Our skunks came back!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-30-2009, 12:39 AM

So the snow melted and it got warm. Sure enough, the skunks came out to play. DH was out having a smoke the other night with the light off, heard some rustling, went back inside and turned the outside light on. He said the thing was about the size of a medium dog!

I went out to take DS5 to school and came back to find a massive hole in my garden area! It looks like the skunk moved the chicken wire and then dug a hole large enough for someone to break their ankle in. They got pretty far down (I'd say the hole is about 12 inches deep) and created a real big mess underneath the neighbor's front steps (which sits next to my garden area).

DH put in a sheet of plexiglass where they were digging to try to block them from digging even further. It worked a bit. I showed FIL and MIL the hole today and FIL suggested using both Raid (like for insects) spray and some moth balls underneath the stairs. He said that if you do that in all of the areas that they've been digging, it'll take a week before they stop coming around. We have four spots in our yard that they've dug out so far (one in the back yard behind a set of stone stairs, two in the side of the house where the stone stairs are, and the hole in the front yard where my garden will be at).

I had hoped that Calgary's Animal Control division would help but they stopped dealing with skunks. I'd have to call an exterminator and pay for it if I wanted them gone. DH and I are going to get some moth balls this weekend, sprinkle them in there and spray the Raid. Hopefully, they won't come back.

**mauimagic** · 04-30-2009, 01:23 AM

When I first read you topic, I thought "well, the skunks must have missed you!!" Then I read your post - my lord - what do they eat? Too bad there's not a natural birth control you could out for them. Good luck with this problem!!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-30-2009, 08:58 AM

Thanks.

I think they've been picking through the trash in the neighborhood, which I'm about to write to City Council about. I walk through the alleys and I see nothing but trash all over the place. I keep all of my trash in cans and put the cans out when it's trash day, but a majority of them will keep their trash out all week long with no protection.

I believe they like digging near my place because they've been there before and it's a comfort thing for them. They won't be so comfortable after I put moth balls in there to drive them out.

**pop goes the weasel** · 04-30-2009, 10:54 AM

Moth balls will work to a point .(Just be sure there are no little kids that can get.) We had some but like you said if there is food for them they will stay. We had a bunch of stray cats that someone dumped off and we fed them.....and every other critter in the neighborhood. We finally had to trap them and relocate them to farms. Hope you can gt something done through the City Council.

**pop goes the weasel** · 04-30-2009, 11:02 AM

Maybe one of these will help....

Mothball scattering and ammonia-soaked cloths serve as a temporary repellent, but may encourage skunks to leave an area like the crawl space. Bright lighting will also chase them from dens.

Life-like owl figures (scare crows) are sometimes effective

motion-sensitive spotlights in garden areas, as the sudden bright light alarms the animals

And most importantly...

If you see a skunk walking around in the daytime, particularly if its behaviour seems to be erratic, if it is acting unusually tame or unusually aggressive, or just wandering aimlessly, you must leave it alone and contact animal control authorities. This behaviour is symptomatic of an animal infected with rabies. Do not go near the animal and avoid your pets getting near it

**saver** · 04-30-2009, 11:03 AM

Just a thought, but I wonder if you get some ammonia and soak some old rags or something in them and place them in the spots they tend to go to. Maybe keep it up every day for a few weeks and see if that won't work. Ammonia is pretty inexpensive.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-30-2009, 12:11 PM

I actually have some around the house (the ammonia, that is) and tons of old rags. I'll soak one and drop it behind the steps, then put one down into the hole underneath the steps so that the kids can't get to it. I'll use my extension hoe to get it into the hole without disturbing much more of the dirt.

**ahmom** · 05-01-2009, 12:28 PM

Skunks eat bugs, worms, mice, fruits and garbage.
http://www.havahart.com/advice/critt...ontrol-options

**MomToTwoBoys** · 05-01-2009, 12:36 PM

So sadly I think our main option is to bring it up with our alderman and see what he/she can suggest to City Council about the skunk problem. The skunk exclusion tips in that article you linked, ahmom, is great! That's exactly what I needed.

**ahmom** · 05-01-2009, 12:46 PM

Skunks really won't hurt you.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 05-01-2009, 01:02 PM

My concerns are primarily about the garden, but DH says they won't dig in a raised flower bed. I'd rather find a way to force them out of the main digging area now and get them to migrate elsewheres. That way, I'm not putting in a raised flower bed with them still underneath the steps right next to the bed.

DH has said he's been outside where they just putz around near his feet and he doesn't get sprayed. I, however, would likely get sprayed because I'm very jumpy around things that startle me.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 05-03-2009, 11:58 PM

DH calls me outside earlier tonight, tells me to look up in the sky. I do and I see this huge owl sitting on the lamppost. It swoops down really fast to get something and it got DH and I thinking:

Could it have gotten rid of our skunk problem?

I put down flour Friday night to see if they were trying to dig in and out of our housing area. They haven't, which led me to believe that they just weren't coming back again.

Then I see this owl tonight and I find out it's a Great Horned Owl. What's one of the things that a GHO eats? Skunks. I think that one of Mother Nature's creations have actually taken care of our skunk problem for us!

**jas** · 05-04-2009, 11:18 AM

I hope your skunks are gone!

We had one a few years back that got into to our dryer of all things. It crawled through the vent on the outside of our garage and into the back of the dryer. I couldn't hear, but my dh did. He wrestled the dryer out the side garage door and was trying to see if anything was in there and low and behold it was peeking back at him. We called what we thought was a humane trapper. Well, he came and pulled out a gun (boy were we shocked) he kicked the side of the dryer and it peeked its head out and with one shot he was dead.

It was very traumatic, when the trapper shot it it let loose of its stink wowza!!! The trapper had some stuff and sprayed it all over the grass and the dryer to get rid of the stench or the dryer would have been useless.

Now we have something that has dug under our shed, we thought we got rid of it, but it is back. Maybe some of the suggestions will work for us. I think it is a racoon.

**ml2620** · 05-04-2009, 04:58 PM

Ugh, I really feel for you!

Several years ago, I lived in a 3 unit condo in an old historic house. A mother skunk got under the first floor deck, burrowed into the basement through and old door and gave birth in the basement. Oh, the smell (and I was on the third floor!). We had to trap all of them.

Then, two years ago I came home from my honeymoon and the first night home I woke up because our cat was making a funny noise. I turned on the light and discovered a baby possum in our (3rd floor) bedroom! Turns out they came in through the cat door and made themselves at home in our back storage room. It took three weeks for my husband to catch all 7 babies. And wouldn't you know, another batch came back the following year.

It sounds like I live in the boonies, but I lived in a really nice house in the city back then!

Now I live in the country and knock on wood, no varmints yet! Good luck to you - I'd think about trapping rather than using chemicals if you ever walk in your back yard barefoot. Also, I'd imagine the chemicals will make them spray in the dying process anyway...

**MomToTwoBoys** · 05-04-2009, 05:53 PM

Yeah I think they've finally moved out! There's no sign of the skunks around at all and I think the owls in the area have made them into a nighttime snack. After the last three days, I've come to the conclusion that we may not have a problem with them anymore. We're still going to do some preventative maintenance to keep them away. I was debating doing plywood in front of all of the openings and put it at least two feet down, but I'm not sure if they'd go back to digging in the same spot even further down to get where they originally were.