Posted by MICHELLE H. on October 14, 2010, 7:39 pm
Hi All,
Does anyone know of any EFFECTIVE way to keep skunks out of the yard.
For about 3 weeks now, we have had a skunk coming out at night and
destroying the yard. Also, they aren't destroying it because of grubs (
we did a grub treatment back in July ), the skunk is eating the
earthworms.
I know this because in the morning, there are holes everywhere in the
grass, and there are half-eaten, dead earthworms everywhere in the soil.
Also, I definitely know it's a skunk because I have witnessed him at
different times throughout the night in the backyard. A few times I was
able to scare him away by banging on the metal storm door, but because
he comes at all hours of the night, it's hard to stay up all night and
wait for this pest.
Anyway, here is what I have tried so far that HASN'T worked:
1) I left a portable radio out all night long on a AM talk show radio
station - didn't work.
2) Human hair from shower - didn't work.
3) $40 dollars in different hot and/or strong smelling spices - Red
crushed pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper, ground cinnamon, garlic,
chili powder, onion powder.
The Cayenne Pepper seemed to work, but the stuff goes fast, and what the
skunk does, is he just digs in another location where there is no
cayenne powder!!! 2-3 bottles of the stuff at $4 dollars a bottle, isn't
enough to cover 5,000 square feet!!!
4) Ammonia and/or ammonia soaked rags - TOTALLY USELESS!!!! The skunk
actually took a dump and left a nice big pile of his poop right next to
an ammonia soaked sock that I put out there!!!!
5) Spotlight/Floodlight - totally useless!!!!
6) Bits of shredded "Irish Spring" soap - useless
So besides leaving a sprinkler on all night long, and wasting precious
gallons of water, what options am I left with here??
I have read everything from human urine, to bear urine, to antifreeze,
to chocolate, to rat poison?? Most of those are all out, because there
are stray cats in the neighborhood, so I don't want to poison anything
with antifreeze or mouse/rat poison.
Shooting this thing is out of the question. I live on a residential
street, and I have neighbors houses 5 feet on the left side of me, and 5
feet on the right side of me. Also, the neighbors weren't to happy when
I left the AM talk station on all night long!!!!!
We don't have an "animal control" officer in our city. The only thing
the useless city will help you with, is if its a large animal like a
deer, bear, wolf, moose, etc, etc.
I called a couple of exterminators, and they all want between $150 and
$200 dollars to try to catch the skunk in a cage and then relocate it.
The problem with that is I am only working part-time right now, and
CAN'T afford those prices.
My neighbors lawns aren't getting destroyed by this nuisence skunk, only
our yard!? I guess the previous owners of the house had 4 big truck
loads of dark, rich loam installed in the backyard, so there are lots of
earthworms for him to eat before winter.
What the heck is chocolate supposed to do!? I know that it can be
dangerous to dogs, but why would it be dangerous to skunks when they rip
open peoples garbage bags and eat through there anyway!?
Does human urine really work? Am I supposed to pee in a cup, and dump
that everywhere? But won't that kill the grass?
What about mothballs? Will the smell of mothballs keep the skunk away?
But aren't they bad for the lawn and grass? What if they were in a cup?
Someone told me to use powered lime, coffee grounds or dried blood?
What about a strobe light?
All I know is that in the last 2 weeks, I have spent $40 dollars on hot
pepper spices, $30 dollars on topsoil, $25 dollars on grass seed, and
$18 dollars on peat moss, and I just can't keep this skunk away so that
he stops destroying my backyard.
Like I said above, I can't just wait for him to show up at a specific
time, because he comes at different times throughout the night. One time
he came at 9 pm. Another time it was 11 pm. Once it was 4:30 am. And
once at 5:30 am.
I am at "wits-end" with this skunk, so ANY suggestions will be greatly
appreciated!!!
Thanks!
Posted by MICHELLE H. on October 15, 2010, 8:41 am
So I go to Home Depot to see if they have this stuff that I read about
called "Critter Ridder". It's made by some company called "Hav-A-Heart",
and it is supposed to be a pesticide-free way to keep all kinds of
wildlife out of your yard and garden. It comes in a blue bottle, and it
is suppose to repel dogs, cats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, opossums,
etc, etc. from your yard and garden.
It is made up of a bunch of different strong smelling peppers that the
animals don't like to smell, like Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Red
Pepper, Hot Chile Pepper, etc, etc. All these hot and spicy peppers are
mixed together, and they put something on it, so that it's waterproof,
and it lasts for 30 days, so you don't have to worry about the rain
washing it away, or it washing away when you water your lawn and/or
garden.
Anyway, I didn't see it in the garden section of Home Depot, so I ask
the guy working there. He tells me that they "don't have any in stock".
I tell him that "I have a skunk destroying my yard every night".
He says "you got grubs".
I tell him "no, our grass is nice and Green ( grubs turn the grass
Yellow/Brown ), and we did a grub treatment back in July".
I tell him that "in the morning we are finding half eaten, dead
earthworms all over the yard".
He says "oh yeah, skunks will eat earthworms too, because they love
them!".
He then says "If you want to get rid of the skunk, then you have to get
rid of the earthworms".
HUH!!!!!!???? WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!?????? GET RID OF THE EARTHWORMS!!!!???
Oh my god, this guy is working in the freakin garden center at America's
biggest home improvement chain!!?? I felt like telling this guy that he
needs to either transfer to a DIFFERENT department, or he needs to go
back to school and retake Science class, because number #1 unless you
plan on pouring something like gasoline, nuclear, and toxic waste in
your yard, there is no way to kill every single earthworm, and number #2
earthworms are BENEFICIAL to the soil in your yard!!!! You WANT
earthworms in your lawn!!!!!!
Home Depot guy: "well if you want the skunks to stop digging up your
yard, YOU GOT TO GET RID OF THE EARTHWORMS".
OMG!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Bill who putters on October 15, 2010, 9:57 am
FALCONGIRL@webtv.net (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
> So I go to Home Depot to see if they have this stuff that I read about
> called "Critter Ridder". It's made by some company called "Hav-A-Heart",
> and it is supposed to be a pesticide-free way to keep all kinds of
> wildlife out of your yard and garden. It comes in a blue bottle, and it
> is suppose to repel dogs, cats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, opossums,
> etc, etc. from your yard and garden.
>
>
> It is made up of a bunch of different strong smelling peppers that the
> animals don't like to smell, like Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Red
> Pepper, Hot Chile Pepper, etc, etc. All these hot and spicy peppers are
> mixed together, and they put something on it, so that it's waterproof,
> and it lasts for 30 days, so you don't have to worry about the rain
> washing it away, or it washing away when you water your lawn and/or
> garden.
>
>
> Anyway, I didn't see it in the garden section of Home Depot, so I ask
> the guy working there. He tells me that they "don't have any in stock".
>
>
> I tell him that "I have a skunk destroying my yard every night".
>
>
> He says "you got grubs".
>
>
> I tell him "no, our grass is nice and Green ( grubs turn the grass
> Yellow/Brown ), and we did a grub treatment back in July".
>
>
> I tell him that "in the morning we are finding half eaten, dead
> earthworms all over the yard".
>
>
> He says "oh yeah, skunks will eat earthworms too, because they love
> them!".
>
>
> He then says "If you want to get rid of the skunk, then you have to get
> rid of the earthworms".
>
>
>
> HUH!!!!!!???? WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!?????? GET RID OF THE EARTHWORMS!!!!???
>
>
>
> Oh my god, this guy is working in the freakin garden center at America's
> biggest home improvement chain!!?? I felt like telling this guy that he
> needs to either transfer to a DIFFERENT department, or he needs to go
> back to school and retake Science class, because number #1 unless you
> plan on pouring something like gasoline, nuclear, and toxic waste in
> your yard, there is no way to kill every single earthworm, and number #2
> earthworms are BENEFICIAL to the soil in your yard!!!! You WANT
> earthworms in your lawn!!!!!!
>
>
> Home Depot guy: "well if you want the skunks to stop digging up your
> yard, YOU GOT TO GET RID OF THE EARTHWORMS".
>
>
> OMG!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
I ignore the occasional hole and use milky spore disease. Take a look
at
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/uh101.pdf
--
Bill S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/play/snake-oil-supplements/
Posted by dr-solo on October 15, 2010, 11:23 am
it is called a "water cannon" or scarecrow. motion activated jet of water.
works
very well.
or, a low electric fence that the skunk will have to cross at entrances.
On Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:39:00 -0400, FALCONGIRL@webtv.net (MICHELLE H.) wrote:
>Does anyone know of any EFFECTIVE way to keep skunks out of the yard.\
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan
on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago
Posted by zxcvbob on October 15, 2010, 11:40 am
MICHELLE H. wrote:
>
> So besides leaving a sprinkler on all night long, and wasting precious
> gallons of water, what options am I left with here??
>
Try a motion-activated sprinkler. (I'm not sure if they work in the
dark.) Nobody likes getting hit with a stream of cold water -- except
maybe a duck.
So be glad it's not a flock of ducks tearing up your yard. ;-)
Bob
XML site map
> called "Critter Ridder". It's made by some company called "Hav-A-Heart",
> and it is supposed to be a pesticide-free way to keep all kinds of
> wildlife out of your yard and garden. It comes in a blue bottle, and it
> is suppose to repel dogs, cats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, opossums,
> etc, etc. from your yard and garden.
>
>
> It is made up of a bunch of different strong smelling peppers that the
> animals don't like to smell, like Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Red
> Pepper, Hot Chile Pepper, etc, etc. All these hot and spicy peppers are
> mixed together, and they put something on it, so that it's waterproof,
> and it lasts for 30 days, so you don't have to worry about the rain
> washing it away, or it washing away when you water your lawn and/or
> garden.
>
>
> Anyway, I didn't see it in the garden section of Home Depot, so I ask
> the guy working there. He tells me that they "don't have any in stock".
>
>
> I tell him that "I have a skunk destroying my yard every night".
>
>
> He says "you got grubs".
>
>
> I tell him "no, our grass is nice and Green ( grubs turn the grass
> Yellow/Brown ), and we did a grub treatment back in July".
>
>
> I tell him that "in the morning we are finding half eaten, dead
> earthworms all over the yard".
>
>
> He says "oh yeah, skunks will eat earthworms too, because they love
> them!".
>
>
> He then says "If you want to get rid of the skunk, then you have to get
> rid of the earthworms".
>
>
>
> HUH!!!!!!???? WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!?????? GET RID OF THE EARTHWORMS!!!!???
>
>
>
> Oh my god, this guy is working in the freakin garden center at America's
> biggest home improvement chain!!?? I felt like telling this guy that he
> needs to either transfer to a DIFFERENT department, or he needs to go
> back to school and retake Science class, because number #1 unless you
> plan on pouring something like gasoline, nuclear, and toxic waste in
> your yard, there is no way to kill every single earthworm, and number #2
> earthworms are BENEFICIAL to the soil in your yard!!!! You WANT
> earthworms in your lawn!!!!!!
>
>
> Home Depot guy: "well if you want the skunks to stop digging up your
> yard, YOU GOT TO GET RID OF THE EARTHWORMS".
>
>
> OMG!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!