unwanted skunk

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We have caught two skunks at our back porch where we have a small area they can wiggle under but a third one [maybe more] has eluded us and the humane traps we have set. His/her spraying at night has permeated the house and have us on the run. How do we catch this wiley animal? We have searched around the house for other openings and have found none. My husband swears they can not get in our cellar.

-- Nancy Blackwelder (Nhblackwelder@cs.com), February 03, 2001

Answers

My Mom and Dad-in-law had this same problem under their trailer. We put the humane trap under there and attached a loooooonnnnnng rope. We then could pull it out. It actually took two tries because the first skunk we caught wasn't that easy. My city folk Dad-in-law had coiled the rope for us....PEUW! After you catch them(tuna works great, but will also catch cats)you pull the rope with the tracter. My husband got it away from the house and then shot it. If you can not get it to go into the trap you can also make a huge racket in the house at night and stomp around and then close up the holes?! Our Amish friends removed a grate that was on the side of the house and put the trap at the opening. He put hay bales around the trap so the skunk would not be able to see it as well . It worked for them.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 03, 2001.

Skunks can also be baited with eggs or old meat.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 03, 2001.

Throw moth balls through the little hole. They will not some back. We did this under some old sheds and the skunks left! DW

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), February 03, 2001.

Throw moth balls through the little hole. They will not come back. We did this under some old sheds and the skunks left! DW

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), February 03, 2001.

When I discovered a female and her 4 nearly grown kits living under our back porch, the conservation agent suggested flooding the area. Mama skunk got her kits out quickly and since they were nearly grown, they didn't try to come back. Now in the spring, I run a hose under there a little every week to keep it wet when she might be looking for a denning spot again. Our porch is a slab so it worked okay for us. There's more to the story but I won't go into it. The guys at the conservation dept. had a good laugh at the expense of the agent who helped me get rid of her.

I was feeding our cats out there and not being particularly careful to remove the food at night. No more.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), February 03, 2001.



I have several suggestions. 1. Put trap away from hole. They have a path they follow every night and may not go into it near their home. 2. Dig the hole larger and insert the trap halfway so when the skunk tries to leave, it will set the trap. Sometimes they will dig a different hole to avoid trap. 3. Put chicken wire, one foot down, two feet bent out (away from house)\_ The skunk will be able to get out. After he leaves at night (You can put flour by the hole), fill in space and he will not be able to get back in. I have found all three of these things have worked.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), February 04, 2001.

I have one or more that live under my equipment shed and I have tried, canned cat food, chiken, (in Hav-A-Heart) trap but never get him/it, the trap will be sprung sprung the next day. Some nights it gets under the house, where one of the dogs sleeps, then we can smell it all over the house & dog. I have put a hose connected to the exhaust on a truck and piped it under the shed in hopes of chasing it out. This skunk or it's relatives have been around for 2 years, recently it was under the barn, my workshop was quite pungent the next morning.

-- Hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), February 04, 2001.

I once read in an old Countryside mag. rom the 80's that skunks can't stand rock music. Just a thought.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 04, 2001.

I read all the posts on how to get rid of skunks and they were full of good suggestions.I am perplexed at my good luck.I never bothered to chase the skunks or shoot them.We feed them right along with the cats.Same food dish at the same time!The skunks will get too greedy sometimes and a cat will bat them on the nose for it.No spraying.They have become so tame around here that we have to push them out of the way to get in the door to the house.On VERY RARE occasions we do smell skunk spray the odor does not last more than a few hours and has been tracible to when the skunks are fighting or chasing off a raccon.I do talk to them when I am going in and out at night so as not to startle them.I guess I'm sharing this because I think it's neat and maybe to show that there is a middle road to dealing with them.I remember reading somewhere that skunks don't like the smell either and will only spray when threatened.I do know that skunks are hell on rats and mice and for that reason alone I like to have them around.We also have free ranging chickens and again the skunks are no problem.The kitties are all vaccinated against rabies so no problem there.I have tried the mothball trick in the past and it seems to keep them out of the treated area.I'll try and post some photos when the moms and babies start coming around again this spring.

-- Greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), February 06, 2001.

Someone's gonna get sprayed, and it might as well be a dog. At least the dog will eliminate your problem. The aftermath might not be real fun, but hey, ain't country life grand ?!!!

-- Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), February 06, 2001.


Skunks are nocturnal,they sleep in some darkish place all day and come out at night. Put a light on an extension cord under your porch, they should leave. I have not had to try this myself, fortunately, but it is easy and humane. Worth a try. Sandy

-- Sandy in MN (jpevans_56353@yahoo.com), February 06, 2001.

Lots of good ideas. I'm not too fond of skunks and accidentally live- trapped on in our backyard in the city. I was trying for a woodchuck that was tearing up my wife's flower garden. One very dark night I thought I had trapped the woodchuck, but I was wrong. After the longest shower of my life, the next morning I held a sheet in front of me and slowly walked up to the skunk. A trapper had told me that they won't spray unless they can see your shape. I guess they see better in the dark than I do. At any rate, it worked. I used a trash can full of water for the coup de grace.

-- Martin Boraas (boraas@miliserv.net), February 08, 2001.

I was told to use honeycomb to bait skunks into digging up ground wasp nest, so it should work for bait in a trap, My parents were on speaking terms with the skunk family that lived under our house when I was a child, they made a habit of speaking softly as they moved around the house at night and earily mornings, nether mom or dad ever were sprayed.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), February 10, 2001.

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