Armadillos For Sale

Pet Armadillos

These impressively odd creatures make excellent pets. However, they do not come highly recommended to people who have no experience keeping exotic animals.

Interesting facts about armadillos

Armadillos are actually mammals. There are people who have always believed armadillos to be somewhere in the group of lizards and geckos. Armadillos are placental mammals meaning that they give birth to live young ones.

Secondly, you should know that the shell of the armadillo is made from true bone and not some other materials. In photographs the shell might look a bit metallic. This has prompted numerous rumors about the shell actually being metallic. When young armadillos are born, the shell is very soft (the hardness of fingernails) but it hardens as they grow and develop.

Due to the presence of the bony shell, armadillos are not particularly flexible. It might leave you to wonder how some armadillo are able to curl themselves up into a ball. Actually, there is only one species of armadillo that can manage this feat- the three-banded armadillo.

Armadillos do have eyes but their eyesight is not particularly good. As such they rely heavily on their ears and sense of smell to find food and escape any danger. They also have a long tongue to pick up their favorite foods (small insects and worms) very easily.

The nine banded armadillo can give birth to four identical offspring at once. All four young ones develop from the same egg and share the same placenta till they are born. The most interesting part of armadillo reproduction is that there are some females that can delay implantation after mating and fertilization has occurred. This often occurs when the female is under stress.

Keeping armadillos as pets

Armadillos are generally rare when it comes to housing in captivity. Very few people know exactly what is needed and on top of that the state laws of some places restrict keeping one as a pet. Therefore, the first thing you should do is to check with the local authorities. In some states such as Maine and Hawaii, it is categorically stated that armadillos should not be owned as pets.

If you are in a place where armadillos are classified as livestock then you can keep one or two in your home. This however means that there is a regulation to their import. You should prepare yourself because in most places armadillos are categorized as wildlife and most state laws specify that wildlife should remain in the wild.

What should you do if you rescue a wounded or abandoned armadillo? Keeping it in your home to nurse it would be a crime- unfortunately. You should make a point of taking the animal to a wildlife rehabilitation center that is licensed.

Diet and care for armadillos

Before you learn what to feed your little pet you should know that armadillos have a really slow metabolism. This basically translates to lower food intake. In fact when an armadillo overeats it may suffer critical gastric distress if it does not die. Therefore, when you are feeding an armadillo, make sure you are not force feeding it. The nursing armadillos obviously do not eat the same thing as the adults.

When you adopt an armadillo of nursing age then you should use kitten formula to feed it. This will help supplement for the mother’s milk that is not available. The formula should be fed using an eye dropper because the young ones are really small and a bottle will just be cumbersome. Remember, do not force feed the baby otherwise disaster might just strike.

For adult armadillos moist canned food is the way to go. Armadillos do not have very complex dental formula. Their teeth are few and not designed to tackle hard foods. This is why soft food is always good for your pet. This is supplemented by the armadillo’s natural food. They are fond of worms, insects and vegetation. When you supplement the diet of your pet armadillo with the likes of bait worms, ants, lettuce and fruit you will train your pet to forage on their own.

In the case of a baby armadillo you will also have to teach it how to find its own food. This you can do after you have taught the baby what it should eat. Bury the food under a bit of dirt and let the armadillo dig it up.

Caring for armadillos

Armadillos like all other animals are prone to various illnesses. Shocking as this might sound, armadillos can contract leprosy and transfer it to human beings. Veterinary care is therefore very important in such a case to prevent such infections and others from harming your armadillo. Secondly, the place you keep your pet should be conducive.

It should not be extremely cold. Armadillos are prone to frostbites due to their low metabolism which does not produce a lot of heat. Be that as it may, armadillos also love water for swimming. They are excellent swimmers and thus you should ensure that they can access a wading pool of some kind. Keeping too many armadillos together will result into problems. There will be many fights and of course injuries. The animals will also want to find their own space and can dig their way out of an enclosure. They are perfect when it comes to digging.