Anybody seen any young skunks yet?

I have a job where the homeowner saw two adult skunks go under her porch. I set up with two positive sets and a couple baited cages for good measure. Any change there are newborn skunks under there yet?

Skunks usually mate in late February thru early March. Gestation period is approximately 66 days.

Yep, there's a possibility of newborns at this time.

Would anybody be willing to pm about how to move forward if there are? Thanks.

Um, try to crawl under there and get them! Or you could let them die, which they might do anyways, but clients don't like to think about such things.

The only babies we've see so far are squirrels.

There is almost no room under the deck. I assume they have a hole alongside the poured concrete basement once they get under the deck. While I am concerned about the young skunks well-being and client's thoughts, I am also concerned about the potential odor issue if they die. Hopefully an inspection of the adult female will reveal they are still inside her.

Trap one, if it's a male the other one is one also.

Around these parts we don't see young out and about until early to mid June. It may be a later date where you are located depending upon your weather conditions. Birthing could be occurring now and can vary at times as an answer to your question. The females will nurse for a few weeks before the juveniles are old enough to begin wandering around while mom is sleeping and eventually following her around to learn the ropes.

Though I live in the southwest we still have a winter, just doesn't have the serious snowfall in most of my service area. Raccoon and skunk and squirrel and others
can all start dropping way earlier than "the norm" and continue far later than the norm. We have a bunch of friends who do rescue and rehab and so we see posts often
on FB of young that they had come in which helps "ground truth" if you aren't seeing any yourself yet or aren't sure if possible where you are. Obviously with raccoon folks
with chimney noises often bring that one into a clearer realm.

Though I try to avoid skunk calls myself for our private business, we do them as part of a municipal contract and attempting to discern if there exists a litter under a slab, crawlspace, shed, etc... can be a real challenge if you are trying to do it before you move to removal of the adult and find it is a lactating female.

Personally I know this is always a pitfall in terms of shortcomings, some clients won't care about the welfare aspect, others will care more about it than anything, ultimately I myself want to know as best I possibly can as I have no interest in orphaning or killing a litter indirectly through my actions.

Can it always be avoided? Nope, not unless you walk away, the outcome could still be death for the litter, the homeowner may try something themselves, they may hire another, the litter may die from natural causes unrelated to us or the homeowner, but I'm looking for what I can do if I'm involved.

I crawl through all crawl spaces big enough for me to squeeze into, we use cameras and snake cams to check burrows and potential holes (again none of these are perfect).

The most relief I get from feeling solid is when I can crawl the entire crawl space, have no hidden holes or pockets that aren't investigated and block the structure out.

That is a 50% of the time event, the rest or more even are uncertain and so we do our best to work with the tools and techniques we have to achieve an outcome that is good for the homeowner (animal out, nothing dead or dying left behind) and ultimately the wildlife in question.

I've noticed with a fair amount of trail cameras and one way door installations for skunks that with the right pic of the tail end with tail raised a male and female do offer a pretty clear view of which is which even on a fairly grainy shot with a $150.00 camera (older style).

Forensics become part of this trade from day one and you get better at it as you go, but nothing is perfect in the real world, do your best for what you think is best and if you have too much doubt about an outcome just make sure you are clear with your client.

Just my .02.

I personally love skunks, mischievous? yep, sometimes odorous? yep, but ultimately just doing what they do out there and typically until rover decides to go make friends with the striped kitty, most of my clients have a "I saw a skunk" issue with no spray or odor...

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I should add, there are plenty of commercial folks that right or wrong seem to go take the adults and know they will likely be called back for X amount of calls because folks hear or smell something (the litter alive or dead). This isn't a rare thing where I live based on dozens and dozens of first hand reports, especially with raccoon and skunk....

I want to go home as close to 100% as I can when I leave someones house, knowing it is almost never 100% but doing my best to get there...

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Thanks all for the thoughts, much appreciated. I will keep you posted on what happens. I may have to do the exclusion first and then a one-way door or double door cage because if they really wanted to I think they could squeeze through a few spots in the lattice (it a 40 foot run on the face of the deck). I'll give it a couple days and see how it progresses.

In working with lattice type materials in reference to exclusion work or trapping we staple cardboard to the lattice surface all around except for the eviction points. Bring the cardboard to the ground level. Black plastic sheeting can be used also. This leaves them air flow and light penetration to easily allow them to be directed to escape/exit points. Here is where the devices or traps should be placed.

If not it can be hit or miss with lattice work in some cases unless there is a noted established entry/exit point.

No young Skunks here yet, starting the end of May into June, The little stinkers come out. Just got a call about skunk under porch this AM, hope theirs no little ones

Thanks for the advice Bob and trapdye. I'm thinking these were transient skunks that ducked under the deck and not a den. I guess the holes have been there awhile and im sure the local critters know they are there. I will proceed with the hardware cloth exclusion and a one-way door.

I was wrong.

Getting ready for the exclusion at this home and the snow fence I put around the lattice while I was waiting to get this job on the schedule has a hole chewed through it (which is why I left it there, to detect if they were going through the lattice). I put up a trail camera tonight. If it is indeed a skunk (no doubt with little ones by now) should I wait another three weeks or so and then try to catch mama and all the little ones? Don't think I will be able to access the young skunks under there, they will have to come to me. On that note, how much longer do you think it will be until they are mobile? My thought is leave the camera until i start to see them. Is it possible it is just some skunks with no little ones (and thus could be trapped now)? If so, are there any good ways to know that without catching them first? All thoughts and timelines on when the young will emerge are appreciated.

Bumpity. Anybody seen any wee ones yet?

First little ones today (6/3/16). Got two on second night. No sign of mama yet.

I caught 3 little ones this morning, myself in a colony trap. Two others drowned in a small landscape pond and I was told that another was out walking around at noon today. No mama yet here, either. They were first seen on May 31. This was a different job than the one I was asking about earlier this spring. It was the little ones out walking around (next door to a day care) that prompted the call.

Some out here in Ohio!!!

I've had calls from folks saying they've seen kits. Generally they're out of the burrow to play by about second week of June.