Nine banded Armadillo diets

Louis

Louis

New Member
So we got a couple of nine-banded armadillos a while back. They lived on a terrible diet at their last home (yoghurt and banana, because "they wouldn't eat anything else"). I got them on a more carnivorous diet, increasing their weight and giving them better stool.

Currently, we give them the following:
  • BARF from chicken meat
  • Mealworms
  • some fruit (banana or apple)
  • an egg (occasionally)
The diet is based on the information that armadillos are mostly carnivorous and require a lot of protein. Are there any tips or diet plans you guys use for armadillos?
 
I've taken care for several specimens on 2 occasions and we fed them dry cat-biscuits mixed in yogurt, some fruit ( pears, banana ) and mealwurms on top of the mix. The smell was not pleasant and the food had to be changed twice a day. We kept them healthy on this diet for several months and then they moved to another keeper. Don't know if he changed the diet but the animals are still triving at this new place :).
 
vogelcommando said:
I've taken care for several specimens on 2 occasions and we fed them dry cat-biscuits mixed in yogurt, some fruit ( pears, banana ) and mealwurms on top of the mix. The smell was not pleasant and the food had to be changed twice a day. We kept them healthy on this diet for several months and then they moved to another keeper. Don't know if he changed the diet but the animals are still triving at this new place :).
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Oh great to hear! we got them off the yoghurt because of the rumors (I couldn't find any good sources, but I heard this from a zookeeper) that armadillos have trouble with digesting lactose. Did you run into any trouble with that?
 
As said, we only had them for a relative short time but in this time they looked healthy.
In an old German zookeeper-book I found the following diet :
- finely ground beef
- egg yolk
- stuck protein
- milk ( so your fear for lactose intolerance seems to be unfounded )
- soft cheese ( again a milk product )
- commercial dogfood
- mealworms
- fruit and vegetables
- seeds / grain
- bone meal
- vitamines
the animals should be fed twice a day and the quantity should be 10 - 12 % of the weight of the animal.
I guess there are numberous other diets fed by zoos but the best way is to try as much as possible and if the animals are eating it well, keep it that way but try from time to time to make little changes to see if you can improve the diet.
 
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