Do Mothballs Repel Armadillos?

05.18.2005 - I am annoyed at mothballs. Somehow, somewhere, someone got the idea that mothballs would repel wildlife. Now I encounter mothballs on a weekly basis - inside homes occupied by animals who don't give a crap about mothballs. Armadillos are just one such animal for which people use the magic cure-all critter repellent, mothballs. Thus, this homeowner dumped a box of moth balls down this armadillo hole. Amazingly, the armadillo didn't care. As you can see in the above photo, lower right side, the armadillo continued to use the burrow, and some of the mothballs got dragged/kicked out as the animal went in and out and dug as part of its normal business. Then in the upper left side you see the armadillo captured in a cage trap filled with mothballs as bait. That's right, I used mothballs as bait as PROOF that armadillos are not repelled by mothballs. Heck, maybe they're attracted to mothballs. Regardless, mothballs, made of napthalene, are annoyingly common in do-it-yourself armadillo control and wildlife control in general. Mothballs do not repel armadillos. Mothballs do not make good armadillo repellant, I mean repellent. You can't keep armadillos from digging by using moth balls. If you must do something yourself, as opposed to hiring a trapper to remove the armadillo, at least place a large blockade over the hole. The animal will likely dig around it, but at least it's better than poisoning the earth with toxic mothballs.