Armadillos showed up in Newnan over the past decade. Now they're firmly established. Here's what to know about the lawn damage, the leprosy risk, and why DIY armadillo removal almost always fails.
By Justin McCalvin
Armadillos weren't part of the Newnan job mix when I started in this work. They've shown up in the past decade. In 11 years across north Georgia, I've watched the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) push steadily northward into Coweta and the surrounding suburban-and-rural counties — and Newnan is now firmly inside the established range. If you're a Newnan homeowner staring at strange cone-shaped holes in your lawn, or you've noticed your foundation plantings rooted up overnight, there's a very good chance an armadillo is the cause. This is the licensed-contractor version of what's happening, what to do about it, and why DIY armadillo removal almost always fails.
Nine-banded armadillos are not native to Georgia. Their historical range was Mexico, Central America, and the southwestern United States. They began expanding northward through Texas in the early 1900s, hit Louisiana and Alabama by mid-century, and started moving into south Georgia in the 1970s and 1980s. Over the past two decades they've worked their way through the Atlanta metro suburbs.
A few things drove the expansion. Georgia's relatively mild winters let armadillos establish — they don't tolerate sustained hard freezes well, but the freezes that historically wiped out a population are now rare in this part of the state. The state's high earthworm and grub densities give them an unlimited food supply. The combination of suburban irrigated lawns and rural-residential pasture and woodland edges creates ideal habitat. Newnan and Coweta County in general — sitting in the southern metro Atlanta exurban arc with a mix of pre-1860 historic-housing yards, 1990s-2010s I-85 corridor subdivisions, and rural-edge acreage — have been a particularly good fit for the species.
The result: armadillo calls in Newnan have gone from rare to routine in the past decade.
Armadillo damage looks different from the other species that produce lawn damage:
Compare to other species: moles produce raised surface tunnels, not cone-shaped divots. Groundhogs dig single large burrow systems with multiple entrances under structures, and they're diurnal — visible during the day. Skunks dig cone-shaped divots too, but smaller (1-3 inches) and usually concentrated rather than scattered. If the pattern is widespread and scattered and the divots are 4-6 inches across, it's almost certainly armadillo.
Nine-banded armadillos are the only known non-human reservoir of Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterium that causes leprosy (Hansen's disease). The CDC has documented zoonotic transmission cases in the southern United States, primarily in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. As the species expands northward, the geographic risk profile expands with it.
For Newnan homeowners, the practical implications:
The actual transmission risk to a typical Newnan homeowner who calls a contractor is essentially zero — but it's why we wear PPE on every armadillo job, and why DIY armadillo removal isn't recommended.
Most "armadillo solutions" sold at hardware stores don't work. Specifically:
Effective armadillo control combines targeted live trapping with grub-population management plus hardware-cloth burial-grade exclusion around vulnerable structures.
A standard Newnan armadillo job runs through this sequence:
Inspection. I walk the property identifying active burrows (often under decks, sheds, or porches), the divot-damage zones, and the runs the armadillo uses between cover and feeding areas. Armadillos are creatures of routine — they tend to use the same paths every night.
Live trapping. Armadillo-specific live traps deployed along the runs, with funnel-style barriers (logs, boards, or temporary fencing) directing movement into the trap. Standard residential armadillo trapping runs 3-7 days for a single resident animal, longer for multi-armadillo properties.
Hardware-cloth burial-grade exclusion. Around any vulnerable structure (deck, shed, porch foundation), buried at least 12 inches deep with an outward-facing apron at the bottom. Surface-only fencing fails because armadillos dig under it readily.
Grub-population management. Without addressing the food source, more armadillos move in to fill the niche. Seasonal grub-control treatment in spring and fall is part of an integrated long-term approach.
Standard Newnan armadillo jobs run $300-$800+ for trapping and removal. Burial-grade exclusion adds $300-$1,000+. Multi-armadillo or multi-property situations run higher. Each contractor provides property-specific estimates.
Call us when you're seeing scattered cone-shaped divots across your Newnan lawn, foundation plantings disrupted overnight, visible burrows under decks or sheds, or pet-exposure incidents involving an armadillo. Same-day inspections are usually available across Newnan, Senoia, Sharpsburg, Grantville, and the rest of Coweta County.
If you'd like to see how we handle the work, here's our Newnan wildlife coverage and the broader Coweta County wildlife services hub. For another seasonal-timing read on a different species, our Fayetteville baby squirrel guide covers similar calendar logic for the spring squirrel rush.
Eleven years in, the armadillo problem in north Georgia has gone from a curiosity I read about to a routine call type. Coweta County and Newnan in particular have been on the leading edge of the species' northward push, and that's not reversing. If your lawn looks like somebody took a coring tool to it overnight, or your hostas got rooted out of the bed last week, you've probably got an armadillo.
Call (844) 544-3498 and we'll come take a look.
— Justin McCalvin, Local Wildlife Experts
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About the Author
Justin McCalvin works with Local Wildlife Experts, a family-run wildlife removal company that covers all of north Georgia. He has spent 11 years in the field and is licensed under Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division.
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