There's a skunk living under my deck

one of the worst things i've ever smelled was a dead skunk on the side of the road

Shoot the varmint.

does it look like this? if so, it's probably a baby and not a skunk

http://www.phillyburbs.com/babycostumes/images/skunk.jpg

send in more cats

My friends had one living under their deck and were understandably worried that their dog or toddler would end up getting sprayed by it. They dumped a bunch of mothballs under the deck and the skunk never came back.

I thought for sure the last word in thread title was 'desk.' So count your blessings, robotsinlove, it could be much worse.

lolololol que

I don't know what's worse, the skunkage or the exploded drainpipe currently niffing out my entire block. YOU DECIDE.

xp So did I!! Oh shoot. I thought about it and assumed he meant under the floor under his desk, like in the crawl-space? Seemed a bit odd but hey.

I don't know what's worse, the skunkage or the exploded drainpipe currently niffing out my entire block.

I am sure you have smelled skunk, but this comment makes it sound like you haven't. Having said that, as a Venetian I find the smell of sewage rather less unpleasant than most people, so what do I know.

I prefer skunk, honestly. I sort of like it. It's a...clearing smell, like wasabi without the eating it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that. Skunk is not the most unpleasant smell in the world, as long as it's not directly sprayed on you.

I've never had it on me, or on my dog, or had to deal with it really really close so maybe I shouldn't speak too soon! But with some distance, yeah, it's all right. A lot better than rotting things, landfills, sewage, etc, to my mind.

In MI we moved into a house that reeked of skunk. We thought it was going to be temporary, but it would not go away. Turned out one died in the crawlspace. Yech.

1) get black cat; female
2) have cat walk under recently-painted venetian bench so that it has white stripe on its back
3) walk cat by deck
4) lure now love-struck skunk away from deck with cat
5) drown skunk

i went to my garage storage space a few weeks ago and was confronted with a sleeping skunk curled up next to my vacuum cleaner. i think he still lives there.

Slocki: see also LE PURR LE MEOW.

I've smelled skunk the rodent on numerous occasions; my college still has a colony and drunk students often ambled into them. My friend M (some of you own her records) dropped LSD at a party and later that night thought it would be a great idea to pet this "kitty". Cue a couple of weeks of tomato juice baths.

Skunk if it isn't directly fired at you smells quite like foxes. Skunk the non-rodent...hmmm.

Venice can be completely sulfurous but the weird thing is how quickly you acclimatize to it. The broken drainpipe in my building, WHOLE OTHER STORY.

mary j. blige pet a skunk??

suzy don't ever change

this thread lacks skunk pictures
http://www.forumwales.com/fwblog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/skunk3.jpg

^Sarah Lawrence College mascot FOR REALZ.

Slocki, the ladycat/paint thing is in every pepe le pew cartoon EVER.

mary j blige does LSD??

pepe le who?

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/ATA/24536BP~Pepe-le-Pew-Posters.jpg

never heard of it!

is it a british thing?

s1ocki you should have written for this comic strip

No, it's Warner Brothers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Le_Pew

s10cki be pulling legs.

I know, I jes' LOOOOVE le pew...

His pun-tastic titles are awesome:

Odor-able Kitty (1945)
Odor of the Day (1948)
For Scent-imental Reasons Little Beau Pepé (1952)
Two Scent's Worth (1955)
Past Perfumance (1955)
Louvre Come Back to Me (1962)

A couple baby skunks were hanging around my parents place a few years back, presumably the smell a half mile down the road was their mom :(

They were really adorable and would try to follow you around the yard, but we did some research and figure out they can spray from shortly after birth. So we kind of tactfully ignored the little guys and they moved on after a week or so.

ISTR people keeping skunks as pets back in the day but it involves removing the scent sac at the vet's. And first catching your skunk.

Yeah, they still kind of have an odor worse than a ferret, though

Thankfully no attack tonight (so far)!

In the midst of telling everyone I know about this, someone mentioned that baby skunks can't really control when/where they spray. I don't know if this is true, but it's a funny image.

The funny thing about skunk odor is indeed the fact you get used to it relatively quickly. But it just hangs around for so long...

LOL those Pepe Le Pew titles.

My late bulldog got sprayed 2x by a skunk. I think she did it on purpose just to enjoy the tomato baths.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Hepzibah_by_kelly.jpg/200px-Hepzibah_by_kelly.jpg

I have the same problem. Eyes watering too. Landlord says that we should just expect it, living round here. Ok then.

I’ve been in a battle with a skunk for the past couple of months. Here's what I did based on some good advice.

- Dig a small trench around deck (10” deep x 12” wide)
- Lay chicken wire (I used 24” high, 19 gauge, galvanized, ½” openings) bent into an "L" shape in trench with bottom of “L” facing away from the deck
- Staple or nail top end of fence to deck
- Back fill trench with dirt over bottom of the "L"

Important: Create a one-way exit by snipping a 6” diameter hole into wire. Kind of like an exit chute that can't be entered due to spiky wire ends. Put down flour for three nights at exit hole. When footprints are gone, skunk is too and then you can close the hole. If you don't leave an exit... you may get a dead skunk under your deck.

Skunks will go to deck and attempt to dig under but will hit wire barrier at every turn. Then they go to your neighbor’s house instead.

heavy

My dad would set out those trap cages, and, once caught, tie them to his truck and drag the cage through the creek until it had dies.

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/images/skunkcontrol.jpg

These guys

i used those for about a month, but didn't catch anything other than the occasional possum. i think the skunk left on its own. now there's a white rabbit who lives under the deck. i wonder if there was a turf war. overall, a good trade.

i don't know where this rabbit came from though - it looks domesticated. one of these guys:
http://www.yenmag.net/img/news/68/white%20bunny.jpg

OR IS IT

http://1heckofaguy.com/wp-content/photos/hoag-mascot/HolyGrail%20rabbit.jpg

I thought for sure the last word in thread title was 'desk.' So count your blessings, robotsinlove, it could be much worse.

-- Oilyrags, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 15:20 (3 months ago) Link

Ha - me too. I was having a very hard time figuring out what was going on. lol.

i immediately thought you meant this:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/images/main/sl1200m5_550.jpg
http://www.thriftyfun.com/images/articles16/skunk298x300.jpg