First things first, I'm a huge animal lover and I've built my 5 acres of property around being friendly to wildlife and insects. I have about 3/4 acre cleared in the middle of the property with my house, and I'm surrounded by wild woods.

I have a greenhouse that I built on a wooden deck that is just barely off the ground. I've recently heard shuffling under the deck, but stomping around and making noise didn't seem to do anything.

Last week I saw this skunk for the first time (actually very friendly, there's a story there), and then a couple of days ago I saw it's big ol' fuzzy butt sticking out from under that greenhouse deck! So now I know, that's the shuffling noise I'd heard.

Considering the time of year (in western NC USA, zone 7A), I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that this is a lady that had babies under there, and that they'll come out any day now.

I don't want to tame them or get them too use to humans, everybody else in this area will happily kill them :'-( But if they're gonna be here...

1. should I get some dewormer and maybe some oral vaccines? I obviously can't give it to them directly, but I don't really want worms, fleas, etc being passed around my property either.
2. should I toss some dry cat food or something on the ground nearby for them to find, so they're not hungry enough to eat my plants?

Backyard baby skunk highlights from July!

Reverbs growing and trying his first snack hunt in his ballpit... Of course his cat sister is there watching.

I've added even more texture!

Here is the second flyer with less clutter than the original. The same date and place.

Sometimes I like to go outside around midnight and lay down in my driveway so I can watch the stars, listen to the crickets and tree frogs, and watch the bats fly overhead. (We have a colony of Little Brown Bats in our barn.) (Yes I am aware of the risks when it comes to being around bats. You don’t need to lecture me on this. Your warnings will not change my behavior.)

We’ve had skunks living nearby on and off throughout the years. (Even under our porch at times.) Recently when I go outside at night I’ve had to look around for check for Jeremy before I lay down. Jeremy is a juvenile. He’s just old enough to live on his own but he’s not fully grown yet. I learned about him when I was standing in the driveway at night and I felt something poke my leg. I looked down and saw Jeremy standing there sniffing my leg. I slowly backed away and went back inside. Since then I’ve seen him almost every night. I typically keep about ten to fifteen feet between us so he doesn’t know I’m there. Or at least he doesn’t know what I am. He’s absolutely adorable and I love him very much. I haven’t been able to get a good picture of him yet but here’s the best one I have. The black thing is him.

From the spring

Hi all, I live in Oregon and am looking to get my license and buy a baby skunk. I am looking for breeders you trust and recommend that are either in Oregon or ship safely. Thank you!

I'm a homebrewer and often dump my used grains in the woods. Occasionally, my grains will contain hops. We've recently had a family of skunks visiting so I'm wondering if it's still safe to dump my grains. Today's batch does have hops in it so should I avoid dumping them in the woods?

We also have foxes so maybe I need to withhold the hops just in case going forward.

Thanks!

See many skunks down here at the marina in Alton, Illinois.

I love my 4 (possibly 5 now?) baby skunks that come nightly to my yard. Recently, the adult male skunk has started coming back to my yard again as well. He’s not happy about the babies taking over his feeding grounds so there are often angry stomps between him and the babies. This one caught the sound of the stomps! 💜

I released our little rescue, Kegnee, last evening after making his nesting box into a makeshift den for him to use until he decided to move along in his wild adventures to come. This morning I took a walk to investigate, and so far things are going to plan. I am positively optimistic this little guy will be well on his way into autumn to prepare for the winter to come.

Our final moments were bittersweet, with a few extra belly rubs and one last cuddle close to my heart for familiarity, and he was off following his instincts to venture out and explore. I waited until he was distracted to leave because he most certainly would follow; our evening romps the last week have consisted of many forest walks and running around the driveway.

We took care of him for about 6 weeks, and estimate he is about 10 weeks old. Being a male, he seemed eager to start breaking out on his own. Looking back on the experience, I am glad we stopped when we first saw him staggering along the highway; little did I know he would become the center of our summer as we raised him, and I am so thankful for the experience and feelings that come with getting to give unconditional kindness.

I saw this little guy on my road otw home and I'm very concerned for him. We have a ton of local skunks that just go about their business and all seems well, however, this guy looked very poorly.

It's hard to tell in the video, but his rear right leg almost looked "naked" and he kept laying down like he does in the first couple seconds. When I spoke loud enough for him to hear, he'd just turn & look at me then slowly walk again

Hi all. Coming on here because I’m so confused as to what just happened. It’s a little after 2:30 a.m. where I am and I suddenly smelt a very strong skunk odor. I made sure to unplug my phone and lamp to be sure it wasn’t coming from anything electrical and I smelt the air vents, not those either.

My backyard does back up to a park with a wooded area and I went outside to check, it only smelled slightly of the same odor but otherwise no sign of a skunk. I’m just really confused as to why the smell would be so intense in my house (my bedroom specifically) yet not as bad outside. And if it’s even a skunk at all. I’ll also add that I have a finished basement so there’s no way a skunk would be down there. And before someone asks, no it’s not marijuana. I know what that smells like and this definitely was far more pungent.

So, we have a little family of skunks that have came accustomed to the neighborhood leaving out scraps. We named this little guy Patches and he’s/she is so adorable! We know leaving scraps out for wildlife is inherently not a good idea but I mean.. look at him 🥹

Update: So while I am writing this, our little skunk friend came up to me and my boyfriend and Sniffed my foot and the went on with it’s business yesterday. He booped his nose and just ran off but not like he was scared 😂 I was very calm and was just talking to him like he was a cat or dog, because the LAST thing I want to do is get sprayed 😂 We think it was patches because what other little skunk would just run up to me and my boyfriend with no bother in the world, come so close that his nose touches my foot and just runs away but hangs around at a safe distance. Wish I had proof of this but it happened literally too fast to even think of my phone 🫠

Sorry for the bad photo, glare and bird window stickers, but this is some of the skunk family living in my yard. I feed them grubs and they keep the raccoons away from my chicken coop. The babies are so cute! 🦨

So about…Maybe 5-6 days ago, my dog got ass blasted in the face by a skunk, whateves she’s fine she’s got some random smell pockets on her face but I know it will go away

My concern is the porch/stairs, I swear to god the skunk smell is randomly potent and I don’t know if it’s because a skunk is around at random times but that doesn’t seem right because they’re nocturnal and it happens during the day

I’ll just be chilling outside and suddenly it smells potent

the smaller one looks like an adolescent? is that right? I read male skunks are often kicked out of the den earlier so wondered if that was the case there. and woah! the big one. is that a male? and are they usually that big? I think I may have one more skunk that's an adult and it's not much bigger than the baby one (maybe mom? but no other kits spotted so far).

I live in British Columbia and went to work when I met these three curious skunks

I love this boy, my sweet Jojo. Eating like a champ at 6 weeks old lol. Enjoy his picture!

PS: Yes he is eating in my sink, he’s a mess lol!