Actually, I’m not sure how fast. I am going to drive my daughter to work in about 20 minutes and don’t want to be sprayed (for obvious reasons) before I leave.
So, a skunk got into my garage and has climbed into my garbage can: a standard maybe two and a half to three feet tall can. I believe she’s stuck in there and can’t climb out.
Now what do I do?
Tip the can over in the garage and run back into the house?
Quickly cover the can, carry it outside, kick it over and run?
Any other options I haven’t considered? Do these things spray as soon as they see you or do they need to feel really threatened? This will be my first close encounter.
My uncle (an avid nature lover) and I were discussing skunks and he says he’s read that since skunks take a few days to get back their ability to spray after spraying, that they don’t use it until they are super threatened.
So like, my dog was chasing a skunk and it didn’t spray until it was in my dog’s mouth. Then it let loose!
If it’s true, there’s a good chance you won’t threaten the skunk enough to have it spray you while you’re helping it out. I read on one site that if you spread flour across the entry to your garage and left the door ajar, you can see when the animal leaves (after you knock the can over).
Putting the lid on the can might be threatening enough to get it to spray but I think that is your best bet. Lid, take it outside, knock it over and figure out a way to get the lid off.
I ain’t no professional skunkologist but my impression is that skunks spray attackers, not garbage cans. Just use some rope to pull it over from a distance and he should go scurrying off. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he knocks the can over himself by the time you get back. Anyway, just in case my advice is wrong, make sure to get this on video.
Depending on the setup (and how fast I could move away), I’d either knock it over with a long pole/stick/broom and get away or if I wouldn’t be able to move away fast enough I’d get a string around the can so I could pull the can over from a safe distance, maybe even pulling it out of the garage first.
Since it’s a skunk, I probably wouldn’t put the lid on first and risk making it feel threatened.
When I had a opossum in a garbage can in my garage (I purposefully trapped it in the can), I used a push broom to push it about 40 feet away from my house and into the street and then knocked the can over. But it was pretty calm and the defense mechanism of a opossum is considerably less scary than that of a skunk. Opossums are scary looking, but no so much when they’re pretending to be dead. My dogs had fun playing with that thing in the backyard.
I had a close encounter with a skunk, out in the country. I ran to the top of a small rise and there he was, about a yard from where I was standing. He looked at me, I froze and looked back at him, and then I begin to walk slowly backwards. The skunk turned around and stomped off, acting “cranky” by not spraying.
Maybe it could tell I wasn’t a threat. Don’t know if this helps.
I know of one other skunk story. One got into the garbage of a local McDonald’s and it’s head became stuck in a cleaned out jar of peanut butter. I saw the video of a man who slowly and carefully approached the skunk, reached down and gently pulled away the jar, freeing the animal. The man backed up slowly while the animal shook it’s head and calmly walked off.
Unless you have dogs. My dogs seem to get sprayed 4 or 5 times each summer. But, then, they go chasing after them, barking. The skunks don’t even hesitate to spray them. There’s been times where I’ve let my dogs out in the backyard and they’ve been sprayed within seconds (I could hear the barking so I knew they were chasing something). Nowadays, I make sure to turn on the light in the backyard for a few minutes before letting them out at night and do a quick check with a flash light.
OK, well I tipped the garbage can over slowly with a broom handle and the skunk didn’t even bother to come out. I poked and prodded the can and still no response. I figured he’d scurry away faster than you can say “Pepé Le Pew” but apparently not. Perhaps because they’re nocturnal? Anyway, I finally gave the can a few gentle kicks and rolls and he lumbered out and went straight under the pool blanket in the corner. :smack:
In seriousness, if he was out in the daytime he could be rabid. His current lethargy may be another indicator. If he doesn’t leave your garage maybe you should call animal control.
Once the sun goes down, leave the garage light on and turn on radio in there. I’d be willing to bet the noise and light will drive it out into the night. But probably not if it can see you, if you want to watch, I’d suggest staying off to the side so you can see it leave, but it can’t see you if it pokes it’s head out from under the pool cover.
You could also try leaving a trail of food from where he is towards the garage door. That’s how I snagged trapped the opossum in my garage.
I was sitting in a lawn chair on my Mom’s patio one summer’s eve, watching the stars come out, when I heard a snuffling noise below. I looked down and there was a skunk, sniffing around my feet. I sat there quietly (and nervously) for a few minutes and it eventually wandered off.
If you want to get a skunk to leave a place where it has holed up without getting sprayed - use a radio. Set it to a call-in show, not music, set it near the skunk but away from its line of retreat, and turn it up. Skunks get spooked by the sound of human voices, and will eventually depart.
My dad used this method to get rid of a skunk that had taken up an abode in a hole under his porch.
BTW, apparently conservative call-in shows work best - most angry voices.
They make a type of trap called a “Have A Heart” trap. It’s basically a cage. the animal goes in, trips the door, and is trapped inside, unharmed. You can buy them at hardware stores and animal feed stores. In my county, you can borrow them from the Animal Control office.
We were told that a raw egg makes the best bait for skunks. If you get your trap in the correct size, the skunk will not have room to lift its tail. Since it cannot spray without fouling itself, it is much less likely to spray. (Apparently, the odor is as repugnant to them as it is to us. I believe this is why the Mythbusters had so much trouble with their skunk.)
Theoretically, you take the cage out into the countryside, and release the animal. In practice, my dad would toss the entire cage into a barrel full of water. After it drowned, then he would dump it out. We got rid of three or four skunks this way, and never got sprayed.
