Although I've been having very good success trapping armadillos with double door cages and drift fences, I decided to try the wooden armadillo trap by thearmadillotrap.com I ordered a "pre-scented" trap and set it on a woods road back of my house (my armadillo testing ground) and caught 3 "dillers" in 4 nights. It was setup in a trail but no funneling was used. Just might be something to it! I plan to try one on my future armadillo jobs. Will still set up cages with drift fence but will throw one of these in the equation and see what happens.

Understand that trap will certainly catch them.

I have been toying with making a wooden trap for years. I have felt best for the customer to just add a cloth or piece of plywood to the traps I sell or his existing trap, for the scent gathering ability.

The enclosed wooden box would hold the scent better,but I don,t think it would hold up as well over time, especially if the trap was to be used for other animals also.

I had a customer last year that had one that he showed me when I sold him the trap I suggested.

Had a friend and customer that called last night and was excited cause he caught his 9th armidillo in his. He just has a piece of ply wood in the bottom of his trap and sets the trap in the yard.

I have used plywood in the bottom of my cage traps as well. If I have to put the trap on turf I don't use plywood as it of course damages the grass more...same of course for the wood trap. For the record the wood trap snagged another one last night. Now 4 catches in 6 nights.

A question that I have is...if armadillo scent really helps the catch that much and it certainly seems to, then is anybody selling armadillo scent as a lure? I know there are some diller baits on the market but haven't tried any. I will be setting up an armadillo job tomorrow a.m. and will do my usual cage traps with drift fence setup but throw the wood trap out for a test.

Very interesting. Please keep us posted.

Go For It!

So you are setting it without fencing, just a set trap in the yard?

All catches were in the same place. Trap was set in a trail where it crosses a woods road so there is a bit of natural fencing but nothing else. When I set up the armadillo job tomorrow I plan to place it in the wide open where there is diller sign.

Here is the "woody" set for action on a job. In all fairness to it though, a diller will have a tough time getting to it with all the drift fence funnels I have elsewhere in the yard.

Neat.

Set the woody on a new job a few days ago and it has nabbed 3 dillers with zero funneling.

I would build them with a wire trigger 11-12" tall and 10 to 11" wide and 34" long. Steel quillotine door frames and bar doors flapper door lock.

When wood rots, take metal off and replace boards. Fasten frames and mechanism with 1/4" bolts with lock nuts and washers.

Doors would be faster and wouldn,t worp. Trap would be less cumbersome to carry than the standard one.

Bar doors wouldn,t matter to the armidillo cause they would be up when he went in and down after.

There might be other makers on here that might have a better Idea or could do it cheaper. It would be interesting to see other double doored designs.

Kirk, I might take you up on that if you can do cypress.

I have not worked with cyprus but I will see. I was going to use treated plywood.

Would cypress absorb the smell as the other woods? Is there be a "best" type of wood to use?

Cypress is naturally rot resistant and should absorb odors better than treated. It's also available to you locally, Fred Rossman in Moultrie makes all his bee ware out of cypress.

I built a couple nearly identical to the original. I would have to say that the steel door frames and bar doors would be an improvement and I intend to put bar doors on all of mine when I get a chance. I recently put a cypress floor on a porch and noticed that a piece of scrap that was out in the yard swelled considerably when it was rained on. My thinking is that it would have to be heart cypress which would be pricey. I had hoped to get 3 out of a $35 sheet of 3/4 pressure treated plywood but only got 2. Some pieces left over but not enough for a full trap. Maybe with bar doors you could get 3. The trap that I purchased uses lightweight metal rods to support the piece of wood that the trigger mechanism mounts to. I used 5/16 threaded rod so you can pick the trap up by that piece (like a handle).

I have had one instance of a mis-fire where one door hung up. Trap wasn't sitting perfectly level. I think the bar door and steel frame would eliminate that problem.

I have been rotating my "dillers" thru the wood traps when I have a wooden one at home to add scent. They are definitely well scented now! This is not the cure-all catch-all solution to armadillos but I'm definitely gonna keep putting them on jobs along with wire trigger traps with drift fence.

Will check tommorrow. Let me see about the wood. I have customers that I trapped beaver, have saw mills that saw cypress.

The guillotine door frames on the end would allow you to carry, but I would mount the same handle I now use on my tube trap.

It would essentially be a large double door tube trap.

They would be very positive functioning and should hold up fairly well.

Barehunter

I believe if they should have been made out of cypress, they would have come that way on yours.

I sure will give it a look tommorrow.

THE CYPRESS IS TOO EXPENSIVE.

That's what I would have guessed!

Kirk, we'll talk about it in October. I have the cypress if I can get the rest in kit form I can do the assembly.

Could just be me, but when someone states the number of traps, 10, and puts a price of $95 each, is there any way that could be construed as advertising, don't know.

Another dillo in the wood box this morning.

You got my curiosity up over that thing and so I had to look it up.

All it is, is a double door rabbit box. I found one for sale for 69.95 plus shipping. Really?... 69.95?

Funny story;
It was some years ago when I was walking down the street and noticed something in a shop window. It was an old rabbit box in the front window of an antique store. It looked to be in pretty good shape so I had to go in and ask about it.

The lady behind the counter was a short, gray haired lady with half rimmed spectacles and a pearl necklace like my grandmother use to wear. I asked her, "How much do you want for the rabbit box in the window?" thinking that another box on my line was always a good thing.

"That will be 55 dollars." she said.

"55 dollars?" I was taken aback. Then I thought on it for a moment and asked her, "How many of them would you like for me to bring YOU?"

70 dollar armadillo trap? Nah. I could build 4 or 5 of them cheaper than that.

I'm building mine Muddawg. Can get two out of a sheet of plywood with a little left over. 3/4 PT is $35 per sheet. Add in hardware etc they are about $25 each. If I made them to sell (which I don't) I'd be in the range that they sell them for.

Here is a little different design and I believe taller. Not for sale.

12x18x40

It looks simple. NOT

Never saw one like this before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXYY9q04y4

I'll take a dozen! Set up my third diller job in three days with a couple more open, Everything I got is in other folks yards.

Kirk, I was serious that if you can get me the metal in kit form I would buy them.

Very nice Kirk! That should do the job. Warrior...I had 6 jobs going at once a week or two ago. Diller business is off the chart and from the amount of burrows etc that I'm seeing in the woods while deer hunting, it is only gonna get better....or worse depending on your perspective.

I think I'd need a wooden box to be a double door. I am so used to throwing Kirk and Jim's traps up with a little barrier and catching them going both ways. Still not quite sure what the advantage would be of having a fully wooden box since they are going to rot. I put 1/4" plywood in the bottom and usually cover the traps. Works great. I'm catching 2 a night at one of my current jobs. 16 armadillos since last Saturday. Is it so they don't bang their heads on the cage door?

What's a dillo burrow look like? 'Bout the size of a groundhog hole, I reckon? Any distinguishing characteristics?

Well what's a groundhog burrow look like?

A diller hole is going to be in the 8-10 inch range with the spoil tossed out in front. It will always be a shallow slope down, never straight down. Location will always be the key, underneath something. In the woods it will be under blow downs or brush piles, only rarely into open banks. They will never be in the wide open.
In residential yards look under decks, outbuildings, shrubbery, wood piles and the like. The main key areas they seem to like are under the HVAC pad, under pool pumps and/or slab, the inside corners of foundations often have a hole.
Now for the bad news dillers are not habitual in their use of a burrow. It's seems that other than maternity season most. urrows are dug as needed for shelter whoever they happen to b.

That's nice Kirk could you just sell the parts and then we could make are own wood box

did you sight that cross-bow in yet pesky??? i think i was meant to win that.

Here's a couple

I would have to tell you I would agree with Jerry in most cases.

What is out there is not being utilized to its potential.IMO

If wood was lighter and more durable, that makes a big difference in material choice.

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no not yet . Maybe we could make a trade .

Loaned one of my wooden traps to a friend yesterday. We set it up in his yard with no funnels. He didn't want to set it until he had penned his beagles up for the night so he set it at 10 pm. Said he went out on the porch at midnight and the diller was in the trap.

Are you using any walk through double doored traps with 1/4" plywood on the bottom at these same locations to compare. If you are, are they covered?

Maybe the inclosed sets permeate the smells more effectively.

Here they just put a board in the bottom and leave in the yard in a shaded, moist location. They do this after the first one is caught.

I have used thin plywood under my traps in the past, but have mostly used the construction drift fence of late. In situations where I need to set on nice sod I don't like to use the wood trap or plywood under trap due to killing the grass. I do feel like the enclosed wood box is somehow more attractive than a cage with plywood on the bottom.

Last night I was able to get into a conversation with Kirk Dekalb on our Animal Trapping 1 Podcast . I cut out his armadillo trapping discussion and you can listen to it here. http://trapperrobb.com/nuisance-wildlife...apping-9232012/

there is a fellow that has taking a thearmadillotrap and used it to construct one with some mosifications and sells them for $60, he then smears a thin coat of mud all inside on walls and around hole on top, then he will put an armadillo in it and leave it in there a few days to scent the mud,now the trap is scented...when it dries out you simply use a spray bottle and mist the mud to remoisten it and activate the scent...the more armadillos you catch the better it works the next time.the only thing I can figure is that it replicates an armadillo burrow

I realize this thread is a few years old.. But.. Wondering if any of you could get a close up picture of the trigger on the wooden double door traps.. I got the single door figured out no problem.. But not exactly sure of the double door trigger. Thanks

I would use a standard trap with wood on bottom. If you get oil or gas or something on the board you just get another board. You get a foreign smell in the wooden trap it is no good for a long while.

Unless the doors are metal after a while they may not be consistent, either.

I have wooden traps with metal guillotine doors. I have been testing for a while.

My assumptions are based on my testing. There are many trap makers that have pan triggers that a board can be placed on the bottom. I am not pushing my stuff. Just trying to help.