They have nicknames like "Texas speed bumps" and "opossums on the half-shell."

For years, armadillos have been associated with a less-than-pleasant scene matted to a western road.

More and more these days, though, the armored little mammals are waddling their way to Alabama.

"We used to never get calls on armadillos," Florence Animal Control Director Vinny Grosso said. "Now we get them all the time because they dig up gardens and so forth."

Ron Eakes, supervisor and wildlife biologist for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Game and Fish Division in northwest Alabama, said most counties in the area have reports of armadillos.

Eakes said his agency doesn't keep tabs on armadillo populations, but the animals appear to like it here.

"They're here, and I don't see any major thing that's going to change that," he said.

Unless the area's climate cools for a long period, "they're kind of like cockroaches; they're not leaving," Eakes said.

Randy Davis, a veterinarian at the Tennessee Valley Animal Clinic in Tuscumbia, said armadillos are nocturnal, so it's rare to see one during the day. They also are fairly fast. That combination makes them difficult to spot.

Most commonly, when someone spots an armadillo it is, as Eakes puts it, "asleep on the road with its legs up in the air" - a polite way of saying road kill.

But how did they make their way here from out West, especially with the Mississippi River as a dividing line?

"Probably, they got here a little on their own as a lot of woodlands were opened up," Eakes said. "They moved east, and over the last 30 to 35 years, managed to come across Louisiana, Mississippi and into Alabama.

"And we probably had a few folks help them along the way. My guess is they're such an unusual-looking animal, they were picked up and brought as jokes or the little ones as pets, and when the novelty ran out, they were turned loose."

A 2005 Chicago Tribune article titled "Why did the armadillo cross the Mississippi?" gives similar theories.

Armadillos were spotted in the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas in 1849, according to the article. It is believed they migrated into Central America across the Panamanian land bridge some 3 million years ago and eventually made their way into Texas.

Bridges, including those with pedestrian and bicycle paths, make migration easy, the article states. They also are good swimmers, so it could be that some survived the river crossing.

"They have a lot of fat deposits on their body, so my guess is they float," Eakes said. "They kick and wiggle, and sooner or later, at least some of them manage to cross."

Initial reports of armadillos in Alabama surfaced in the 1970s. Once in the state, they eventually worked their way to the Shoals, and the population appears to be growing quickly.

"I saw my first in the late '80s," Grosso said. "In the early '90s, when I had a pet shop, a couple of baby armadillos were brought to me and had upper-respiratory infections because they weren't adapting to the area's climate.

"But, apparently, Mother Nature has a way of adapting, and now armadillos are flourishing here."

Eakes said the animals like to root for grubs and insects, so his agency often receives complaints about them digging in gardens and newly sodded yards.

"The callers are ready for the little armored pig to leave," he said.

Davis cautions against keeping an armadillo. He said the animal can contract leprosy and spread it to people.

"They don't make good pets," he said. "People don't need to handle them."

In addition, they have been known to jump straight up at a person out of instinct when they are afraid. "They're not really being aggressive - it's out of fear," Grosso said. "But there's been many a nose and chin broken by one of them doing that."

Eakes said the armadillo is not a protected species. "So, within the regulations of whatever city ordinance you have, you can dispatch them."

He said you can trap the animal by placing two boards on the ground in a "V" shape, so it forms a funnel. Put a trap at the end.

Grosso explains the animals have bad eyesight, so they'll follow the boards into the trap.

Eakes recommends a board about 6 inches wide. He said the armadillo won't jump it. Instead, they'll just walk into the trap.

"They're not bright little creatures," he said.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@TimesDaily.com.