I was wondering, has anyone actually ever seen a real life skunk in its natural habitat?.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
I was wondering, has anyone actually ever seen a real life skunk in its natural habitat?.

yes, lots of times, see them in my driveway mostly at night.

Do they really smell awful ?

Originally posted by mega_monty
Do they really smell awful ?

Yes they do, and the small lingers for hours, hard to get rid of it, they usualy spray their odour on a dog or cat thats outside at the time, then of course the dog comes in the house and thats it.

I just wondered: I see them on wildlife programmes, but have never had the pleasure to meet one, in person, so to sniff.

If you get sprayed the smell can stay on you for weeks. If you get one that sprays in your house it is not uncommon to have to throw away your furniture etc. I hear that bathing in tomato juice can help to relieve the odor if you are unlucky enough to be a victim.

Christ!


Originally posted by Snook
If you get sprayed the smell can stay on you for weeks. If you get one that sprays in your house it is not uncommon to have to throw away your furniture etc. I hear that bathing in tomato juice can help to relieve the odor if you are unlucky enough to be a victim.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
I was wondering, has anyone actually ever seen a real life skunk in its natural habitat?. I didn't realise that they were native to this country. :confused:

Oh, and if you wanna see one for real, there is one at the sheffield butterfly house place.

http://www.butterflyhouse.co.uk/

Yup,

And have been slightly skunked, and it stinks.

Tomatoe juice will remove a lot of the smell - I was without such stuff and it lingered for a few days despite a visit to a hot spring, showers and even a swim in a river on my travels!

Sometiems you can be walking through scrub and you smell the scent where a skunk has sprayed something nearby. There's also a plant called skunk cabbage, which smells something similar.

Joe

Nope never seen one

Seen em at the zoo though- you mean that's not their natural habitat?? :P

poppins and Snook are right,

The smell is terrible ! And like Snook said, if it gets on something, throwing it away is usually your only option.

Skunks are shy, and will avoid a confrontation if they can. They only spray when they feel threatened. In fact, the only time they approach people openly is if they are sick.

They came out at night where I grew up, so we would bring our dogs in at night, and not leave any pet food around, as they are scavengers. They'll go for your trash cans, etc.

I've heard some people have their scent glands removed and keep them as pets. Yikes!

I can't help but think of this cartoon: lol

http://www.yuckles.com/tweety/pepe.html

:) Sierra

Check out Loudon Wainwright lll song 'Dead Skunk' Produced about 30years ago...

Lol you lot talk about the strangest things. Ive never actually encountered one, but my mate sprayed some fart gas in my full tin of toy soldiers when i was younger and i found em in the loft the other week and the smell is still there!

Heh.. yes... was at summer camp on night duty outside our kids cabin...

Darned thing stuck its head out, sniffed in my direction and then ambled off into the woods after about 3 terrifyingly long minutes..

2 minutes after that, 3 kids came screaming round the corner with a counsellor in hot pursuit... I often wonder what would have happened if they'd made a break for it 2 minutes earlier... :gag:

Originally posted by Sierra
if it gets on something, throwing it away is usually your only option.

So all I have to do is get a skunk to spray my brother and we can throw him away? :D wickid, thats the best idea I've had this decade!

:hihi: Sorry xafier,

It doesn't work that way. If it did, I have a few people I'd like to throw away as well! lol

Truly though, the smell is awful. Our neighbors had a skunk get into their garage. (it came in through the doggy door. Probably lured by the dog food there)

The poor thing was confused and couldn't get out, and by the time it was over, it had sprayed the walls and cars before escaping when they opened the garage door.

The stink got inside all three cars (even with all the windows rolled up tight and doors shut) and they had a devil of a time getting it out. They spent quite a bit having everything professionally detailed (cleaned) and even then, the odor was still faintly there!


:) Sierra

I encountered quite a few skunks growing up, as I was a country kid and was forever tramping around outside. I never got sprayed, somehow. Our dog got sprayed quite a few times and it always took weeks for the smell to dissipate. Somehow I never minded the smell too much; well not if it was faint anyway :D.

I had the fortune of meeting someone's descented pet skunk recently though. Now I'm not a huge softie for animals but this skunk was hopelessly cute. A lovely thick soft mass of fur, and very cuddly too! Loved the way it waddled around as well. So someday, when I get a pet...

They are native to N America.
We get them up here in Canada.
In the spring and summer they seem to take delight in looking for the June Bugs, (when it is underground in the larva stage).by digging up my lawn

Originally posted by genesiscouch
I had the fortune of meeting someone's descented pet skunk recently though. Now I'm not a huge softie for animals but this skunk was hopelessly cute. A lovely thick soft mass of fur, and very cuddly too! Loved the way it waddled around as well. So someday, when I get a pet...

Just wondering.......





How do you get close enough to 'de-scent' them??? :confused: :D :gag:

Originally posted by Strix
How do you get close enough to 'de-scent' them??? :confused: :D :gag:

Well this particular skunk was from a strain that has been domesticated for fur production since the 1800s, so I assume their stink is removed when they are infants.

Ah yes, just reading. Glands are removed at 4 weeks...

How big are they? I always picture them being around the size of a badger, but as I've never actually encountered a real life badger, I'm not sure how big they are.

Small cat-sized?

Sam, Badgers are more the size of a Beagle than a cat, and not to be crossed when they are angry or have young with them, but most of the time they are shy creatures who avoid human contact.

Cheers.owdlad. I have seen them on TV, but it's hard to get the perspective right.

Originally posted by owdlad
Sam, Badgers are more the size of a Beagle than a cat,

They're a darn site larger than a beagle!! Do you mean a Basset?

Badgers are bigger than foxes, and foxes are larger than beagles (not to be confused with the foxhounds we all see on telly regularly now)

saw one in Ecclesall woods today. A woman was taking it for a walk on a lead. Since we saw it our youngest has been asking for a pet punk all afternoon.

I remember reading that a Hollywood starlet sent a skunk to the famous gossip columnist Louella Parsons after a particular stinging newsy attack -she wasn't best pleased!!!

I've been out with a few :rant:

Oh, and if you wanna see one for real, there is one at the sheffield butterfly house place.

http://www.butterflyhouse.co.uk/

How bizarre, to think you wrote this two years ago, and by chance I happened upon this place yesterday - it's very good!