How To Get Rid of Skunks

We are experts in skunk control methods, having performed thousands of skunk trapping and removal jobs nationwide.

In short, the best way to get rid of skunks is via live trapping and removal. You can also install exclusion barriers to keep them from going under your shed, deck, porch, etc. There is no effective skunk repellent spray or powder or device. Luckily, it's not hard to trap them without them spraying you. Read the below for more in-detail tips to get rid of skunks.

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Skunks are easy to recognize with their bold black and white coloring. While most animals prefer camouflage, a skunk's distinctive coloration serves as a warning of its potent attack. Using special glands below the tail, skunks can spray their powerful scent up to 15 feet. This scent burns an attacker's eyes, and causes temporary blindness. Of course, the stench is too much for most animals to bear, and serves as a strong warning against future attacks. Adult skunks grow to about 22-30 inches and 8-12 pounds. Skunks are primarily nocturnal. All skunks are omnivores, and will feed on almost anything, including small rodents, worms, insects, grubs, carrion, fruit, garbage, and pet food left outdoors.

After you read the below information, in the event that you wish to hire a skunk removal company, you may want to see how much does skunk removal cost?


Nuisance concerns: Skunks are well known for their strong odor. People can often detect a single roadkilled skunk for miles. No homeowner appreciates this scent under their deck. Furthermore, a skunk in the area poses a constant threat to nosey pets. I've cleaned dogs that have been sprayed before, and believe me, the scent does not come off easily. Of course, no person wants to risk being sprayed by a startled skunk. Skunks frequently choose to live under human structures such as sheds, decks, or crawl spaces. They often discharge their scent in these places. Skunks are also common carriers of rabies.

How To Get Rid of Skunks: The two most important things you can do are trapping and removal and prevention via exclusion barriers. If a skunk has taken up residence under your shed or porch or deck, you'll need to trap and remove and relocate the animals. Use a larger trap, raccoon size. Read here for skunk trapping tips including trap types and bait. Be sure to relocate the skunks at least ten miles away! If you don't want to have the problem again, you should take preventative measures, such as building an exclusion barrier around the shed or porch. This is basically a steel screen or any barrier that prevents the animals from going under there again. I've mostly used half-inch steel mesh buried into the ground at the base, but you can use decorative lattice if you wish, or even build a stone or brick wall.

What if a skunk has fallen down a basement window well? You have two options: You can either hire a professional to remove the animal, likely via use of a snare pole, or you can place a wood plank down the well, and hope that the skunk can climb up and out. If you have a skunk in the attic, or a skunk in the wall, it can be removed via either trapping or by cutting a hole in the wall, but these scenarios are rare. It's far more common to find a skunk under the house than inside any part of the structure.

If you or your pet has been sprayed by a skunk, check out my page about skunk odor removal, for the only effective substance to get rid of the smell - it's not vinegar or tomato juice, and you can easily make it with the simple household items seen below:

How to get rid of skunks quickly and easily - there is no magic spray or device that you can use to make them go away (though their spray might make you go away). Some people try to sell predator urine, such as coyote or fox urine to get rid of skunks, but that doesn't work. They also try to sell ultrasonic sound emitters. These devices are worthless at eliminating skunks. Some old wives' tales recommend the use of mothballs or ammonia-soaked rags to make them leave, but I've been to countless homes where these techniques failed - biologists know that these attempts won't work. Read about skunk repellent products. The ONE AND ONLY WAY to take care of your problem is with trapping and removal of the animals. If you need to find a professional trapper in your hometown, just click our comprehensive list of hundreds of wildlife removal professionals, and you can have your problem quickly taken care of!

This is not a photograph that I took.  Someone else took it for me.  The reason is because I don't get any skunk calls here in Orlando Florida.  It's too bad.  I like skunks.  I even like their scent.  I have a thing for skunk scent.  But I haven't smelled it down here, not even on the highways.  Up north in Pennsylvania, where I grew up, skunks were common, and every few miles down the road I had the pleasure of sniffing one. ...click for more

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How To Get Rid Of Skunks In Your Garden
When you worked hard to grow a lovely vegetable garden, the last thing you want to see in that garden is a skunk. A garden provides a ready food source for skunks. So long as they have access to that food, you can be assured that they will not leave until your garden is destroyed. The problem and the solution may be that they will eat not only your roots and the grubs that live around them. Skunks eat anything. They just like to get their meals the easy way. So, one way of getting rid of them may be poisonous pellets, but poisoning is not what most people would want to do.

To stop skunks from being in your garden, a more humane effort would be to place chicken wire around the perimeter of your garden plot as well as your compost pile, if you have one. You can also try to find their den and throw a couple of handfuls of moth balls into it but this will only make the skunk move to another hole. This can also be complicated by the need to make sure the den is empty. You don't want to disturb a nursing skunk mom. She will make you sorry by spraying you. The best way to get rid of a skunk is to buy a live trap, trap the animal and remove it to a far-away site. This can be quite tricky for obvious reasons.

How To Get Rid Of Skunks In Your Yard
To remove skunks from your yard is a pretty big job. Your yard may be quite large with many opportunities for skunks to set up housekeeping. First you must find out where they live. If you see them disappear under a shed or porch, or even under a woodpile next to a shed, then you have probably found their den. You can't just approach this den and poke into it with a stick trying to get them out. For one thing, that could be very dangerous if a skunk mom is protecting her babies. Secondly, a skunk is wildlife and with any wildlife, you need to think about rabies and other bacterial or viral diseases. So be careful how you go about getting rid of them.


If skunks fall down your window well or into any other area, just put some wood planks leading down, at a slope, and they can climb out!

Buying a live trap is probably the best way to move them out of your yard. Disguising the trap with leaves and sticks, placing an incentive inside, such as dog food or something perhaps coated with peanut butter, may get your skunk trapped. Once you have the skunk in the trap, make sure there aren't any babies left in the den. If there are, they need to be trapped also. Then take the entire family a few miles away from your home and set them free. Once you have deposited your animal elsewhere, make sure your yard does not pose as an attraction to wildlife any longer.

How To Get Rid Of Skunks In Your Garage
Can you imagine getting ready for work one morning, opening the garage door and getting hit with a whiff of skunk! That would be a pretty serious eye opener. First you may want to see if the offending critter is anywhere in sight, especially if his backside is facing you. If that is affirmative, then run!

One way to get rid of a skunk in your garage is to wait until it is gone and then close the garage door. You can also spray pepper spray at the bottom of the garage door so that the skunk will be reluctant to try to enter again. Some garage doors are not functioning correctly and there are gaps between the door and the ground where the skunks can squeeze their way inside. There may be a hole along you wall somewhere in your garage that serves as an entrance. In these cases, closing the garage door won't matter. However the skunks got in, the fact is that it has to leave. If you know where in your garage they like to stay, place moth balls in that spot. They don't do as much good as is reported, but they may get the skunks out long enough for you to take more effective measures. Spraying pepper at the skunks' entrance may stop them from entering again. This has to be done maybe daily, or at least several times a week. Trapping it in a live trap is another option.

How To Get Rid Of A Skunk In Your Shed
Sheds are ideal places, from the skunk's perspective, to live. A shed is relatively quiet most of the time and it provides shelter from elements and predators. They can mate and raise babies there, undisturbed. When you notice that you have squatters in your shed, they may be living there already in multiples. You need to get them out for health reasons as well as because of the fact they are just plain nuisances.

Some people advocate bright lights as a repellant. Since skunks forage at night, they are not too fond of bright lights. This may be a bit hard to do in a shed since you have to get in there in order to set up the lights. The skunks are inside and so far as they are concerned, you are invading THEIR home. You won't get a warm welcome. While lights may work, they are not a good option in a shed unless you know they are all gone before you bring in the lights. You can sprinkle chalk dust, corn starch or flour on the ground at the portal they use to get in and out of the shed. After dark, check if you see tracks leading away from the shed and therefore safe to enter. Pepper sprays, repeatedly applied, will also chase them out of your shed. Once they are gone, close up any openings and create a barrier of chicken wire around the bottom of the shed.

Ultimately, I recommend trapping and removal of the skunks. They can be relocated, or you can kill skunks if that's the regulation in your state due to rabies. If you don't want to trap, and they are living under a structure, you can also attempt exclusion.

Read any of the below for more skunk information:
About Skunks - Biology Information
What Should I Do With A Skunk After I Catch It?
Do Mothballs Or Ammonia Help Repel Skunks?
Should I Feed A Baby Skunk That I Found?
What Should I Do If I Find A Nest Of Baby Skunks?
What Should I Do If I Find An Orphaned Baby Skunk Wandering About?
What Is The Best Bait To Trap A Skunk?
Will The City Or County Animal Services Help Me With A Skunk Issue?
What Kind Of Damage Do Skunks Cause Under A House?
Is A Skunk That Is Active During The Daytime Rabid?
What Is A Skunk's Natural Diet And How Does It Get Its Food?
What Diseases Do Skunks Carry?
How To Keep Skunks Away From Your Property
What To Do If A Skunk Gets Into A House, Bedroom Or Kitchen?
What Are Some Humane Ways To Kill A Skunk In A Cage?
Should I Hire A Professional Or Remove Skunks Myself?
Do Skunks Make Good Pets?
How To Keep Skunks Out Of My Garden
How To Keep Skunks Out Of My Garbage Cans
How To Use One-Way Exclusion Funnels To Remove Skunks Without Trapping Them
Is Skunk Feces Dangerous To Touch Or Breathe?
Do Skunks Jump?
How To Remove A Skunk In The Basement
Home Remedies To Keep Away Skunks And Get Rid Of Them
Do Skunks Live In Groups Or Alone?
The Fastest Way To Get Rid Of Skunks
Do Skunks Dig In Lawns Looking For Food
What Are The Common Problems That Skunks Cause?
How To Remove Skunk Odor From Typical Places It Has Sprayed
How To Find And Remove A Dead Skunk
Where Should I Relocate A Trapped Skunk?
Should I Ever Poison A Skunk?
Are skunks dangerous to cats, dogs, or other pets?
Will A Pest Control Company Remove A Skunk?
How To Get Skunks Out From Under Your Shed Or Porch
What Is A Skunk's Natural Diet?
The Mating And Birthing Cycles Of Skunks
Do skunks dig in lawns looking for food?
What Are Some Ways To Kill A Skunk In The Yard?
Do skunks kill chickens?
Do skunks hibernate in the winter?
Baby skunk scent gland removal
Can a skunk climb a fence?
What is a skunk's typical diet?
Do skunks jump?
How to remove a skunk in the basement, attic, or anywhere in a house
How To Get Skunks Out Of A Window Well
What Do Wildlife Rehabilitators Do With Skunks?
Why do skunks spray?
Why Do Skunks Dig?
Why Do Skunks Have A White Stripe?
Where Do Skunks Live?
How Do You Know If You Have A Skunk Under Your Shed Or Porch?
Will A Skunk Under A Shed Or Porch Have A Nest Of Babies?
Is It Legal For Me To Trap A Skunk?
What Equipment Is Needed To Trap A Skunk?
How to identify skunk tracks
What Are Some Of The Symptoms Of A Sick Skunk?
Can a skunk spray more than once at a time?
Will A High Pitch Sound Deterrent Machine Work Against Skunks?
How to remove skunk smell from a house or car
How to scare a skunk away
Do All Skunks Have Rabies?
Is It Safe To Handle A Skunk With Bare Hands?
How To Get Rid Of Skunks Without Killing Them