Skunks are frequently non-aggressive harmless creatures and beneficial to the area where they live, yet skunks tend to end up a pain when the skunks under deck decide to make a den and have pups.
When a skunk feels threatened, it could leave or pose a risk to family and pets. A skunk carrying rabies is the last thing you want to deal with. Fortunately, you can deal with a skunk infestation in many ways, and you have skunks living under your deck.
In our guide, you can find the best ways of how to get rid of skunk under deck. By the end, no matter if you have a skunk under shed or are fed up with the unpleasant smell wafting around yoyur deck, you can learn how to prevent skunks from setting up home.
By the end, you’ll see how footings block wildlife and the chances of a skunk living under deck. You’ll also find the many methods suitable to keep pests from your garbage bins and other areas you could have a skunk problem. (Learn How To Keep Geese Off Your Dock)
Are Skunks In My Yard Dangerous?
Skunks are not harmful animals. They rarely act aggressively unless it is a mother skunk with her young. Although skunks are among four wild animals that frequently carry the rabies virus.
A rabid skunk could circle, stumble, appear aggressive, or have paralyzed limbs. Call your neighborhood animal control or wildlife rehabilitator if you spot a rabid skunk for assistance.
What’s the Best Way to Get Rid of Skunks?
The best way to remove skunks from your property depends on where they are and how you want to deal with them.
For example, you may have an unrestricted budget to purchase repellants or be able to deter the animals without spending a penny.
- Keep pet food sources inside.
- Cover your trash bin
- Never leave pet food outside at night
- Keep areas around bird feeders clean
- Keep compost piles secure
Most skunks are opportunists, so start feeding pets indoors. Also, skunks feed on grubs in over-watered lawns as they come to the surface and soils are softer.
Here you can find some natural and humane ways to get rid of skunks or repel skunks off your property.
Install a Wire Mesh Fence
Skunks like to make cracks under porches, concrete slabs, and other structures. They might move under the deck, which you can hear so that you can block off any attractive hiding places.
Install wood panels or an underground wire mesh fence around the deck, the shed, or the house’s foundation. Fill up any openings or crevices where skunks might sneak in. Fencing, sheet metal, concrete, chicken wire, and wood are more options. (Learn How To Get Rid Of Rabbits Under Deck)
Sprinkle Used Kitty Litter
If you have a house cat, you can use used kitty litter is a mild repellent. Place them near and inside a skunk den to drive them out. To allow the animal to pass and leave the area, make sure to cover one side of the den with cat litter.
Use Ammonia
Use can use cotton balls or ammonia-soaked rags. To keep skunks from dunking, place them next to the entrance to the den where you find the skunk living beneath your deck; skunks should leave their den and move out from shed walls using this method.
Try putting the rags or cotton balls in a plastic bag first if the harsh smell is too overpowering for you. Moth balls are frequently used, although they are ineffective and, in some areas, illegal to use as a pest deterrent.
Use Apple Cider Vinegar and a Plastic Bag
Apple cider vinegar also emits a potent odor that deters skunks, much like the ammonia technique. Put cotton balls or rags in a plastic bag after soaking them in apple cider vinegar.
To prevent skunks from returning, place the bag underneath a porch. You can also set it next to your shed or next to the den entrance to get rid of skunks.
Motion-Activated Sprinklers
A sprinkler that detects motion should activate automatically. Similarly to this, when an animal approaches too closely, critter sprinklers activate. Using a critter sprinkler is a safe technique to keep skunks off your property. Simply position them close to areas where you believe skunks might like to den.
When the sensor senses motion nearby, the battery-operated device sprays water for five seconds and can identify animals within a 30-foot radius. It is entirely safe for people and animals, and setup takes only a few minutes.
You can use these around your bird feeders, for example, as skunks love food sources that are full of stray seeds and nuts that birds drop on the floor, or they can invade your vegetable garden as things ripen. (Read Deck Size Chart)
Use Bright Lights To Deter Skunks
Skunks are nocturnal animals; therefore, bright lights make them nervous, and your yard is less inviting when you install a motion-activated lighting system. A great energy-saving option is solar-powered bright light. The red LED flash of a skunk deterrent light might scare away animals at night.
You can use multiple and place them around your garbage cans, deck, shed, or other areas where a skunk may nest or find natural food sources.
Use a Pepper Spray
It can be easy keeping skunks away using a homemade spicy spray. Make a solution using cayenne pepper, jalapeno, or Tabasco sauce and spray it on plants or around the perimeter.
You can use pepper spray as an efficient deterrent around your yard, den, trash bins, or trees. Skunks and other wild animals, like squirrels, can be repelled with pepper sprays.
Skunks hate the smell; therefore, keeping them out of your garden works wonders, while a spicy spray is a more noxious spray to skunks and other wild creatures.
Scatter Used Citrus Peels
Skunks and many other animals are naturally repelled by citrus. Citrus peels, such as lemon or orange, can be spread beneath a deck or porch. The peels could also be chopped up and scattered all over your property.
Catch and Relocate
Set a spring-loaded trap to entice a skunk away from your house if live trapping is legal where you live. Cat food, peanut butter, marshmallows, or canned sardines can bait a sizable cage trap that is placed in an open area. The skunk has then moved at least 10 miles away from the location of capture.
However, several states have laws against live trapping. If you’re sure about the rules in your area, get in touch with the local wildlife department there.
Skunks can be captured with the Animal Trap for Racoons. After the animal enters, the spring-loaded one-way door of the trap closes. The one-way door prevents the skunk from reversing out of the trap as it enters. (Read Deck Screw Size Chart)
Keep A Clean Yard
If you have birds nest close to your home, it may be thanks to your bird feeder. However, this can be a food source for skunks. To prevent skunks and other animals from benefiting from messy birds, put a tray underneath that will catch falling seeds and nuts.
How to Get Rid of Skunks Using Chemical Repellents
Use Predator’s Urine, like foxes and dog urine, can deter skunks. A simple method with a pet dog is to encourage it to urinate near the den, trash bins, or other areas there are baby skunks in your yard.
Skunks find this a noxious spray, although they are easy to use. You can use these spray repellents around your trash can, garbage bags, or compost pile where there are grass clippings that skunks love to eat.
You may ask, what are the best chemical repellents to buy?
For rodents and other animals, including skunks, mice, raccoons, rats, deer, and other creatures, the Natural Armor Animal and Rodent Repellent Spray is the best option.
Both indoor and outdoor use is permitted for the potent peppermint mixture. You can spray it in your basement, crawlspace, yard, tall grass trees, sheds, garages, bird feeder, and trash cans, among other places where skunks might congregate.
As an alternative, use Safer Animal Repellent Granules, a blend of black pepper, piperine, and capsaicin oils with a dual action. The granules are effective against other creatures like groundhogs, cats, dogs, raccoons, and chipmunks for up to 30 days.
Where Do Skunks Live?
Skunks can be recognized by their distinctive black-and-white stripes and a musky odor. The likelihood of smelling the skunk before seeing it is higher.
For instance, a skunk might live at your house if the stench is persistent and emanating from below a structure or woodpile. Where the skunks scavenge for grubs or plants or the trash can that has been pushed over could indicate you have skunks.
The animals look for practical den sites, such as rock or woodpiles, raised sheds, crawl spaces, garages, and gaps beneath concrete slabs. Skunks frequently enter the area around dusk and go again. For instance, your skunk problem might be resolved by shutting a garage door when the animal wanders outside. (Learn How To Fill Gaps In Wood Deck)
How To Get Rid Of Skunks Under House
According to the Humane Society, skunks are helpful to their locations because they eat pests like insects and rodents. However, they may look for shelter under your deck, shed, or house during the winter or when they are raising young.
Mild harassment and deterrent typically work when you must evict someone from your home. Skunks are nocturnal and don’t bite, so you can leave them alone until they move quickly.
Because the animals can’t dig a new den when the earth is frozen in the winter, leaving a skunk den alone is also compassionate. If there are any young children around, put off removing skunks until it gets warmer.
It is better to leave a den with young skunks alone until they are old enough.
In this situation, you would wait until the young can follow their mother skunk out of the den to forage, and then you would begin closing the hole to deter the young from returning.
If you can’t wait, ask a specialist for assistance. If you tamper with their young, skunks could turn aggressive. The alternative is to plug the hole with soil, leaves, paper, straw, or some similar substance to entice skunks to depart.
Mild harassment, such as lightly stuffing the den hole with leaves, can force skunks to keep and deter them from returning. It would help if you didn’t block the den when skunks (or young ones) are present. You can position a cheap radio close to the den, as human voices can be enough to ward off any skunks thinking of moving in.
You can assume the den is empty and safe to fill if the plug is left in place for a few nights. It would be beneficial to employ exclusion strategies to stop dunking before skunks settled in.
What To Do If Skunk Sprays Me?
When frightened, skunks are notorious for emitting a pungent stink. The spray is extremely painful, especially if it goes into your eyes. Skunks are calm animals, though; they rarely use this protection technique unless their young are in danger or cannot flee. Therefore, it’s crucial to make placing a skunk in a vulnerable position.
A tomato juice bath is a traditional method for removing the smell of a skunk that splashes you. The bath lessens the scent. Cats and dogs are likewise safe with it.
Putting on gloves, mix
- 1 gallon of 3% hydrogen peroxide, available from any drugstore
- Baking soda, 1/4 cup
- Dishwashing liquid soap, 1 teaspoon
After the spraying, put on the gloves and scrub with the solution.
Thoroughly rinse. Keep your eyes away from the tomato juice bath. Any remaining mixture shouldn’t be put in a bottle since it might blow up. A substitute for hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dishwashing soap is equal parts water and vinegar.
