We have really enjoyed owning our home, but you have to take care of somethings when you have a home that you previously did not. House renos aren't the only thing you can now be a part of!
We have a skunk under our shed. It's been there for at least a year and he's digging the bejesus out of our lawn looking for grubs. I want thins thing out from under our shed. Now. But trapping a skunk is not something I've done before. I can see trapping it pretty easily, but then what? I see the scene playing out like this (especially the end), with me in the part of Steven because my wife is too smart to be the one outside.
As exciting as that looks, I would like to get rid of this thing without spending my afternoon in a tomato bath in a kiddie pool in the yard. I've tried blocking the entrances to the shed, but the thing digs another. Short of getting night vision goggles and closing the shed up once the skunk goes out for the night, I don't think that will work. People have suggest moth balls, but I'm not spreading toxic chemicals under my shed and letting them bake in the hot sun. I know that special skunk traps exist, but there's got to be a solution for under $150.
Anyone dealt with this and have suggestions (what NOT to do is also welcome).
21 hours ago
My uncle managed to trap one when I was a kid, but he ended up drowning it in a garbage can to get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat about those onesie body suits that people wear to do clean/paint/whatever as a protective barrier for yourself.
OR go to tractor supply and borrow one of the HavaHeart traps, put cardboard or something around it so the skunk can't see you.
Ooooor a black market gun?
tranquilizer* gun
ReplyDeleteAny 'humane' live traps will work, but cover it with a tarp or cardboard as suggested above. The skunk will not spray if it risks spraying itself in a closed space.
ReplyDeleteCall Critter Control (or the local equivalent). I know Critter Control has a catch and release program. Although not common, wild skunks can carry rabies and you don't want to have to deal with that.
ReplyDeleteYou're afraid of a little skunk? Pfffft.
ReplyDeleteBuy a .22 and sort it out terminally. How long you been over here now?!
ReplyDeleteDo *not* try and catch it. Rabies shots and skunk spray is not worth it. Plus imagine all the fun you can have teaching the wee one to shoot squirrels in summer time!
But seriously, how cool would it be to get night goggles???? Isn't it, like, every dude's dream to need a pair?
ReplyDeleteWell, yes of course PlS still needs the night goggles. He does need to make sure other skunks don't invade. I'm surprised he doesn't already have them. Should be on every homeowner's list of must-haves, along with a large assortment of powertools (can't have too many!), seven or eight hammers (including at least one sledgehammer), and duct tape.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, PiT, I have a healthy respect, bordering on fear, of getting that close to a skunk. I'm not a fool in that respect. Maybe in other respects, but not that one.
Sadly I have actually trapped a skunk (thanks to my growing up in the deep south). We fashioned a ring to the top of a large squirrel trap so that we could pick it up with a hook mounted to a pole to maintain the requisite distance away from getting skunked. We tossed the trap in the back of someone's old truck (that we borrowed, I wasn't putting that thing in my car) and took it out to the woods and let it loose. Some of my southern breathren might have shot or worse ate the damn thing but I felt bad and returned it to the woods. However I spent like $20 at the local carwash trying to wash the funk out of the back of my buddies truck. Oh yeah use canned cat food to lure the skunk in, they love that stuff. Best of luck.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much for small animal shootin' and I doubt my neighbors would appreciate the acquisition and use of guns in my backyard. Night goggles might freak them out more, but that doesn't mean I'm not looking into to getting a pair.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a truck, so moving the skunk post capture will be an issue I will be dealing with, assuming I go with the capture method. Ammonia-soaked tennis balls was floated as a less nasty option along the lines of the moth balls. Of course, it'll probably move from my shed to under my porch...
Hire a professional. It's worth the expense to have the animal removed safely and humanely and without skunking up the damn place. Need not be an exterminator per se, though many of them do small animal removal.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, when I'd first moved to Vancouver, I came home at 2am after a night out to find a skunk blocking my access to the front door. Not having grown up in a country that has skunks, I had no idea what to do. How close would it let me get before it would spray me? What kind of range do those things have anyway - could it get me from where I was standing at the front gate?
ReplyDeleteI ended up retreating to the far side of the road and pinging gravel at it until it moved. That seemed to work OK. My roommate took a more sophisticated approach to skunks and the local ninja attack crows - he would attack from his balcony using a catapult and a big bag of dried peas.
I would call animal control, they should be able to give you some options. Since skunks are a rabies vector, the city should have some options to dispose of them. If you're in an urban area, look up the people who capture and spay/neuter feral cats, they'll know places that will take skunks (since you catch feral cats and skunks in the same traps) and may have more "catch and release" ideas than animal control.
ReplyDeleteAnimal control is a no-go unless we think it has rabies. Already tried that.
ReplyDeleteHow would your neighbors feel about you owning a paintball gun? It may get rid of the skunk and teach the little neighborhood pissants to stay off your lawn.
ReplyDeleteGenomic Repairman FTW!
ReplyDeletepost vids ASAP pls. Thanks.
Absolutely go with professional help. What further signs could an animal give you to encourage you to outsource the labor?
ReplyDeletethat, or the paintball gun. But something soon....isn't it baby skunk season?
You're all afraid of this?? Ahahaha.
ReplyDelete- from someone who lost the majority of her olfactory capabilities through unsafe lab practices and extreme sporting accidents
Move into an apartment.
ReplyDelete-antipodean
Call back animal control and LIE! Tell them you've been watching the skunk more closely and it is acting erratic- coming out in the daytime and it seems like it is disoriented. They will be there asap.
ReplyDelete