A truly negative skunk....

[oparr@hotmail.com]

Just this morning my wife and I were doing some work in the garden
when a skunk emerged in our vicinity and proceeded rather slowly to
disappear through the fence. We've seen the same fellow before for the
first time this year around early spring and two things seem strange
about it.... 1) It appears in broad daylight and 2) It's white with a
black stripe along its back. Aren't skunks supposed to be nocturnal
and aren't they supposed to be mainly black with a white stripe?

Our Havahart trap has done well catching 'possums and groundhogs but
don't want to chance it with skunks even though there are several
instructions on how to proceed after catching a skunk with this type
of trap. Instead, we're looking at something like this;

http://sprayproofskunktrap.com/

Anyone with skunk trapping experience with this type of trap? Any bait
recommendations? Thanks!

[ntantiques]

On Apr 19, 8:54 am, " > wrote:
> Just this morning my wife and I were doing some work in the garden
> when a skunk emerged in our vicinity and proceeded rather slowly to
> disappear through the fence. We've seen the same fellow before for the
> first time this year around early spring and two things seem strange
> about it.... 1) It appears in broad daylight and 2) It's white with a
> black stripe along its back. Aren't skunks supposed to be nocturnal
> and aren't they supposed to be mainly black with a white stripe?
>
> Our Havahart trap has done well catching 'possums and groundhogs but
> don't want to chance it with skunks even though there are several
> instructions on how to proceed after catching a skunk with this type
> of trap. Instead, we're looking at something like this;
>
> http://sprayproofskunktrap.com/
>
> Anyone with skunk trapping experience with this type of trap? Any bait
> recommendations? Thanks!

From what I understand, sometimes healthy, normally nocturnal critters
wander in the daylight when the spirit moves them. Think if they're
nesting or just hungry, they may come out to forage. Could be this
one's discovered a food source and he's just crossing your garden on
the way back home to sleep off his breakfast. We have skunks
wandering our property occasionally too - they seem to stay around for
a bit, then move on. No harm, no foul. Worst damage a skunk ever did
around here was to squirt one of the neighbors - and that was only
after he'd literally stepped on the poor thing in the dark one night.
Wouldn't mess with trying to trap your skunk unless he was creating a
real problem - and then I'd bring in a pro.

Nancy T

[ntantiques]

On Apr 19, 8:54 am, " > wrote:
> Just this morning my wife and I were doing some work in the garden
> when a skunk emerged in our vicinity and proceeded rather slowly to
> disappear through the fence. We've seen the same fellow before for the
> first time this year around early spring and two things seem strange
> about it.... 1) It appears in broad daylight and 2) It's white with a
> black stripe along its back. Aren't skunks supposed to be nocturnal
> and aren't they supposed to be mainly black with a white stripe?
>
> Our Havahart trap has done well catching 'possums and groundhogs but
> don't want to chance it with skunks even though there are several
> instructions on how to proceed after catching a skunk with this type
> of trap. Instead, we're looking at something like this;
>
> http://sprayproofskunktrap.com/
>
> Anyone with skunk trapping experience with this type of trap? Any bait
> recommendations? Thanks!

From what I understand, sometimes healthy, normally nocturnal critters
wander in the daylight when the spirit moves them. Think if they're
nesting or just hungry, they may come out to forage. Could be this
one's discovered a food source and he's just crossing your garden on
the way back home to sleep off his breakfast. We have skunks
wandering our property occasionally too - they seem to stay around for
a bit, then move on. No harm, no foul. Worst damage a skunk ever did
around here was to squirt one of the neighbors - and that was only
after he'd literally stepped on the poor thing in the dark one night.
Wouldn't mess with trying to trap your skunk unless he was creating a
real problem - and then I'd bring in a pro.

Nancy T

[Pat Kiewicz]

said:
>
>
>Just this morning my wife and I were doing some work in the garden
>when a skunk emerged in our vicinity and proceeded rather slowly to
>disappear through the fence. We've seen the same fellow before for the
>first time this year around early spring and two things seem strange
>about it.... 1) It appears in broad daylight and 2) It's white with a
>black stripe along its back. Aren't skunks supposed to be nocturnal
>and aren't they supposed to be mainly black with a white stripe?

I've seen them in the mornings, occasionally. The only skunk I
ever saw out in the mid-day was one that was seriously wounded.
Which later died, thankfully, not under the neighbor's deck, which
is where it went when it saw me, but after leaving there to continue
in the same direction it was going when it saw me.
>
>Our Havahart trap has done well catching 'possums and groundhogs
>but
>don't want to chance it with skunks even though there are several
>instructions on how to proceed after catching a skunk with this type
>of trap. Instead, we're looking at something like this;
>
>http://sprayproofskunktrap.com/
>
>Anyone with skunk trapping experience with this type of trap? Any bait
>recommendations? Thanks!

How easy is it to see that you have a skunk in the trap? I'd think
that any skunk that would spray in a regular trap (most of them
don't) would spray in that trap, too.

I've trapped several skunks while trying to trap rabbits and groundhogs.
The rabbit cage is easy to open, so for that one I walked up gently
with a large towel, dropped it over the trap, opened it and left. No
harm, no foul oder; the skunk walked away.

The groundhog trap is harder to open, so the couple of times I've
caught skunks in it, I've called in professionals to remove the skunk.
Dropped a blanket over the trap, carried it up to a shady spot to
wait for the pro, no spray, trap brought back, no problem (just out
some bucks).

Oh, and they asked me what I used as bait (apparently skunks are
not especially easy to bait for) and seemed dissapointed when I said
apples.

In only one case did the skunk ever spray in the trap, and that skunk
was seriously deranged. The critter-control guy said that normally
skunks don't spray when confined. This one was pacing and snapping.
Not acting anythink like any of the other skunks I (or my neighbor)
had ever trapped before.

We had some cases of confirmed rabies in foxes elsewhere in last
year in the township...this skunk I caught two years ago, and I'm
guessing it might have been rabid.

Had to wash the trap with bleach to cut the stench. Very comical
enterprise as the only tub large enought to use outdoors was our
big yellow wheelbarrow.


--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

After enlightenment, the laundry.

[paghat[_2_]]

wrote:
> Just this morning my wife and I were doing some work in the garden
> when a skunk emerged in our vicinity and proceeded rather slowly to
> disappear through the fence. We've seen the same fellow before for the
> first time this year around early spring and two things seem strange
> about it.... 1) It appears in broad daylight and 2) It's white with a
> black stripe along its back. Aren't skunks supposed to be nocturnal
> and aren't they supposed to be mainly black with a white stripe?
>
> Our Havahart trap has done well catching 'possums and groundhogs but
> don't want to chance it with skunks even though there are several
> instructions on how to proceed after catching a skunk with this type
> of trap. Instead, we're looking at something like this;
>
> http://sprayproofskunktrap.com/
>
> Anyone with skunk trapping experience with this type of trap? Any bait
> recommendations? Thanks!

Presuming you didn't see a badger which has black stripes down its head
and often abroad by day, then your white skunk with black stripe is an
often reported though uncommon color variation. Skunks generally have two
strips with a narrow black zone down the back either thin or broad. If the
two white zones on the back are unusually broader extending down the
sides, you end up with with a skunk that appears to have only one black
stripe.

There used to be a lot of skunk breeders in the deep south, especially
Georgia, up through the 1970s, and they'd developed domestic strains with
the black stripe, or entirely white without being albino so dark-eyed, or
all whlite on top without the thin black stripe, & long-haired strain with
most of the extra hair on the back and tail so they looked like waddling
horse manes without the horse. There are still a few breeders in the south
but relatively few and I suppose most of the domestic strains except
albino have been let to die out. Descemted skunks do make good pets,
though males should also be neutered or they can get aggressive.

I used to care for skunks and found them mostly of identical character
traits showing very little individual personality, except the spotted
skunk which is a lot more like a cat in its physical movements and swift
activity and a little smarter than cats or a ferret because they can learn
to come when called by an individual name. If they were legal in my state
I'd have a spotted skunk for a pet I liked them so much. But they were
included years ago in a broad, ill-considered ban on animals associated
with rabies. So even a captive-bred domestic strain is illegal to own in
Washington state, damned stupid law it is too, I wish the breeders had a
lobby able to effect such lame-ass legislation.

Skunks learn to go abraod by day if there are easy food sources only
available by day, if they are semi-tame & have human friends who feed them
by day, they're escaped or improperly freed pets still expecting those
******* humans to take care of them -- or if they're ill with pnemonia or
rabies & can no longer nest properly. In the latter case they can be very
dangerous, but you can usually tell they're ill because they'll be thin,
very dirty & scruffy, don't find their way about very smartly, & no longer
have enough sense to stay out of the road.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:
http://www.paghat.com
visit my film reviews website:
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com

[Amos Nomore]

In article >,
(paghat) wrote:
>
> Skunks learn to go abraod by day if there are easy food sources only
> available by day, if they are semi-tame & have human friends who feed them
> by day, they're escaped or improperly freed pets still expecting those
> ******* humans to take care of them -- or if they're ill with pnemonia or
> rabies & can no longer nest properly. In the latter case they can be very
> dangerous, but you can usually tell they're ill because they'll be thin,
> very dirty & scruffy, don't find their way about very smartly, & no longer
> have enough sense to stay out of the road.
>
> -paghat the ratgirl

Good information. I've seen healthy skunks doing business during
daylight hours from time-to-time, but never a raccoon. A raccoon seen
in broad daylight must be presumed rabid until proven otherwise.
-----------------
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Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road
-----------------

[Billy[_4_]]

In article
>,
Amos Nomore > wrote:

> In article >,
> (paghat) wrote:
> >
> > Skunks learn to go abraod by day if there are easy food sources only
> > available by day, if they are semi-tame & have human friends who feed them
> > by day, they're escaped or improperly freed pets still expecting those
> > ******* humans to take care of them -- or if they're ill with pnemonia or
> > rabies & can no longer nest properly. In the latter case they can be very
> > dangerous, but you can usually tell they're ill because they'll be thin,
> > very dirty & scruffy, don't find their way about very smartly, & no longer
> > have enough sense to stay out of the road.
> >
> > -paghat the ratgirl
>
> Good information. I've seen healthy skunks doing business during
> daylight hours from time-to-time, but never a raccoon. A raccoon seen
> in broad daylight must be presumed rabid until proven otherwise.
> -----------------
> www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed*
> Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road
> -----------------

Don't feed the tweakers.
--

Billy

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBB0svwMdY&feature=related

[Amos Nomore]

In article
>,
Billy > wrote:
>
> Don't feed the tweakers.

I've been away awhile. When'd you start picking bones with paghat?

[Billy[_4_]]

In article >,
Amos Nomore > wrote:

> In article
> >,
> Billy > wrote:
> >
> > Don't feed the tweakers.
>
> I've been away awhile. When'd you start picking bones with paghat?

Since I stepped on her ego by disagreed with her on exploding
eucalyptuses. She would tear them all out although pines, firs, and
redwoods all exhibit the same proclivities. It wasn't just me. She has
been having trouble getting along with the other kids too and it all
seems to boil down to ego. I have only found her type of cleverness (I
didn't say intelligence) and lack empathy in one corner of humanity.

Keep some popcorn and cider handy;-)
--

Billy

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBB0svwMdY&feature=related

[oparr@hotmail.com]

Thanks for the skunk tutorial.

On Apr 20, 1:08*pm, (paghat) wrote:
>
>Skunks learn to go abraod by day if there are easy food sources

[oparr@hotmail.com]

Good point. You may relocate the neighbors cat.

On Apr 20, 8:28*am, Pat Kiewicz > wrote:
>
> How easy is it to see that you have a skunk in the trap?

[oparr@hotmail.com]

Thanks for the replies folks.

[enigma]

Amos Nomore > wrote in
-BINARIES.
COM:

> In article
> >,
> (paghat) wrote:
>>
>> Skunks learn to go abraod by day if there are easy food
>> sources only available by day, if they are semi-tame &
>> have human friends who feed them by day, they're escaped
>> or improperly freed pets still expecting those *******
>> humans to take care of them -- or if they're ill with
>> pnemonia or rabies & can no longer nest properly. In the
>> latter case they can be very dangerous, but you can
>> usually tell they're ill because they'll be thin, very
>> dirty & scruffy, don't find their way about very smartly,
>> & no longer have enough sense to stay out of the road.
>>
>> -paghat the ratgirl
>
> Good information. I've seen healthy skunks doing business
> during daylight hours from time-to-time, but never a
> raccoon. A raccoon seen in broad daylight must be presumed
> rabid until proven otherwise.

no true. mothers with babies frequently are about during the
day, as they have to hunt when the kits are sleeping (same
with skunks & foxes). seeing normally nocturnal animals out &
about during the day in spreing is not unusual, nor
necessarily cause for alarm (assuming that it looks healthy &
isn't acting otherwise strangely)

lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.

[Amos Nomore]

In article >,
enigma > wrote:

> Amos Nomore > wrote in
> -BINARIES.
> COM:
>
> > In article
> > >,
> > (paghat) wrote:
> >>
> >> Skunks learn to go abraod by day if there are easy food
> >> sources only available by day, if they are semi-tame &
> >> have human friends who feed them by day, they're escaped
> >> or improperly freed pets still expecting those *******
> >> humans to take care of them -- or if they're ill with
> >> pnemonia or rabies & can no longer nest properly. In the
> >> latter case they can be very dangerous, but you can
> >> usually tell they're ill because they'll be thin, very
> >> dirty & scruffy, don't find their way about very smartly,
> >> & no longer have enough sense to stay out of the road.
> >>
> >> -paghat the ratgirl
> >
> > Good information. I've seen healthy skunks doing business
> > during daylight hours from time-to-time, but never a
> > raccoon. A raccoon seen in broad daylight must be presumed
> > rabid until proven otherwise.
>
> no true. mothers with babies frequently are about during the
> day, as they have to hunt when the kits are sleeping (same
> with skunks & foxes). seeing normally nocturnal animals out &
> about during the day in spreing is not unusual, nor
> necessarily cause for alarm (assuming that it looks healthy &
> isn't acting otherwise strangely)
>
This is true, thank you. I should have said that raccoons seen during
the daylight hours are more likely to be unhealthy than skunks, but that
there is no reason to irrationally fear these animals in such events
unless they are obviously behaving strangely or appear ill. One should
never attempt to approach a wild animal which is behaving in a friendly
or submissive manner, particularly a nocturnal animal during the day.
One other point to consider is that skunks can be lifelong asymptomatic
carriers of rabies virus.