RepellAll - Skunk repellents

Skunk Repellents That Work

Skunk is another name for scavengers that devour garbage and putrefying material including animal droppings and human excreta. Since a well maintained house garden is an organized place where you don’t dump garbage or animal dung without a specific purpose, the scavenging services provided free by scavenging birds and rodents is counter productive. We will discuss below some specific skunk repellent tactics available for driving off these pests.

Rodent skunks are night prowlers. Birds arrive on your gardens mainly at dusk and almost after dawn. Their food comprise of any living or dead organic matter like bugs, ladybirds, insects, lizards, toads, spoilt food, putrefying animals, excreta, bird eggs insect larvae etc. The best way to prevent both rodent and bird scavengers from coming is to control the garbage that your garden carries.

Skunk Repellent #1: Remove Unprotected Trash

Always transfer your trash for onward pickup to plastic or metal containers with lids that can be closed securely and could withstand a knock over without spilling its contents.

Skunk repellent #2: Remove Larvae and Grubs

Skunks dig around gardens searching for beetle larvae called grubs, one of their delicacies. Their taste for grubs is matched by that of nematodes that are beneficial visitors. By encouraging nematodes to your garden, you could eliminate some of the attractions for skunks to visit your premises.

Skunk repellent #3: Remove Fallen Nuts, Berries and Apples

Collect periodically all fruits and produce falling from bushes or trees on your garden so that skunks won’t be attracted to do it for you. Fallen fruits also attract rodents like squirrels etc. providing the skunks with a double feast. The more feasts you provide the skunks, the more they will like to visit you.

Skunk repellent #4: Remove Other Attractants

Since skunks delight on every conceivable form of food, the following areas will need your constant attention and control to keep the skunks away.
Any compost heaps comprising of fruit rinds, bones and eggshells etc. used for fertilizing plants and trees.
Large numbers of ground insects like ants are found living under foliage and dead leaves.
Open water sources like tanks, ponds and puddles.
Spillovers from bird feed kept out by you to attract birds.

Other Skunk Repellent Techniques

Many people are in a quandary on how to keep the skunks off their gardens on a permanent basis. The following methods have been found to be very effective in keeping them out of bounds.

Bright Light
Install bright lights since skunks mostly operate under the cover of darkness to stay hidden as far as possible.

Automated Sprinklers
The skunk repellent scarecrow is a device to which a water hose is attached. The scarecrow monitors sounds through sensors and gets activated automatically to spray water in the direction of the sound to scare intruders away. A disadvantage is that the scarecrow cannot distinguish between intruders and residents in giving a spray bath.

Spicy Pepper Solutions
To be effective, pepper has to be sprayed quite often, and the cost depends on the frequency of spraying.

Commercial Repellents
These are used mainly for repelling pet animals like cats and dogs. You have to be careful to ensure that these animals are not physically harmed by the skunk repellent since you could be prosecuted or fined according to the laws prevailing in your area. This is not feasible if you also have pets at home.