Skunks are under sheds because they offer the ideal blend of safety, shelter, and accessibility. Skunks only need a small hole as little as three inches! Some accessibility is rarely an issue to get under a shed. Skunks seek shelter from harsh weather, predators, and to give birth. Skunks problems peak during breeding season and pre-hibernating foraging.
Having skunks under your shed can mean foul odors, holes in your lawn, and structural damage to buildings. Consider hiring a wildlife removal expert to help verify a skunk infestation at the first sign of skunk activity. Skunks require specific equipment and there are laws regarding their trap and release.
Wildlife experts also know how to get rid of skunks under sheds using safe removal methods and exclusions to prevent skunk activity under your shed in the future.
Identifying a Skunk Infestation
If you suspect a skunk is living under your shed, it’s important to ensure it is a skunk before attempting to remove it. Specific signs, like tracks, droppings, and odors, can help you confirm you have a skunk under the shed and the extent of the infestation.
Signs of Skunks Living Under Your Shed
Skunks make many vocalizations, including squealing, hissing, growling, grunting, and cooing. When angry or defensive, their sounds are aggressive, including foot stomping or loud pouncing. When a skunk is happy, you may hear high-pitched chirps to express excitement and purring to show contentment.
You may hear them scratching, digging, and shuffling under a shed. Skunks are known for protecting themselves with a spray that makes a sound when released.
Other signs of skunk activity include cone-shaped holes dug in the lawn, created by skunks looking for insects. Like raccoons, skunks looking for food tear open garbage bags and scatter trash.
Identifying Skunk Tracks and Droppings
Skunk tracks resemble a house cat’s prints, with five toes on their paws and long claws. The difference is that skunks will leave long claw marks in the dirt because their claws do not retract. Skunks also have heel pads that are about two inches long.
If you have a skunk under your shed, you will find tubular droppings that have rounded ends and are about one or two inches long. Typically, you can see undigested fruits, nuts, and other foods in their poop.
Recognizing Skunk Odor
Skunk spray, from a gland under the tail, has a very recognizable scent. The yellowish liquid they secrete contains sulfur and can smell like rotten eggs. Most skunks spray to mark their territories and protect themselves from potential predators. They may spray any parts of the structure if they live under your shed.
Safe Removal Methods
A wildlife expert should do skunk removal to avoid injury or spraying. Exclusions are the best way to keep a skunk from living under your shed.
Using Humane Traps to Catch Skunks
Homeowners may try to trap skunks themselves. However, they quickly learn you need the following to be successful:
- Humane trapping system
- Correct bait for trapping
- Permit for trapping fur-bearers, depending on the season
Understanding local laws regarding trapping and releasing and when to take a skunk for disease testing is also necessary.
Creating Barriers to Prevent Skunks From Returning
If you do not create barriers, skunks will return to your home and property, especially if a good food source is nearby. Barriers include enclosing the open areas underneath the shed, home, and other buildings. It is also important to protect gardens with fencing and cover window wells with wire mesh, sheet metal, or other materials that skunks cannot chew or claw.
Hiring Professional Wildlife Services
Wildlife removal companies offer certified and trained experts who know how to get rid of skunks under your shed. They have multiple types of equipment for safe and humane skunk removal. They also repair damages made by the skunk and help you prevent future skunk-under-shed problems with exclusion methods.
Natural Repellents and Deterrents
Removing skunks may also be done using repellents and deterrents, like ammonia, vinegar, plants, and motion-activated devices.
Using Ammonia or Vinegar to Repel Skunks
Skunks are very sensitive to smells like ammonia and vinegar. You can use those scents around your shed to keep them out in several ways. Using a spray bottle, you can spray ammonia or vinegar on the ground and shed. You can also soak washcloths in ammonia or vinegar and place the rags under the shed. These scent repellents may temporarily work. You’ll need to constantly reapply the repellent. Wildlife usually grows accustomed to these scents fairly quickly rendering them useless.
Planting Skunk-Deterring Plants Around Your Shed
Tall, thick, and thorny hedges deter skunks. Planting them around your shed may help keep them out. Examples include mahonia and holly plants. If you have a garden, plant summer squash as a deterrent plant. Stinging nettle, citrus trees, daffodils, and Oregon grapes are also known to repel skunks.
Installing Motion-Activated Deterrent Devices
Skunks have poor vision and light sensitivity, especially at night when they are most active. Motion-activated devices, either solar or hard-wired, help repel skunks by scaring them with a sudden burst of light. You may also install motion-activated devices that make the sounds of a skunk’s predator to keep them away. Another option is motion-activated sprinklers.
Preventing Future Skunk Problems
Preventing skunks from living on your property in the future involves exclusion methods, like sealing entry points, de-cluttering your lawn, properly storing pet feed and trash, and removing food and water resources.
Sealing Potential Entry Points Under Your Shed
Sealing potential entry points to prevent skunk-under-shed activity includes enclosing and protecting areas under sheds, porches, and decks and putting barriers around window wells, crawlspaces, and basement doors and windows. When sealing entry points, use materials strong enough to withstand entry attempts a skunk or other wildlife will make. Wire mesh, steel, and concrete are great examples. Please do not use anything with holes in it, like a lattice, as skunks can break the lattice to gain entry.
Keeping Your Yard Clean and Free of Attractants
Skunks like to hide in cluttered areas, including under logs, rocks, tires, and junk piles. A well-manicured lawn is less attractive to a skunk than one that offers numerous places for a skunk and their prey to hide. Other tips for keeping your yard clean and free of attractants include removing bird feeders, securely storing pet or livestock feed, properly securing trash bins, eliminating areas with stagnant water that attract insects, fencing gardens, and protecting fruit and nut trees.