2 questions about skunks?

Question

Please don't answer this unless you actually know. Post your experience/credentials. 

1. What could make a skunk spray, besides dogs or people? We've been here for 10 years and never had a problem. Suddenly, there was spray twice last week, so bad we were gagging insides the house with all the windows shut. We don't have a dog and my neighbors' dogs all stay on their leashes. I've never seen any critters in my yard except the skunks, woodchucks and turkeys, and of course the small birds. I've never seen a raccoon or a deer here. We're several blocks from any  woods. I'm sure we have small rodents because I keep a little patch of habitat and some of the neighborhood cats hunt in it sometimes, but in my experience, cats and skunks get along well. Would a skunk have sprayed a cat or another skunk?

2. I saw a huge one in my garage tonight. It's a wooden garage with a concrete floor and the overhead door is broken right now, so it's open. Is there a way to tell if it's hunting or nesting, without getting into trouble? If it's nesting, can I use the garage to park my car? I know I can drive the skunk out with ammonia-soaked rags or something, but I don't want to unless I can't park the car in there. In Maine, leaving the car outside in winter is a lot of work. Sometimes it can kill the battery, and shoveling it out of drifts takes forever.

mustanger · Accepted Answer

Most anything that frightens a skunk will cause them to spray to a larger or lesser degree. It could even just be a sudden or loud noise close to them, such as someone starting a car or slamming a door. I wouldn't park the car in there without finding out whether the skunk was in there or not. Getting the smell off a car is a real chore. Get the door fixed, I can commiserate with parking out side in a Maine winter.

Kirk · Answer

Skunks will sometimes emit a strong odor, even they have not recently sprayed, they don't always spray just humans or dogs, other critters coming close to them will sometimes make them spray. As far as the skunk in your garage, the chances are that it is looking for a place to nest. Winter is coming. Best to wait and it will come out eventually, then move everything possible off the floor of your garage, this will not make it so inviting to the skunk.

susann · Answer

We have a lot of skunks. We're just north of you, in Canada. This is prime hibernation time so they're out at night, looking for a place to spend the winter.  

I'm sure if it was in your garage it was going after garbage. They hibernate underground, like a groundhog. They'd not live in a garage. If you go to get your hair cut, ask the cutter to keep human hair clippings for you and then sprinkle them around your garage. Works amazingly well.

Skunks spray when surprised or threatened.  I don't know that cats & skunks get along at all. They'll spray cats, dogs, people, deer, anything that makes them feel threatened. They'll even spray a car.

KitKat · Answer

the skunk can't get into the garage if the doors & windows are closed.  skunks spray when they feel threatened.

2 questions about skunks?

4 Antworten