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How to Get Rid of Skunks
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Who needs coffee when you have a family of wet skunks under your porch?
Skunks can spray their musk up to 15 ft. For instructions on getting rid of the smell, read How to get rid of skunk smell.
Warning: Skunks can carry rabies. Never approach a live skunk and if someone gets bitten try to capture the skunk so it can be tested for rabies. Keep the head intact as the brain is needed for the test.
1. Keeping skunks away… far away
Skunks are scavengers and will eat anything from bugs to garbage. If a skunk finds a tasty morsel on your land, chances are good that he’ll start visiting more often. This section will walk you through some steps to repel skunks from your property.
Eliminate skunk nummies
Skunks are nocturnal, so you’re most likely to see.. erm.. smell them at night and in the early morning when they’re out scavenging for food. Skunks can and do eat anything; bird eggs, bugs and larvae, human wastes, small rodents, you name it - they’ll eat it. Following is a list of the most common foods that attract skunks onto people’s property:
Unprotected garbage
When you transfer your trash outside for pickup, store it in heavy duty metal or plastic trash cans with lids that will stay on even if the can is knocked over. Never place unprotected bags out on the curb.
Grubs and larvae
Skunks love grubs! Grubs are beetle larva that live underneath of your lawn. Skunks are known for digging small holes in peoples yards as they hunt for them. Luckily, beneficial nematodes also love to eat grubs, and are easily deployed in your lawn and garden to eliminate this attractant.
Pet food
Never leave unprotected animal food outside at night, it’s akin to setting a place at your dinner table for Pepé le Pew. I had a neighbor once who would leave table scraps and cat food out for neighborhood strays. She ended up with a family of skunks living on her property.
Nuts, berries, and fruits
If you have bushes or trees that bear fruits, nuts, or berries you should periodically walk your yard and remove any that have fallen to the ground. Skunks will happily feast on them, and so will rodents… which skunks will also happily eat.
Other attractants
While the above food sources are the most common culprits that attract skunks, there are (of course) more. If any of these exist on your property, do your best to minimize or eliminate them.
- Compost heaps containing bones, fruit rinds and egg shells.
- Large numbers of ground dwelling insects under dead leaves and foliage.
- Easily accessible water sources.
- Bird feeder spills.
Skunk repellents
Many folks swear by this or that for repelling skunks, but there seems to be little that delivers consistent results across the board. Here’s a list of the most effective skunk repellents that we’ve been able to dig up. If you know of any not listed here, please add them with the ‘tips’ form at the bottom of this page.
- Bright light - Skunks are nocturnal and prefer to stay hidden, flooding an area with light can be an effective deterrent. Use flood lights in combination with motion sensors.
- Automated sprinklers - Contech manufactures a device called ‘The Scarecrow‘ which is essentially a sprinkler attached to a motion sensor that will spray any animals that wander into your yard.
- Spicy pepper solutions - Pepper sprays are reported to work well but must be reapplied every few days to remain effective.
- Commercial repellents - There are many available types, people have also reported success with commercial dog and cat repellents.
Skunk barriers
The good: Skunks are horrible climbers and they can’t jump very high.
The bad: Skunks can fit through openings as small as 4″ and they’re good diggers.
Strategy: Erect barriers around areas that skunks may find interesting in order to keep them out.
Skunks will make homes underneath houses, sheds, decks, and other above-ground structures. Seal them off as well as possible - remember that they can fit through holes as small as 4 inches. Skunks won’t burrow underneath them unless they can see that there is space on the other side. Fill in holes and ditches as well.
Enclose large, open areas with a three-foot high wire mesh fencing like chicken wire and it one foot deep to keep skunks from burrowing underneath.
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This worked for us:
Soak a piece of clothing (preferable underwear that has been worn but not laundered)in ammonia and put it near the place the skunk visits. I never heard from our critter again
does anyone know how far we have to go to drop a skunk trap off and know he won’t come back?
I am surprised tomato juice has not been suggested…My brother was sprayed and we rinsed him in three gallons of tomato juice mixed with three gallons of water…He had to stand naked in the garage while we did it, and then we sprayed him off with the hose…He slipped through the back door and showered…smell gone…I am just glad it was summer in Texas…or that poor old boy would have been shivering…My mom said it was a very old remedy she had heard of from her grandmother…
My Akita/German Shepard got sprayed twice by skunks…since then, he lets them come right into the garage where his food is or just watches them walks by him as he lays on the grass of the yard…he’s afraid of them. I made a trap and trapped and released one but there are more. I’ve trapped another one a few nights later but it got out. I trapped another one a few nights later and it got away. I examined the trap and noticed on the outside, something was diggging around it and helping it. When I looked inside the trap, it was completly trashed with skunk hair, saliva, skat and it had totally destroyed the bait bowl and water bowl. Does anybody know if skunks work in teams and help each other out and how can I keep the skunk in the trap? Help!
The skunk tried to get back into my house last night at about one a.m. and I went out and shot it. Bye Bye untill I get a new German Shepard puppy and raise it right.
first off if you have a good German Shepard dog it will alert you. As mine used to. Then she learned to kill them. Lets back up. The first three encounters I shot the skunks. Two of them sprayed. The first one didnt. Then “Jamie”, learned to kill them. She ordinarily never killed anything before including my four cats. So….over the years she killed three skunks and I learned very quick that the best remedy for spray removal is warm water, baking soda, dish soap, and alot of white vinegar. That combination works so good you can let your dog up in your bed as soon as she is dry and you wont be able to ever tell she was sprayed.
So….Wall Mart sells “Old Roy dog food”, and that has been (voluntarily recalled), but not before infecting my eight year old pure bred shepard with Salmonilla poisioning and she just died last monday and that traumatized my almost four year old daughter. Back to the story…tonight at eight pm arizona time I carried my daughter towards her room and a skunk was walking down my hallway! Holly crap! It took two hours but I was able to locate it by using one of my cats and thier keen sense of curiosity we found it under my dresser in my bedroom. After a few moments thought with the fact that my daughter needed to get to bed shortly, I came up with the idea to fill my out door pump up spray canister with a very heavy mixture of piosion and got on my bed and aimed the sprayer and hose under the dresser and proceeded to spray about two gallons of this potent formula until Mr. Skunk came out, ran down the hall and back out the pet door! My daughter is in bed, I am on the phone with the love of my life, and the pet door is locked for now and I am watching for Mr. Skund with my loaded 22 rifle. He is soon to be dead! One dead skunk here is a good skunk. I am surprised and thankfull it didnt spray in my house, Maybe too young or just considerate, how ever I dont care he was unwelcome and shall pay the ultimate price.
So.. to make a long story short you should shoot em!
My black lab has been sprayed twice in the last two months. The first time was much worse and the area included her head and neck, including in her mouth. The vet told me about the peroxide solution others mentioned on the site and it really does work. After getting rid of the smell on her coat we had to deal with her extreme bad breath. My vet suggested I give her a 1/4 cup of milk to drink. Some dogs may have a problem with the milk but not mine. Giving her the milk made a huge difference. I gave her a second 1/4 cup a little later and the breath was nearly back to normal.
Our very large dog got sprayed and we put her in abath tub and filled it with nice warm water, 1/4c dish soap, 2c baking soda & a few glugs of vinegar. We just kept rinsing her and rubbing the soapy water into her fur and after about 10 minutes, the smell dissapated. When she dried completely, we vacuumed all of the loose hair off of her and she was totally odor free! I sprayed my house with baking soda water to get rid of the smell. If a pet gets sprayed in the face, take it to the vet.
I had skunks under my garden shed. Put a radio in the shed and played it 24 hours a day, in three days they had left! Worked for me, give it a shot.
My dog got sprayed by a skunk one night… a quick and non-messy way to remove the smell is to soak the dog in sprite or diet sprite(not as sticky). Leave this on for 20 minutes to soak in.. then rinse off and wash the dog. The smell is completely gone!!