Baby skunks are problem you will encounter once a female skunk chooses your home to deliver and raise its babies. Female skunks usually choose human homes when they are pregnant, because in human neighborhood they can find lots of fine spots for their dens-human home, under the porch area or basement is warm and secluded-a perfect spot for raising baby skunks.



After the delivery, mother skunk stays with the babies during day and goes out to find food during night. Babies are at first breastfed and after certain period of time they will be able to eat food as adults do. When it comes to dealing with baby skunks, problem is slightly larger then when you need to deal just with adult skunk, because babies don't have control over their spraying glands; this means that they will spray smell at anyone and everywhere, whenever they feel threatened-or compelled to spray, and that is very often. As we all know, adult skunk will first send vocal warning to enemy that spraying will follow unless the opponent retreats. Only then, if enemy persist, will adult skunk spray it with nasty smelling liquid. On the other side, babies are completely unaware of this two-step process, unready to control it completely, so they will spray instantly, at a first sense of threat. This is the reason why it is so difficult and messy to deal with baby skunks.

Skunk babies come in spring, March to April and then will stay inside their den for at least first 30-45 days from delivery. It is important to keep this in mind when you need to decide what to do with baby skunks that are located somewhere in your home or under the porch. It is important to keep this in mind because you need to have baby skunks that are moving around to be able to get them from their den. This is necessary because of the method of removal that is most appropriate and most effective for removing baby skunks from your home is to use one-way exclusion trap. This is trap with entrance that closes instantly once little pests are inside, so they have no way back. Place this one way exclusion trap on entrance/exit skunks usually use to go inside and out from den. It is also important to shut all other possible exits and entrances to the den. This way, baby skunks will have to go into the trap from which they will not be able to go back to their den. This way, you will have them safely captured in the trap from which you can remove and relocate them somewhere else, in a safe way and on a safe location.

If you put one way exclusion trap on the entrance of den too early, when babies don't move outside yet, this will not be good because baby skunks will not enter it and mother will not be able to get to them to feed them, in which case they can die of starvation which can cause even bigger problem for you.

You may also want to read:

Do baby or juvenile skunks spray?

What do wildlife rehabilitators do with skunks?

What diseases do skunks carry?

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