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Having skunks around your home can present a number of health and safety hazards. Aside from the threat of being sprayed with their noxious musk, skunks are also known carriers of rabies and other diseases that can harm your family or pets. Skunks will also tear open trash bags and topple garbage cans, which can attract other vermin and insects to your home. By removing food sources, eliminating hiding places and using an effective skunk repellent, you can make your home inhospitable to skunks, forcing them to go elsewhere.
How to Get Rid of Skunks by Sprucing Up Your Home
Wondering how to get rid of skunks around your property? Follow these tips to dissuade them:
Step 1: Remove food sources around your home, such as pet-food bowls and low-hanging bird feeders.
Step 2: Place all trash in cans with tight-fitting, locking lids.
Step 3: Eliminate any insect infestations you have. Also be sure to take care of any rodent infestations, as skunks will eat small rodents.
Step 4: Remove piles of brush, wood or other debris in your yard that could serve as a hiding place for skunks.
Step 5: Use wire mesh to seal any openings in or around your home that skunks could be using to enter crawlspaces, basements or other areas.
Once you’ve eliminated food sources and hiding places, your home will be less appealing to skunks; however, this does not mean they won’t come back. By using an effective skunk repellent, you can keep the skunks away.
Liquid or Granular Skunk Repellent
Available in liquid or granular form, skunk repellent is safe, comprised of all natural ingredients that repel skunks effectively without harming them. Simply sprinkle or spray the repellent around your property, and the taste, smell and touch of the repellent will drive skunks away.
Motion Detector Sprinkler as a Skunk Repellent
The motion detector sprinkler is an effective skunk repellent because it uses fear to condition the animal to stay away. It senses the heat and motion of nuisance animals. Once detected, the repellent sprays a burst of water while creating a “ticking” sound—startling the animal and shooing it away. The noise, motion and spray of the repellent will make skunks reluctant to venture back into your yard. So, take these steps to spruce up your home, then get an effective skunk repellent to keep them away!
want to know where to buy skunk repellent I have a skunk in my yard almost every nite,it must be spraying and it comes through my central air and goes through the whole house the smell is terriblei need to get rid of it
Hi Kim,
You can buy our skunk repellent, Critter Ridder®, on our website: http://www.havahart.com/store/animal-repellents/skunk. You may also locate the closest Havahart® retailer that sells Critter Ridder® by entering your zip code on our website: http://www.havahart.com/customerservice/where-to-buy.
Good luck with that skunk! Please let us know if you have any other questions!
-Your Friends at Havahart®
What about squiriels, how to keep them out of my yard and flower beds.
Hi Regina,
We carry Critter Ridder® and Deer Off® repellent which are both effective for keeping squirrels out of your yard and flower bed areas! Visit our squirrel repellent page at Havahart.com for information: http://www.havahart.com/store/animal-repellents/squirrel.
You may also choose to trap and relocate squirrels (http://www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps/squirrel), but using a repellent first should do the trick! Good luck with the squirrels!
-Your Friends at Havahart®
We just found out a skunk is under our bath house. We can see where he/she got in,there is a hole under the corner of the house. A neighbor saw it go in during the middle of the night. What can we do to get him to leave on his own? I’m not very knowledgeable about their habits. I was told they sleep during the day and venture out at night.
Hi Sandi,
We are sorry to hear about your skunk issue! Yes, skunks are nocturnal, so we suggest placing a live skunk trap by the hole under the house to trap and relocate the skunk. However, we also offer skunk repellent which you could use around the perimeter of your bath house. The skunk will not like the taste or smell and should leave the area. We provide a repellent called Critter Ridder® which will do the trick! (http://www.havahart.com/store/animal-repellents/skunk). Please let us know how it works!
Thank you,
Your Friends at Havahart®
I caught a skunk once. accidentlay. was trying to catch a cat, that has been using my yard forever. woke up and there was a baby skunk. called animal control. they are frieds. they never came out. 3 hrs.later. the sun was beating down. and it was getting too hot for him. I had to take him out of the humane trap. yes, I got sprayed. Long store. so won’t tell you the rest. but he was saved and went on his merry way. left a smell at my house for 5 days. But I saved the little stinker.
Judy Griffith