How to Keep Skunks away from your Backyard
An unlikely event could occur in your backyard such as a skunk arriving at your BBQ party. Fortunately, you can get rid of this skunks before anything happens.
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Identifying if a Skunk is Present
Getting Rid of the Skunk
Preventing Skunks from Coming back into the Yard
Identifying if a Skunk is Present
In selecting a method or an item, you’d choose one that is best for the pest that is present in your home. In some cases what you may think that might have been a squirrel could have actually been a small wild skunk and it was just too late in the evening to see anything while you were looking on the window of your room in the second floor.
Like humans, skunks need food and shelter. Skunks can dig up holes in your yard that is of course smaller than what your dog may do, this is one of the signs that a skunk is present in your yard since this means that they were seeking for food in your yard. If the hole is near your house or even an outside table in your yard that could have been a skunk looking for it because skunks do need their shelter.
But there is one obvious sign of a skunk is its musk. A skunk’s musk is definitely something you wouldn’t want to smell when you’re out in your yard. Besides their musk which seemingly could be a deadly fart for the nose could be its feces. If you’re up for inspecting that then it should be around a length of 2 inches and a little bit wider than an inch, its feces also contains insects or what remains of the insect.
Getting Rid of the Skunk
Once you’ve identified that you do have a skunk somewhere around your yard, you would not want to leave it be to its own devices. If you do, you might have more stenches of their musk, holes, and of course. Poop.
Again, a skunk seeks mostly food and shelter. If you have your pets’ food bowl outside the house or even a feeder for birds, you should remove them from your yard. As for the feeder, you do have the choice of buying a higher bird feeder that a skunk won’t reach. This eliminates one of their food sources.
Alternatively, the skunks could go for the insects or small rodents in your yard. Although a help to you, you would not want them to stay for a very long time in your yard and therefore you should eliminate this other food source of theirs. If you have an insect infestation in your yard, it’s best to fix that first before you think of getting rid of the skunk.
Trash. Your trash could really either be a shelter or a food place for a skunk. If there are any food remains that were thrown in the can. Nobody would want to one day open the trash to throw some stuff in and then get sprayed by a skunk. In order to avoid any skunk in the trash, make sure that the lids are properly and close it as much you can. It’s best to keep the trash secured and tightly closed if not locked. Another shelter for these guys would be could be your decks or porches and not to forget your shed, it’s best to keep those places secured or at least keep it in check to make sure that no skunk is hiding from these places.
Besides a source for food, skunks need a source for shelter and that source should be cut off from it if you don’t want it hanging around in your yard. If you have any items such as wood piles, an old tire, or any items that could possibly be home to a skunk should be removed.
Another problem is how the skunk got in the first place, you might want to check any possible holes in your fences or small spaces between them. It’s also a good idea to keep your basement or any area of your home secured just so that they won’t find themselves inside your home because in the yard, they’re already a problem. It could be worst if they are inside your home. In sealing these places, you can use mesh of wires or any sealant that can’t be easily torn apart by a skunk.
If this doesn’t work, you can either call pest control or trap the skunk for yourself. This may be quite difficult to do but it’s not impossible. To trap a skunk, you’ll need a cage to trap them in that’s for sure preferably one with a cover but if you don’t have a cover you can use a cloth as it’ll help if in any case they do spray. A used cage would be better to use in this instance, add a bait inside of it and then camouflage it in your yard or to the possible passage that the skunk comes into. You may then call for help in where and how to release the skunk back to its habitat.
Preventing Skunks from Coming back into the Yard
No one would really want a skunk in their yard not unless of course it’s their pet or they’re someone who is real fond of skunks. It’s to be expected that there are more people that do not want skunks in their yard especially when they’d just gotten rid of one.
In order to prevent skunks coming back, here are several ideas that you can do for your yard:
- Use a skunk repellent around the yard, this will help keep the skunks away.
- Tightly close the lids of your trash cans and seal any trash bag that you have laying in your yard that’s ready to be thrown.
- Keep your yard clean and maintain in cleanliness, if you have any fruit bearing trees in your yard then remove anything that’s fallen in your yard immediately as this could be another food source for skunks.
- Seal any possible spaces that a skunk could come through such as your face. It’s also best to make sure that there is no way inside your basement, under your decks or your porches so as to not have skunks having their stay in or under there.
