Skunk living in wellhouse-Advice on getting him out

Unclebuck257 · Dec 16, 2007

Last night was the first hard freeze for N. Texas so far this year. About 11PM I realized that I had forgotten to turn the wellhouse heatlamps on, so I went out with a flashlight to just plug them in. This wellhouse is only an 8'X8' metal building, with a wooden platform built around the tank itself on the inside.

I opened the door, shone the flashlight around quickly, saw nothing, and proceeded to try and plug in the heat lamp light plug which was over to the left rear side of the building. While trying to do that, all of a sudden, from the right front area, this rather big skunk comes and goes right under bent over me while I'm trying to get the plug plugged in, and it into a burrow hole in the left front corner of the building where the PVC water pipes go out from the wellhouse. I was stunned, to say the least and then noticed a lot of loose dirt around the water tank and skunk crap in the extreme right hand front corner of the wellhouse where it had come from.

This building is way too small ( and has water softening equipment in it too) to shoot this skunk, so I was wondering if anyone knows of anything that will chase or scare it off and out of the wellhouse. I was REAL lucky once, but I don't want to push that luck and I'll have to unplug the heat lamps tomorrow since it's supposed to warm up again and they won't be needed.

Thanks in advance for any ideas..

Tig · Dec 16, 2007

If you can, cap his hole with shovel of cement and use wire mesh to secure any area where he might try to get back in. The skunks around here aren't very persistent. I blocked a hole under my shed with a 2x6 one evening. The skunk pushed it over on his way out for the night. I stood the 2x6 back up at midnight. He did not come back.

bncsauve · Dec 16, 2007

Baited havahart trap outside the well house. Once you catch him, you can dispose of or relocate as you see fit. If you decide to shoot him in the trap, move it to an isolated area first. They will smell for awhile, even if head shot.

pappy19 · Dec 16, 2007

Throw a few moth balls in there and he'll be gone in no time.

tallyho8 · Dec 16, 2007

Ask your brother-in-law to unplug the heat lamps for you tomorrow.

thatguy · Dec 16, 2007

pappy19 said:
Throw a few moth balls in there and he'll be gone in no time.

We had a mother skunk have some 'kids' under our outbuilding a few years ago.. I threw a bunch of moth balls under the building, but a lot of them kept getting pushed out from underneath the building..

Brian

Redbug · Dec 16, 2007

If you use the live catch trap and catch him, throw a tarp or cloth over the trap before you move it. Keep the tarp over the trap. The skunk won't spray at something he can't see. Easiest way to get rid of him is to take him for a ride in the country, deposit the trap, (with tarp intact), open the door and go away for a couple minutes. He should leave. These guys are like cats, if you don't go very far he may come back.

Other method involves filling a trash can with water...

LMTC · Dec 16, 2007

Redbug said:
If you use the live catch trap and catch him, throw a tarp or cloth over the trap before you move it. Keep the tarp over the trap. The skunk won't spray at something he can't see. Easiest way to get rid of him is to take him for a ride in the country, deposit the trap, (with tarp intact), open the door and go away for a couple minutes. He should leave. These guys are like cats, if you don't go very far he may come back.

Other method involves filling a trash can with water...

I have watched this and done this...it does work. I was shown it by a game control agent....he said be very very careful not to shake the skunk around, because even blinded it will spray if terribly frightened. Approach the live trap with the tarp or blanket in front of you so the skunk cannot see you....then gently drop it over the trap so it covers it completely. I carried one several hundred feet like that.

The other thing he taught me (and it worked very well) is that they can't stand being sprayed with water and will make every effort to get out of the spray rather than try to spray you. I moved a sow with a brood of 4-5 out of our chicken shed by using a backpack sprayer. I kept a steady stream on the sow, and was able to control her direction long enough to get her 30' or so out of the shed...the little ones followed. At that point she continued ambling toward cover and once they were far enough away for my comfort I finished that job with a shotgun. Yes, I did worry about running out of water and had a 2 or 3 gallon hand-carried sprayer along too.

Egon · Dec 17, 2007

I like the brother in law approach!

If you have a place to attach a water hose in the pumphouse you could flush him out.

Another option is to leave the animal alone as it's not really causing a problem is it??

smfcpacfp · Dec 17, 2007

I had the same problem some years ago - a skunk living in a storage area in the corner of my garage. I moved out all of my valuable stuff (cars, etc.), and eventually shot him, but my garage is bigger than your building. This last summer I had a squirel problem and lived trapped them and disposed of them.

The guys above had some great ideas. Once the skunk is gone, how can you avoid a repeat? This is where a dog can come in handy. Since my dog and cat died a few years and haven't been replaced, I have noticed deer and rabbit grazing in my yard which is OK, since I don't have a garden anymore. Squirels eating my house is more than I can tolerate, however. I wonder when a sunk will move into my garage again?