How to Prevent Skunks From Residing Under Your Deck or Home?

Although skunks are known for the smell they emit when they feel threatened, they can also pose a number of other problems, such as threatening the structural integrity of your home and carrying contagious diseases. Therefore, if you find skunks living under your home or deck, it's important to take action immediately. Contacting skunk removal in Durham can help you eliminate these pests from your property.

Humane Harassment

Skunks will build nests under your deck because it's a dark, safe and quiet place for them to live. However, making your deck an unwelcoming environment can be an effective way to ward them off. This can include:

• Light: Because skunks are nocturnal, they don't like bright lights in their home. Placing a bright, fire-safe light right outside the entrance to their den can deter them.
• Smell: A mother skunk will feel unsafe if she smells a predator's urine. You can emulate this scent by soaking rags in apple cider vinegar or ammonia and placing them in a plastic bag. Be sure to poke holes in the bag to let the odour escape and place it near the entrance to the den.
• Sound: Because human voices are threatening to skunks, you can turn on a podcast or talk radio station near the den entrance.

It's important to be patient, as the skunks probably won't leave immediately. Using humane harassment for at least three days is best if you want to see results. When you think the skunks have left your property, you can use the paper test to make sure. Either stuff the den entrance with newspaper or tape it over the entrance hole. If the paper is still in place after three days, the skunks are probably gone. 

Wait it Out

A mother skunk has most likely entered your property because she's looking for a place to create a den and raise her young. Skunks reproduce between April and September, so you should assume that the mother skunk has her young with her if you find one under your deck during this time frame. If you don't mind waiting it out, skunk babies take about eight weeks to mature and leave the den, which means that the problem will probably resolve itself on its own.

What Not To Do

It's important to remember that skunks are living beings and should therefore be treated humanely. One of the things you should never do to remove skunks from your property is trap and relocate them. Not only do relocated skunks often die when they're displaced from their homes but mother skunks are forced to leave behind their babies, making them orphans. Not to mention, attempting to trap a skunk can cause you to get sprayed or bitten. You should also stay away from installing one-way doors, which allow the skunk to get out but stop it from returning. Although this step is recommended by some human removal companies, it can cause babies to be orphaned inside and unable to exit.

Hiring Skunk Removal in Durham

Sometimes the easiest and most effective way to remove skunks from your property is to leave it in the hands of a professional. At Skedaddle, we are trained in skunk removal and can safely and humanely eliminate skunks from your property while ensuring that you're not faced with another infestation in the future. Although tips and tricks for eliminating skunks may provide a temporary fix, they can still find a way to invade your property. Not only can skunks destroy your deck and surrounding property, but they can also put you and your family at risk due to the contagious diseases that they carry. Call Skedaddle today to learn more about our skunk removal services.