Armadillo Removal in Vinings, GA
Woke up to small cone-shaped holes all over the one flat patch of lawn you have, or soil kicked out of the beds on a terrace? That's an armadillo, and sprays and granules won't stop it. Call us and tell us about the job — we will confirm the local crew for your county before any work starts.
Armadillos digging up your Vinings yard
Armadillos have become more common across Georgia every year, and they've reached the wooded hills of Vinings too. They eat grubs, worms and beetle larvae, find them by smell, and dig wherever the soil is soft. On a steep lot there isn't much flat ground, so the damage tends to concentrate on the places that are: a small level lawn, a terraced planting bed, the strip of turf at the bottom of a slope. You'll find dozens of small cone-shaped holes overnight — some people say it looks like hogs rooted up the yard.
Armadillos also dig burrows, and hillsides give them good places to do it: into a bank, under a raised deck, behind a retaining wall or beneath steps and an AC pad. That's where the damage can stop being cosmetic. The good news is that armadillos can be trapped. The bad news is that almost everything sold to repel them doesn't work.
Why repellents and home remedies don’t work
Mothballs, castor-oil granules, predator urine and ultrasonic stakes all get tried first, and none of them reliably keeps an armadillo away. It's following food it can smell underground, and nothing on the surface changes that. Mothballs in particular should never be used around a home for an animal problem. Every week spent testing products is another week of fresh holes.
Don’t treat the lawn for grubs
It sounds logical: kill the grubs and the armadillo will leave. In practice, grub treatments are not recommended. When food gets scarcer, the armadillo digs harder and wider to find what's left, so the damage often gets worse, not better. Removing the animal is what stops the digging.
Trapping is about where the trap goes
There's nothing you can bait an armadillo with, so a trap only works if it's set exactly where the animal already walks. Armadillos follow the same paths each night — along a retaining wall, the edge of a deck, the base of a slope — and a pro reads the holes, tracks and burrow openings to find them. Pre-set wooden box traps placed on those paths, often with boards angled to guide the animal in, are the most effective method.
Burrows under decks, steps and walls
On a hillside home, the raised downhill deck, the steps between terraces and the base of a retaining wall are all likely burrow sites. A burrow can run several feet, and over time it can wash out soil under footings and walls on a slope. After the armadillo is removed, the pro closes the burrow and installs metal barrier screening buried in the ground around the deck or step base so the next armadillo can't dig back in.
What you can do in the meantime
Fill fresh holes so you can tell new digging from old — that helps the pro see which paths are active. Don't put out bait, and don't add grub killer. If you see a burrow entrance, leave it open until the pro has a plan, so the animal doesn't just dig a new one somewhere worse.
Why more can follow
Georgia's mild winters don't hold armadillos back, and they have few natural predators. Once one finds a yard with soft soil and good burrow sites, another may follow the same route along the wooded slopes. Removing the animal and closing off its burrows is what makes your property less attractive to the next one. Armadillos have no legal trapping restrictions in Georgia.
Common armadillo questions in Vinings
Something is digging cone-shaped holes in my lawn in Vinings — what is it?+
Do armadillo repellents, mothballs or ultrasonic stakes work?+
There's a burrow under my deck or shed — is that an armadillo?+
How do you actually get rid of an armadillo?+
Will an armadillo damage my foundation?+
How much does armadillo removal cost in Vinings?+
Other Vinings problems that come with armadillos
Our wildlife crew handles these closely related problems — the ones that most often turn up with a armadillo issue.
Got more than armadillos in Vinings?
An armadillo is rarely the only animal moving across a Vinings hillside at night. See everything we handle locally on the Vinings wildlife removal hub, or jump to Georgia wildlife removal.
Want the background before you call? Read our statewide guide: Armadillos tearing up your Georgia lawn.
One call to your Vinings armadillo crew
An armadillo digs every night it’s on your property, and its burrows can undercut decks, steps and retaining walls. Call us and tell us about the job — we will confirm the local crew for your county before any work starts.
- Local to Cobb County. Georgia DNR-compliant handling — call to ask about licensing and insurance.
- Trapping, not repellents. Traps set on the armadillo’s own paths, then burrows closed off — store-bought repellents don’t work.
- Done right. Removal, exclusion and cleanup.