Skunk under my house
 

I'm so tired of our house getting sprayed. We have one (maybe 2,3,4,5 ?) skunk living under our home. It has sprayed us 4 times so far this month of February! Have called the Pest Control people who set a trap, but, so far no luck! Just wanted to vent.

Oh Yuck we had that happen once when we lived in an old farm house. One time I thought the neighbors dog was in my entry way and was going to get the little bugger, when I turned on the light and opened the door it was a skunk! I slowly backed away from that one!

OHH ! NO!!!! do call a pro .. not worth waiting. My neighbor thought they had one,...turned out to be 9 living under the front porch. When they called animal control they told them they would be number 178 on the "list". Find someone who can get rid of them quickly.

Thanks for the support! Our Pest Control officer said that if the skunk does not come out to eat the dry cat food that he will spray wolf urine all around our house. Oh Joy! Bet that will smell good!

I bet it will smell better than the skunk!!

Neighbors used eggs. The set them out in a trail (think breadcrumbs) from where they went under the porch to the trap. They did this just before dusk because they usually come out after dark. There were a good many under their porch too.

We have a problem with them every now and then...I live near the forest preserve. I have found that a piece of meat that is old (think too old to eat) is really good for catching them. We had a regular pick up/ drop off empty cage going for awhile. Old chicken really was the most effective...I think it was 20 minutes.
I like the idea of the garbage bag...

My daughter catches them when they come to eat cat food at her barn. She just throws a blanket over the trap and carries them to the canyon outside town and turns them loose. She hasn't gotten sprayed yet. knock on wlld!!

Sorry!! Knock on wood!!!

How are they getting under the house? I think that would be number two on my to-do list, second only to getting rid of the skunks.

We had a skunk take up residence under the soda machine in the back room of the building I used to work in. We had one of the medium size cage type traps and we put in an open can of cheapie tuna. Worked well and no spraying. Filled in all the mortar around loose bricks and replaced grates on vents. No more problems that I've heard of. . . also no more cats eating dead birds either!

When we had a family of skunks living in our culvert when I was growing up, my dad found sulphur candles somewhere and lit them in one end of the culvert. Smelled like rotten eggs for days...don't want to try that under your house!

Thanks all!
Got home from work today and (wolf urine) PHEW!!!! But yes, the wolf urine does smell better than the skunk. I have heard that skunks continue to return to their nest every year! Oh my!

You need to find out how they are getting under there and block it off! also my mom uses moth balls to keep them out from under her porch.

Last summer the man from our Water Company had to go under the house to check some problems. He left the door open when he left. We only discovered it when we were sprayed. We also found a break in the cement foundation around our old mobile. We quickly cemented that last weekend. Now the only way out from under our home is that open door at crawl space. Haven't been sprayed in 6 days now so perhaps it escaped.

I had them living under our house the first couple of years we were here. I have caught them in a trap and let them go already. Still on our property. Last one I caught was a small one and when I called the pest control they said they would put it to sleep!!! I told him "not on MY watch" and just let her go where she was. We have never been sprayed and have never had anything else sprayed in 21 yrs! If you don't frighten them (and make sure they are FACING you) you are pretty safe. Canned cat food is what I used.

OH I feel for you. something dug under our cement patio step last year and then when i pushed the dirt back and put two small ceramic statues on top, what ever it was also dug under the cement front porch step. my husband said not to fret over it. Well i wanted to know what was trying to live under our house and if it could get in by digging under the steps. I never did know what it was but it hasn't been back.
good luck on getting rid of them. call a skunk whisperer!!!

Throw some moth balls under the house! The moth balls won't smell very good either, but they won't smell as bad as skunk spray, and the skunks don't like moth balls!

What a brave person she is!

One year there was a skunk in parking lot at church on Wednesday night when the choir arrived for practice: THAT caused some excitement!!!

My neighbor does this too, but she uses an old shower curtain to throw over the trap. It works very well for her.

Moth balls work. We had some skunks living under our shed and that made them move out. You do have to replace the moth balls once in a great while, or the skunks will come back. We found that out when our dogs got skunked a second time.

Thanks for the recipe. My pug was sprayed last year when the skunk came. I did not know about the recipe so just poured tomato juice all over him. Poor guy. I'm sure he would have liked your mixture better than mine!. Today when he smells skunk he barks, cries, rubs his face on the throw rugs and then hides under the bed.

we had that happen to us once and my husband threw a bunch of mothballs under the house got rid of the skunks but the house did smell like mothballs for a long time will also get rid of spiders just be careful how many as they really do smell not as bad as skunks though

PU!! You poor thing. Looks like you need Billy to come to your house to get rid of those smelly pests.

I have had skunks under my deck twice and I used my fathers technique....lots and lots of mothballs...it gets them out almost immediately.

We had that problem in Northern Indiana - under our wooden patio by the in-ground pool. Mother and brood or whatever they're called would come out at night and go for a walk in the woods. We finally got rid of them one by one.

We have not had that problem yet.

oh no, you mean i've been bathing in tomatoe juice for no reason?? They are so cute but phew do they stink!
thanks for the recipe!

We had one under our house a few years ago. Pest Control wanted almost $300 to get rid of it and me, thinking of all the fabric $300 would buy, searched the internet for a way to de-skunk my house. Here's what I came up with -- First, soak some rags with amonia and place them under the house, (they hate the smell), next shine a light under the house (they don't like it light), then make a walkway with flour or some white powdery substance so you can tell by his foot prints when he leaves. After about 3 days, ours left (we could tell by the footprints) and we blocked the hole where he was getting under the house. NO more skunk!! (And $300 for fabric - It was a win/win situation for me!)

We've had a periodic problem with skunks under the house over the past 10 years. The strangest was when my cats all gathered around a floor register and were listening to "mewing" sounds coming up thru the register. Seems mama skunk had a litter under the house.

We've been lucky for the past 2-3 years. At night while the skunks were out and about, we cemented up all the holes they had dug around our outdoor furnace so they couldn't get back under the house. Guess they gave up. We keep our fingers crossed.

The pest guy we called was useless. He set out a trap with fruit in it and refused to come back and rebait the trap. What a waste of $

When we moved here from the city our shed had a family of skunks living under it. I heard about the moth balls, so I go buy them, throw them under the shed,wake up the next morning,all the moth balls are pushed out from under the shed and are laying around it. I guess my country skunks where smarter than this city girl, I still laugh thinking about them pushing all those moth balls out from under that shed. they finally moved on and we tore that shed down, and built a new one, I, by myself added a 12 inch rat wall around the base not to have that problem again.

I can relate....had that problem, too. Try throwing a bunch of moth balls under your house if you can....

Skunks can't spray if they can't lift their tail, so generally they don't spray if in a small to medium have-a-hart trap. They can claw and bite however, so be very careful moving the trap, even if covered. They can also carry rabies. People keep them as pets, even if not de-scented, and some are fairly smart. I used to have an entire family trooping single filepast my veggie garden every night around 7 pm. Mama would touch the electric fence with her nose- and spray. Every single baby would do the same, then Papa. Every night!!!! I finally learned to shut off the fence before their visit, but had to turn it back on about 8 pm due to raccoons. If the family came back past the garden in the early morning there was a repeat performance. I have a red fox family now so the skunks have moved away. Too bad the woodchucks are so big they share the fox den with impunity! I'm never sure which critter will pop out of which side of the tunnel. I'll take foxes over skunks any day.

Instead of mothballs- try Irish Spring or other strongly perfumed soap. Mothballs are toxic- napthalene which is a double benzene ring. You don't want napthalene in your groundwater or garden! You can suspend the soap in mesh bags around treasured plants to repel deer. Much more pleasant and long lasting than the rotten eggs critter repellants.

Never had that problem, but had a family of racoons in the attic

Thank you for this information!

That is really funny!

I think I'll try the ammonia idea. My 'PRO' has caught nothing. What a waste of $