Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 2, 2013 21:36:14 GMT -5
Howdy folks, This evening our local striped skunk family paid us a visit. What's super cool around here is striped skunks in out area show extreme variability in their patterns. Momma skunk is a total whiteback just like a Hog Nosed Skunk but her babies, who never hold still so were impossible to count ( probably about eight of them) show a ton of different patterns. Pure white, white with a black head, striped, white backed black bottom etc and man are they all cute as can be. Anyway, not great pics but here are a few of the mob my wife took from the upstairs window...Mel    |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jun 2, 2013 21:41:57 GMT -5
They are healthy looking.That hair is not real.Guess bright white is no issue w/a skunk.You mess w/him and he will sure mess back.Confident stinker.
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keystonecops
freely admits to licking rocks
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Post by keystonecops on Jun 2, 2013 21:42:47 GMT -5
Hope the dog was shut up LOL Later Clyde
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Post by orrum on Jun 2, 2013 21:48:56 GMT -5
My ex had a pet skunk. She got it from a breeder in Pa n raised on a bottle. It was a reverse pattern red, meannig it had two red stripes down the back and the rest white. It was a female named Baby and was neutered and descented. She lived in the house and used a litter pan like a cat. Was very active at nite and mostly slept under a rug in her lil house, they like to burrow under things, couches etc to get out the lite. She would hike her tail and jump up n down on her front feet trying to spray! She was very independant.
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 2, 2013 22:04:16 GMT -5
Very cool Orrum. They sure look like they'd make a cute pet. A the rehab place I worked in California, we had a guy who specialized in fostering baby skunks. The babies would follow him all around his garden and when he'd dig up bugs they'd all rush in for a snack. Fully scented but they never even tried to squirt. Really fun to watch. I was out horseback the other day and saw a baby armadillo. I wanted to take it home but the wife vetoed and said she didn't want that critter scratching up her wooden floors. Sure was a cute little booger though....Mel
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jun 3, 2013 15:02:24 GMT -5
Cute!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2013 16:00:14 GMT -5
I love skunks!
The pure white back is quite nice to look at.
red and reversed striped? That sounds like an amazing mutant!!
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Post by Bikerrandy on Jun 3, 2013 17:44:07 GMT -5
Those are really cool!! I wouldn't wanna get too close though (yep, it has happened to me)  lol |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jun 4, 2013 12:39:47 GMT -5
Aww, those are so cute. I love the variety in the colorings.
We've had skunks get in the yard over the years, they like to dig grubs out of our mulch pile. I don't mind that, but they also dig holes in the lawn, and I just hate it when a dog gets sprayed, and then has to be bathed. Lucy actually had her mouth on a skunk's tail (pulled out some hairs!) when she got it the last time - a direct hit! What I can't understand is why some skunks will calmly go about their business, without making a stink, while others can't seem to do anything without off-gassing? One time when I took the dogs out in the morning, there was a skunk on the top of the mulch pile, like he was king of the hill. There is a wire fence around it to keep the dogs out, and we got lucky - the skunk never sprayed, just faced down the dogs (not tail first), stood his ground and stomped his front feet at them. I herded the dogs into the house, and the skunk calmly made his getaway.
Sometimes, the smell will actually wake you from sleep in the middle of the night. Yep, I've been sprayed once too. At least I was able to turn and got hit in the shoulder instead of the eyes. I watch where I'm going now, make sure the coast is clear when I take scraps out to the mulch pile at night! Jean
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 4, 2013 13:46:45 GMT -5
We live in northern Michigan and since we don't have too many super hot nights, we don't have air conditioning. Our windows are almost always open at night, so we occasionally get woken up by skunk smell too. I never know what to do in that situation though. Do you assume that the skunk has move through and leave the windows open for some fresh air, or do you shut the windows to keep the smell out?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2013 14:21:34 GMT -5
Jean, do you have Grey Shrews?. They smell like skunk, all the time. If you had one outside your window hunting the garden, you might think you had a skunk out there. I kept one as a "pet" for about a week once. The smell made me take him back out for release. Damn thing ate 50-60 crickets a day! Cost more to feed than I did!  Another cool link |
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 4, 2013 18:50:45 GMT -5
Jugglerguy: You know, we live here on a big game ranch/ refuge and most the critters are tame as all get out. We don't have a dog anymore so the skunks either ignore us or just move out of our way when we're in the yard at night. The foxes, skunks, possums and coons all have food stations my wife puts out too so they are all like puppies as long as you don't crowd them. The skunks mainly don't squirt much unless they encounter a dog so mostly they do not stink. Hognoses and striped's do quarrel a bit though so sometimes we hear scraps and get a little stink. Both of us being wildlife biologists by training, are pretty comfortable around critters and actually enjoy the evening shows. The skunk babies are only surpassed by he baby raccoons who are unbelievably cute and the blackbuck fawns that are like crazy, running, spronging maniacs....Mel
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Post by orrum on Jun 4, 2013 21:44:31 GMT -5
Mel b careful with the armadillos, they carry leprosy.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 4, 2013 22:07:39 GMT -5
Yeah, about 5% of dillos carry leprosy but I think it's mainly the ones in the deeper soiled wetter regions of the south. Ours are kind of desert dillos round here but they do have substantial claws so I suppose they're not much fun to handle. Great fun to watch though...Mel
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Post by helens on Jun 5, 2013 1:00:18 GMT -5
It's Pepe la Pew and family!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2013 7:41:52 GMT -5
Beautiful animals but not allowed under the house. I lived in a house that had a partially open crawl space and once in a while a family of stinkers would try to make it their home. A neighbor told me to use moth balls to get them out. I was totally surprised but after I threw some moth balls under there they moved out. Doesn't seem like they would have a problem with smells because of their stink.
Jim
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jun 5, 2013 9:41:50 GMT -5
Armadillos were foud 100-150 miles south of Atlanta about 30 years ago.My county agent told me iwas mistaken when i told him my neighbor saw one 15 years ago.Now they are everywhere.
Skunks are in our mountains.Rare down on the peidmont.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jun 5, 2013 10:36:48 GMT -5
Scott, definitely not a grey shrew. The skunk problem is not as bad as it used to be, since my neighbor quit feeding her cats on her patio, leaving food out all the time. It also is very dependent on how much rainfall we get, cyclic, changes every year (more rain, more plant growth, more bugs, more skunks!). I have a neighbor a couple blocks up the street that puts out live traps. Caught over forty skunks, several possums, and a couple raccoons one year. He takes them away and relocates them.
Rob, I don't even have to open the windows for the smell to get in! My house is not very airtight, I'd freeze my butt off in the winter if I was in Michigan - lol! But I know what you mean. Sometimes, I'd get up the next morning after smelling a skunk, take the dogs outside, and when I came back in, smelled just how bad it still was. Jean
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2013 16:58:08 GMT -5
awesome! A town nearby to me, San Dimas, is skunk central. Not uncommon to see 20-30 wandering around if you drive around late at night. Sounds like your area is too!
Mel, do they live under your house??
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 5, 2013 18:27:32 GMT -5
Scott: Nope, we're built on a slab and even the deck is wired in so noting can get under it. We have water troughs, lots of flower beds and of course the wife feeds everything so the yard is pretty much a zoo all the time *L*. I enjoy midnight walks with a headlamp and believe me, this place crawls with everything after dark....Mel
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lol 
