Do skunks give off that skunk odor even when they are not under threat?

[Muse]

I'm asleep last night and ~midnight I become aware that I smell a skunk. Of course I'm more than 1/2 asleep, and wonder if this is for real. It goes on... and on. I don't know how long it goes on. At some point I switch on the light and it's ~12:30AM. I think it is possible that there was a skunk in my backyard, it's not impossible. I think they are uncommon in my neighborhood.

Well, I have a compost pile in the back of the lot where I toss my tree trimmings, grass clippings, compostable kitchen garbage, so that may have attracted a skunk.

My bedroom is on the 2nd story, looking out over the backyard at the back of which is the compost pile. I had a couple of fans blowing air into the bedroom from outside to cool the air enough to make sleeping comfortable. Those fans brought in the odor, unless it was just a dream. I doubt it was just a dream.

An indeterminable amount of time later I didn't notice a skunk smell, slept another ~3 hours and got up.

Do skunks give off that skunk smell even when they are not under threat?

 

[ControlD]

Yeah they always have that skunk smell, it just isn't nearly as bad as when they unleash their full wrath on something.

We had a family of skunks living under our house years ago. You could smell them in the evenings when everyone was sitting around directly over them. I doubt they were spraying under the house, but 5-6 skunks in one spot give off enough of an odor to be noticeable.

 

[NuclearNed]

Yes. I have a drain tile where a couple of skunks currently live, and they stink 100% of the time.

 

[skyking]

If they are not disturbed it is significantly less though. My sister had a litter under the foundation slab, right outside a tall window and right next to the front door. Everybody got used to everybody else and there was no spraying, and it did not smell just a few feet away.
Baby skunks are cute as hell. We could watch them play out that window.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Adopt a baby skunk and have it's glands removed.

It'll be like having a dogkitten and it won't stink.

 

[ControlD]

They might be cute but skunks are primary rabies carriers. When we wanted to relocate the skunks under the house we were told by the local game warden that any live caught skunk is required to be killed, not released. Same for raccoons.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Kardashians probably do.

 

[werepossum]

If they are not disturbed it is significantly less though. My sister had a litter under the foundation slab, right outside a tall window and right next to the front door. Everybody got used to everybody else and there was no spraying, and it did not smell just a few feet away.
Baby skunks are cute as hell. We could watch them play out that window.

Your sister should definitely not be having unprotected sex with skunks, dude.

I've been within a couple feet of some skunks without detecting any odor, and others that stunk, although nothing like being sprayed. They are clean animals, so I think maybe it depends on how long it's been since they sprayed.

 

[SunnyD]

Why does your ass stink after you take a shit?

Simple answer: Just like you, skunks don't shower.

 

[BoomerD]

Maybe your neighbors are smoking skunk weed....

 

[Muse]

If they are not disturbed it is significantly less though. My sister had a litter under the foundation slab, right outside a tall window and right next to the front door. Everybody got used to everybody else and there was no spraying, and it did not smell just a few feet away.
Baby skunks are cute as hell. We could watch them play out that window.

We used to have issues with animals getting in the house. I screened off access to the inside and eventually worked things out so anything of any size couldn't get under the house.

 

[DrPizza]

I think it depends on how recently they've sprayed. Last fall, I shot one skunk in the front yard. I'll never do that again. My eyes were burning inside the house; it was like a fog on the front porch. It smelled for weeks, especially after a light rain.

After that, I relocated 8 or 9 more skunks - several miles away, I think it was a big family of skunks. Some had a faint odor to them, some didn't have a noticeable odor at all. They're generally reluctant to spray if they're inside a havahart trap. Though, one did very lightly spray, more like a light squirt on a towel that I covered the trap with in the back of the van. (I threw the towel out.)

Also, for what it's worth, those cute baby skunks usually can't spray; at least not the first couple of times they try. Some where, there's video that my son took with a very expensive (used for real television productions) camera at the school. He was 2 or 3 feet from a baby skunk. It tried to spray several times, and couldn't. Then, it did spray; direct hit to the camera.

 

[NetWareHead]

I think it depends on how recently they've sprayed

This. When they spray, the liquid gets on their tail, back of legs etc... Thats why they always stink.

 

[Naer]

I read thread as, "do shrunken heads give off an odor" for some reason

 

[Printer Bandit]

 

[Sho'Nuff]

A few years ago my BIL and I trapped 10 skunks at our camp in Maine. From that experience I can say that skunks do NOT always have that "skunk" smell. They might retain it for a while after they spray, but the skunks we trapped did not smell particularly foul and were kind enough not to spray while we relocated them (to the back of a drive in movile theater, heh heh).

On a related note, here is an interesting video on how skunks spray. Might be NSFW (animal a$$):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZwlKANA43w

 

[dullard]

Is it just me, or do skunks not really stink as much as people claim. Sure, they have a very strong odor. But I think it is a strengh of odor problem more than a really bad odor. A really bad stench is driving past a feed lot on the first late-winter day of thaw. Skunks, while strong, are no where near as bad smelling as that.

 

[NuclearNed]

Is it just me, or do skunks not really stink as much as people claim. Sure, they have a very strong odor. But I think it is a strengh of odor problem more than a really bad odor. A really bad stench is driving past a feed lot on the first late-winter day of thaw. Skunks, while strong, are no where near as bad smelling as that.

it's probably just me, but sometimes I think they smell like strong freshly brewed coffee

 

[DrPizza]

A few years ago my BIL and I trapped 10 skunks at our camp in Maine. From that experience I can say that skunks do NOT always have that "skunk" smell. They might retain it for a while after they spray, but the skunks we trapped did not smell particularly foul and were kind enough not to spray while we relocated them (to the back of a drive in movile theater, heh heh).

On a related note, here is an interesting video on how skunks spray. Might be NSFW (animal a$$):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZwlKANA43w

heh heh, when I was a kid, I relocated them to the mall parking lot, near the main entrance. I thought it was funny at the time. The last one I released in the fall was in the parking lot of a Dollar General. I caught him, and happened to be about to go to the grocery store. So, right on the outskirts of town.

Is it just me, or do skunks not really stink as much as people claim. Sure, they have a very strong odor. But I think it is a strengh of odor problem more than a really bad odor. A really bad stench is driving past a feed lot on the first late-winter day of thaw. Skunks, while strong, are no where near as bad smelling as that.

When I drive by one that's been hit by a car and smells, it's not that bad. My wife doesn't seem to mind either. But, last fall, we had a big skunk problem. The worst for me: I shot a skunk 5 feet from our porch. I was told not to shoot it in the head or it would spray instantly. I shot it in the lungs. It stopped in its tracks; I put a 2nd shot in, right behind the first shot. It fell over, dead I assumed. I waited about 20 seconds; no smell. Whew! It worked. I went in the house through the garage, put my gun away, and walked to the dining room. My wife was loudly complaining, and then it hit me. My eyes were burning. The thing can crawled into the bushes and started spraying and spraying and spraying. It was like a fog in front of our house; it about made me gag when I went out to make sure it was dead again; it had apparently died, but I put a shot in the head to be sure. I picked it up with a long shovel, and carried it away from the house. I didn't make it very far before I couldn't stand it any longer.

Another time last fall, our german shepherd got hit by a skunk during the night. She came running into our room and jumped on our bed to let us know. My wife instantly heaved. She does wound care at a hospital - disgusting bed sore types of wounds that smell of rotting flesh. We have a farm with plenty of poop around. She's got a strong stomach for bad smells. Fortunately, the dog washed out easily; the dog was scent free within 5 minutes.

 

[ControlD]

I guess someone is going to have to go out and catch a skunk or three to settle the debate. We live trapped five or six of them and they all smelled like skunks. None of them sprayed while being moved thank goodness. Not terrible mind you, but they had a very unique odor to them. This was around 35 years ago however, and my young nose might just have been more sensitive.

We had a dog get sprayed by a skunk once and the odor was overpowering. If you don't think skunks smell that bad it's because you haven't been exposed to the full fury.

 

[Printer Bandit]

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Skunk-Smell-Out-of-the-House

 

[Telgin]

When I was a kid, I trapped skunks. I thought it would be fun to bag up a few of their glands and take them in to my high school and deposit them, broken, in the air induction system (in the boiler room). The school closed for two days. No one ever found out who did that! I still have a chuckle about this every now and then.......

 

[Printer Bandit]

When I was a kid, I trapped skunks. I thought it would be fun to bag up a few of their glands and take them in to my high school and deposit them, broken, in the air induction system (in the boiler room). The school closed for two days. No one ever found out who did that! I still have a chuckle about this every now and then.......

do that today, and you'd probably get shot in the face by a cop.

 

[Telgin]

do that today, and you'd probably get shot in the face by a cop.

Yea, well, it would still be fun! Schools probably lock the boiler room doors now, too.......

 

[MongGrel]

Yeah, having em as a pet has always been that way.

Like Cats/Ferrets etc.

I remember one thanksgiving my cousin getting sprayed when we went out rabbit hunting that morning with the guys in the family, and they were checking the traps and he had a skunk in one and got sprayed.

He got his ass busted about that one for awhile.