eight inches wide, pushes to as much as seven feet deep, and can be as long as 25 feet! It has the potential to burrow right under your home. A single armadillo can destroy your yard.

Starting at just one year of age, armadillos begin to reproduce. And here's the odd part: each year fertilization takes place in July or August — and then the egg is withheld from implantation for three to four months so the offspring won't be born in the dead of winter. And then, the reproductive story of the armadillo gets even dicier...

A year later, the newborn female armadillos reach sexual maturity and they, too, have four more armadillos. It's a cycle that has the potential to increase the population immensely each and every year.

The outer 'shell' of the armadillo, while it isn't technically a shell, is nearly as hard as the shell on a turtle's back. It takes the bite of a cougar, bear, wolf, alligator, or jaguar to penetrate the outer shell which is present on the armadillo's back, the outside of its legs, its head, and its tail. In essence, the population is also spreading because there are too few predators.