Skunks can find the worse places to reside around your home. The garden, deck, shed or even your porch. Getting the rid of a skunk from your shed or porch is not very difficult. Follow the five simple steps below to get rid of skunks.
Steps
1. You need to search and know exactly where the skunk is located.
2. Then you must buy a large raccoon size trap.
3. Position the traps next to the skunk location. Use cat food or marshmallows as your bait. You need to make sure your traps are unscented.
4. Once you have trapped the skunk. Remove it and relocate to some other wooded area far from your home.
5. You also need to install exclusion barrier made of mesh around the shed or porch. Make sure you dig down about one foot into the earth and place your barrier at this depth.
Location
Ascertaining the location of your skunk is very important. This is the first step because it helps you to not waste time. Once you have the right location of you skunk it will be easy from there. Make sure when you have located the animal you do not poke around in the hole or threaten the skunk. This will be a very terrible idea especially if it is the mother of young ones. It will be very aggressive and may hit you with a spray of its awful mist. Once the skunks den as be identified. You need to get the trap.
Trap
They are many types of skunk traps available on the market. When you are looking for a trap it is best to get one that is large. Never use one that is too small. It may not be able to properly house the skunk. A large raccoon wire type trap often works very well. There are also those box type traps that work perfectly as well and they provide the added feature of not allowing you to get sprayed. Skunks need to see to properly hit their target. These traps make the skunk enter and face one direction with no space to turn and see you at the back. They are not as easy to acquire as the wire type. The raccoon type cages are available at home depots or online whereas the box type must be sourced online.
Bait
The type of bait used to trap the skunk is not that important. But there may be somethings that you need to consider. If you have cats or you know of cats that are nearby avoid using cat foot as bait. Skunks eat about everything. But they like animal food particularly cat food. You do not want to trap your cat or any cat. Thus a good substitute may be marshmallows. Skunks are also attracted to this but not cats. Make sure you do not let the bait come into contact with anything that may give it a smell that repels the skunk.
Remove and Relocate
After you have caught the skunk it is very important that you remove it from your property. You can try taking it to some other area miles away from your location. Some states have restrictions on the relocation of skunks. Thus you will have to take this into consideration. Killing the skunk should not be an option. If you are not quite sure what to do with the skunk after capture you can probably contact the wild life reserve department.
Exclusion Barriers
The use of barriers is an excellent method to protect your home from skunks. You should make sure any holes around your home are blocked and properly sealed. Areas such as your garden, shed or porch can be fenced to stop skunks from creating a nest under them. You should use barb or chicken wire to create the barrier. Place it around the perimeter of the garden, shed or porch. It should go a foot or two into the earth. This is because skunks are excellent diggers. Doing this will help to prevent skunks from setting up residence around your home.
Conclusion
Skunks can be a major nuisance. Following the steps presented above will definitely help you to get the rid of skunks. Remember that you should do as much as possible not to invite skunks to your home. Keep your yard clean. If fruit trees are present clean the area constantly and properly store animal food. Also secure your garbage well.
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How to Kill Skunks page.
