Skunks! Living in my Hay!

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Last night we got home from a ride late at night. I threw Molly and Ace back in their pasture and went up to the barn for grain. We still don't have electric out there (The joys of getting a company to do their job in Northern MI) so I grabbed a flashlight and went away dishing out feed. My Siamese barn kitty came over and was screaming at me, I didn't think much of it because she always had a lot to say but I realized I heard something "Munch, munch, munching" her cat food behind the hay... and she was right here?

I figured she had found a kitty friend and I went back there, SKUNK! Come to find out he or she has been living in my hay for a couple weeks and feeds happily on the cat food (Explaining why the cat always thinks its hungry despite the large amount of food I had her every morning) I have smelled a faint skunk oder in the barn for weeks but couldn't figure it out. Well there is a happy skunk in the back corner buried in some hay!!!

If we trap it in a live trap its going to spray EVERYTHING and there goes $1,000 in hay.... Any ideas?

And does anyone know if they tend to carry nasty things like Possums do, or is it a cleaner thing to have living in your horses food?

 

[Sixstardanes]

If you have portable radios you can put some out there and turn them up loud.

Supposably skunks don't like loud noisy places.

 

[Minimor]

Actually my vet was telling me recently that she live trapped a skunk that was at her place. Live trapping it and moving it wasn't a problem (her trap was a covered box, not made completely of wire, so once the skunk was in there it couldn't see what was going on around it--it did not spray and she hadn't expected it to)...the difficulty came in releasing the skunk once she had hauled it out to the bushy area where she was going to turn it loose. But, she did manage to get it turned loose without getting sprayed.

 

[Miniv]

There are live traps that are partially solid. OR, you can cover it with an old blanket and put kitty food in it.

Apparently skunks do not spray in enclosed places. I would recommend googling about live trapping a skunk.

 

[horseplay]

We have trapped skunks in have a heart traps that were wire and none have ever sprayed. We throw a towel/blanket over the trap to take it where we release them.

 

[Leeana]

Well that just stinks! << Sorry i could not resist

 

[cretahillsgal]

Yeah, I have trapped several skunks in our wire Hav-A-Hart trap and they never sprayed. We don't release ours, we shoot them. But I have always been able to walk right up to the trap and shoot it through the wire.

But... they always start to get that skunk smell about 15 mins after we shoot them. I guess when they die they leak a little of that skunky stuff.

 

[Izzyantheminis]

Oh I love skunks!

They are smart critters.

We get them in the barn now and then. In fact one year the skunk followed me when it heard my voice .It knew I was the food lady !

What you need to do is put the cat food up out of its reach. Skunks can't climb very high. But cats are good jumpers. So put the cat food on a little table or something.Make sure to keep the kitty crunchies swept up too. The skunk will leave after the food source is gone.Also kept the food bag locked up.They can tear open the bag.

The radio is a great idea too.

 

[bingo]

Wow is that true? Skunks can not climb to high? What would be considered to high? A couple of feet or does it need to be much higher then that?

We have a couple of skunks that have lived here a while see them once in a while but they do not bother us or the barn cats.

 

[hahler]

my suggestion.........

a .22 works great

 

[New_Image]

my suggestion.........

a .22 works great

Well.. that was the plan until my dad informed me they have been known to spray all over in the process.

I think were going to get a live trap stash the cat food and hope it goes in there tonight....

 

[DrivinTime]

Some other forum members have reported using cheap perfume to repel skunks. Just sprinkle it around the outside (or underneath) the area where they're living - during the daytime! - and they will vacate that night. Or so I've read.

I suspect we have a skunk living around our house someplace, probably under the tool shed, but it has been very discreet, so we haven't done anything about it yet... But I'm always looking for good advice on the problem, just in case...

Best of luck! Don't want to ruin that hay...

 

[Mona]

A skunk needs to have room to raise it's tail up high in order to be able to spray. The live traps people are referring to here work well because they are low enough that the skunk can walk in to get the food but cannot raise it's tail to spray.

 

[Krazee bout Kasspur]

My experience with skunks came from trapping SIX PAIRS...(Yes....that's 12 in all) that would get underneath the skirting to my home. This would happen during the cooler months (January - February) as they would be looking for nice warm lodging. It is also their breeding time and when they breed they do spray, so it got pretty stinky. I tried just about everything to repel them...moth balls...amonia...only way to get them out was to live trap. Once I found one in a trap with two others milling about trying to help him/her escape! As long as you keep the trap covered when you are moving it you probably won't get sprayed. Be careful though...my neighbor's house chihuaha came over to investigate one that I was going to haul away later in the day and the skunk managed to spray the dog....oooooops! Also use something old to cover the cage...one angry skunk chewed up a perfectly good horse blanket when I couldn't find a tarp. They do carry rabies as well.....saw one skunk in broad daylight with tail up challenging my cats. OH!