Skunks? And how to trap: UPDATED!

[ladyrsanti]

Saw a skunk yesterday pass by the chicken run, while I was standing there, just yards from us. I think it was drinking out of the sheep's water in the pasture but *something* has been terrorizing the barn too. This heat and ongoing drought has made the wild animals desperate. We also have woodchucks. There are at least three on the property, in a mound out back. They were on my sh**list for a while, after they started digging in the barn ramp but I put an end to that with an ammonia-soaked rag. They don't get into my garden, which is fenced, so I nearly forgot about them.

Sooooo... I had been using empty 20lb cat food bags to cover the coop windows, to keep the sun out during the heatwave. I would drop them outside the coop when not in use. One morning I found them shredded to bits. Whatever. I threw them into the garbage can right outside the coop. Then I found the beginnings of a nest upstairs in the barn, on a shelf about five feet off the floor and made out of straw. There were droppings on the floor. NOT raccoon. There's a latrine they use when inhabiting the barn and besides, it didn't look like raccoon, smaller and staining purplish black with seeds, etc. Then, this morning when I stepped outside, something had eaten a tea candle I set out on the front porch. In the barn, the sheep's mineral bag had been ripped to shreds and most of it GONE! I hope they got sick but I'm not counting on it. They had also left droppings by where I feed the cats and tipped over that garbage can and re-shredded the cat food bags. There was also a jug of water spilled. Too close to the coop for my comfort. Chickens are fine, no damage to the doors, windows or run. But I'm nervous.

Woodchuck or skunk? Is it worth trapping and how? Don't get me wrong, I know how to trap. I ask because I have nine barn cats that I trapped in one day with a single can of soft food for neutering/spaying. They'll go for bait before a wild animal will and I will be wasting A LOT of time and energy...unless maybe it's something like sheep minerals? The cats have never touched that bag. Or what about a candle? LOL. Anyway, as much as I don't like the woodchucks, they're not on my hit list at the moment. If anyone thinks it is a skunk though...

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can look through this to maybe identify the droppings, but from your description, I'm thinking you have different problems. The droppings sound a lot like rats. They can destroy bags and such too, but maybe something else is doing that. By the way, I really don't like raccoons. They can be very destructive.

I'd spread my thoughts out to think about more than one thing. I really don't think the droppings you described are either groundhog or skunk.

http://www.terrierman.com/scatanswers.htm

 

[leadwolf1]

I agree, sounds more like rats or a combination of rats and skunks. Woodchucks pretty much eat only vegetation and would not rip apart things or climb into garbage cans or build a nest. They live in burrows...

 

[ladyrsanti]

Not rats. We've got those too and they poop where they eat and much smaller droppings. Haven't seen any of those in the problem areas lately. Looking at that link (thanks for that btw), I'm definitely leaning towards the skunk. They're not woodchuck droppings and not raccoon but that's not to say neither have been into the barn. But would a skunk climb a shelf to make a nest? It's big enough for a cat to lie down in. That sounds like a raccoon to me so maybe they've been dropping by as well. I honestly haven't checked the latrines for new droppings. I hate raccoons too. They won't last long here once I've spotted them.

At any rate, suggestions for trapping would be greatly appreciated before they get even more desperate now that I've cleaned up the areas they were getting into. I don't want them even trying to get into the chickens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd envisioned "smaller droppings" as pretty small, but you're looking at them, I'm not. I'll certainly take your word for it.

If it is raccoons, you can google "raccoon leg trap". But that is pretty much only for raccoons. I'd think your cats would be safe with that, but with their curiosity, I'm not sure.

I can't think of any kind of trap or bait that would spare your cats and catch anything else.

Skunks normally nest in burrows too. I don't think one would try nesting on a shelf. I shot one earlier this year that was digging a burrow about 20' from my coop in a pasturefield.

 

[ladyrsanti]

I've heard that too, that skunks nest in burrows and I wonder if they're using the woodchuck's. The one I saw was heading for them that day. Curious. I only have one gas bomb left but it's too dry to be setting it off in the tall dead grass. Those things are like flares. If it's a raccoon though, I could trap it elsewhere, away from the cats so that's not a huge issue. I know their hidey-holes pretty well. They love the ceiling of the small workshop upstairs in the barn and the cats can't get up there. I thought about opossums too. Anyone trapped a opossum before? I know they're nocturnal and love cat food but that's it and it's not helpful, lol. I might try setting up some veggies or fruit in the trap where they're frequenting and see what turns up. I think whatever it was ate the sheep's apples too, because they turned their noses up at them and the next day the trough was empty. At first I thought they came back for them but they wouldn't eat the next batch I brought out either so maybe fruit is on the menu. I know it's not ideal bait but the cats would be less likely to try it.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Chickens haven't been on this farm for YEARS so I've got that on my side but I don't want the honeymoon to end and to have to come in here with a horror story... if I can help it.

 

[chardob]

There is a live capture trap available from Tractor Supply, or most hardware stores/garden centers. It allows you to capture the critter and take it elsewhere to set it free, or to exterminate it if you think that is best. It will also allow you to capture something, and if you catch the wrong animal (like a cat) you can release and try again without hurting the animal.

If you have a racoon or skunk, I would exterminate it. Besides the fact that they are mean varmints, they carry rabies.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Okay, it's 5am. I woke up at 4:30 to the smell of skunk, got up with a flash light and headed out. Nothing in the trap. But there was an attempted break-in into the coop. Last night before going to bed I put the windows in the frames and locked them down. This morning, one of the braces is broken and the other window askew. There's heavy duty hardware cloth with those hammer-on staples on the other side of the windows which are five feet off the ground so I'm fairly certain the critter can't get enough leverage to pry them off, even if they did manage to open the window but still... it tried.

So yeah, this isn't working thus far. I caught two cats in the trap yesterday evening, set with apple cores and zucchini butts.

I need something they won't like and something the animal can't resist... either that or I catch all of my cats again and toss them in my basement or garage until I catch the critter... but being that they're feral cats, I don't relish the idea of 18 sets of angry, panicked sets of claws coming at me when I open the door.

PLEASE! I need input!

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might try clearing and area and put down some flour to try to get prints, though with all those cats it may be hard to get a distinguishing print. I still think you could have multilple problems.

I know a lot of things climb and I don't know how strong that brace was or how bad the damage was, but that damage does not sound like a skunk. Raccoon comes to mind, especially since you mentioned them, but in western Michigan it might be something else too.

You might try pm'ing aprophet, one of our members that is really good at trapping. From what I've seen of his posts, he is usually really helpful and I think pretty knowledgeble about trapping.

 

[ladyrsanti]

I'm almost positive it isn't the skunk trying the windows out. It's way too high for them to get at. This morning, it was just the smell of the skunk that woke me up and got me moving. I found it's dig marks all over the area so its been poking around for sure. If they were getting at the pet food bags and minerals, that's fine, my mistake for leaving them out. Easy fix.

As for what's at the coop, I'm thinking it has to be either a opossum or raccoon. The brace that it broke wasn't that hard to remove. I could pull it loose with a good yank. It's just there to catch the window when it's open (they flip open). The thing is, that yesterday the same brace was broken (on the other side) and I thought it was one of my kids hanging on it so I fixed it. The windows had not been in the frames that day so that means if the critter tried to get in that previous night, it was foiled by the hardware cloth (no evidence of tampering with that). So that's good. Whatever it is, is not strong enough to get through it... not that I want to test it again so I'll be keeping those windows closed at night for sure.

I'm wondering now if marshmallows might work... Do opossums like marshmallows as much as raccoons?

Thanks for the name, I'll look 'em up.