critters/skunks caught in hav-a-hart traps (water, stop, wild)

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Cinebar

How does that work?

I'm trying to picture how you can drown a skunk as a means to not getting sprayed and I just can't wrap my mind around it.

Seems to me that if you are in a position to drown the skunk, you are also in a position to either relocate and release it or to at least kill it quickly and humanely.

How does drowning it keep it from spraying?

Well, the germination of the whole drowning topic was throwing a tarp over the trap and submerging the tarp, trap and skunk together. While that may not prevent the skunk from spraying, it would prevent the noxious liquids from contacting you. You're right that one with a trapped skunk may be strictly construed as in a position to relocate and release a skunk, but a skunk in a naked wire trap is in a position to ruin your day (conservatively). A skunk in a wire trap covered with a tarp is not necessarily in the same position, yet removing the tarp would restore that skunk's advantage. Therefore, failing other acceptable avenues, submerging the tarp/trap/skunk assembly could conceiveably be a solution to the noxious liquid on your skin problem.

This is my understanding of how that works.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Butterfly4u

Why do you have to TRAP anything at all?
I don't get it.
There is a place for everything in nature.
Leave it alone.
Or move, and live in a concrete jungle.
Gesssh!

What if your trapping isn't borne out of any vanity or heeby-jeebies at all? What if it is to comply with the terms of a state wildlife management agreement to support populations of ground nesting birds like quail and turkey? Would you be justified to trap and kill virulently invasive species like sus scrofa tht are absolute hell on ground-nesting birds? What if your population of skunks is over 5 per acre and they completely depredate the nesting quail over a few square miles in a week?

To me, there are times when management makes more sense.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Cinebar

That certainly could be. That might explain why I've never been successful trapping the raccoons - maybe they've already BTDT and have learned not to go into the trap, no matter how tasty the bait.

And as long as they behave themselves here, they're welcome. If they start being a problem, then I will relocate, but like I said, I never do it to a place where there are homes or farms. In fact, I have miles and miles of national forest bordering the back of my property, and miles and miles of logging roads up there, and lots of ponds and creeks.

While you could have miles of national forest; raccoons will follow the action. They are not going to stay in the deep woods - if there is no free lunch or garbage bags. The old hunters, with the raccoon dogs, would travel miles at night chasing individual raccoons. It would be like trying to keep a bear out of a Dunkin Donuts dumpster when they threw out the stale donuts! That is also the reason that we have to take down our birdfeeders when bears are around - they can supposedly smell a teaspoon of black oily sunflower seeds a mile away.

[Wurzig]

I seemed to open a can of 'skunks' by my original post.......to touch briefly on a few issues:

We lived at the top of a town, (highest elevation), near the San Gabriel Mountains in S. California. (They're not the Rockies but they ARE higher than they look). We tried LOTS of approaches before we bought Have a Harts and hired an exterminator who knew all the CA. laws. We had a lot of enormous, old avocado trees...(taller than our 2-story house)....skunks and raccoons love them. Picking up all the avocados that dropped was pretty much impossible......the trees drop their leaves (not all, but tons), and a good amount of the leaves are left there in order to retain moisture for the trees..the fruit falls down under the leaves......and it can fall for several months.

The exterminator took them several miles away, up into the forest, where it was still the same climate but not inhabitated by humans, so no, we did not create a problem for anybody else......it was a family which lived under our deck, but there were not any super-small babies which depended on mothers.......they were on their own. (However, some were smaller and I almost stepped on one when I was taking my dog out late at night....the young ones are like baby rattlesnakes......they can't control what they do as far as the amount goes, so always watch for the little ones).

We did catch a nasty raccoon a time or two......they kick the cage all night long and try to get out.....skunks, being smaller, would kick a bit, and then just nestle down and eat the tuna, etc. We would just release the raccoons......I've had more than one, (not in a trap), get up on his hind legs, hiss, snarl and lunge at me.....not friendly at all. I did have to protect my dog from them....she wanted to play but they did not....

One poster asked why do anything at all? Well, when you have a nice backyard with a pool, hot tub, jacuzzi, patio table, beautiful view of stars, etc., and it gets to the point where you can't even be in your backyard after dark.....it's time to do something.. When you have a dog and you have to go outside in the dark late at night and check the area with a flashlight and use a hose and spray the area in case they are hiding just so that you can let your dog out to pee, then it's time to do something.

At another house, where I lived right by the ocean, we had different wildlife, including occasional opposums. They are good for eating snails and slugs.......but I never got close to them....they snarl and hiss and have ugly, big teeth in the front......one even rolled on his side and 'fainted' one time.....LOL I am sure they looked for grubs, but I don't recall the destruction that the skunks did.

Like I said---this is NOT the scent that you smell when you are driving down a road.......when it's on you, on your pet and in your house, it's 1,000 times worse!

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by Ellwood

When our dog was sprayed by a skunk, vet told us to use:
32 oz. hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup baking soda
1 tsp of Dawn dishwashing (to cut oil)

Rub all over dog and let sit a few minutes. Rinse off and repeat.

It won't completely eliminate the odor but reduces it immensely. Of course for about two months whenever the humidity is high or the dog gets wet, you will get a whiff of "puppy la phew."

Thanks for this. Yep, I agree......you can smell it for a LONG TIME.....

[snofarmer]

"I am actually quite impressed that your exterminator was willing to go to those lengths to release them humanely. So many (including my psychotic neighbor) will live trap and then shoot and kill them when they're still in the trap."

psychotic neighbor
All of mine are psychotic and if that makes you psychotic
then I am too and so our our neighbors.

I/we shoot them in the trap, some times we don't even use a trap.
Then dispose of them.

[foxywench]

see i personally prefer to relocate when possible...if not however dispatch of said "pest" should be quick and humane. a single shot to the head is quick and "humane" if you dont have the guts to do it properly and would rather toss the trap into a body of water for a slow and terrifying death (skunks are not strong swimmers so are activly avoidant of large bodies of water) then please call someone that does...drowning an animal simply becuase you dema it a pest is not a smart thing to do. (not to mention those traps arnt cheap!)

op if you catch a skunk.
1: wear a trashbag, if you do get sprayed it wont get into your cothes...
2: throw a tarp or something you dont mind getting rueind over the trap
3: they have horrible eyesight...talk to him.
4: they can only spray from one end...keep that end pointed in any direction but towards you at all times...

if you catch a possum
1: possums are not a vector species, thier body doesnt carriy rabies, they can howeve rbe quite agressive when cornered so wear long sleaves and if possible heavy leather gloves when handling a possum in a trap.
2: like skunks, their eye sight is poor, talk to him, calmly...
3: possums main defence is teeth...thats the end to keep pointed away from you this time. (possum hav big teeth)

the best advice i can give you though is not to panic, animals can and do sence fear, panic, anger agrivation ect, so stay calm, move deliberatly, and plan BEFORE aproaching the trap.

skunks are actually incredibly beneficial, those holes their digging may be inconvenient, but the grubs their eating do MUCH more damage to your lawn...you can fill and reseed the odd dig spot...but its hard as heck to replace an entire lawn decimated by grubs!.

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by foxywench

see i personally prefer to relocate when possible...if not however dispatch of said "pest" should be quick and humane. a single shot to the head is quick and "humane" if you dont have the guts to do it properly and would rather toss the trap into a body of water for a slow and terrifying death (skunks are not strong swimmers so are activly avoidant of large bodies of water) then please call someone that does...drowning an animal simply becuase you dema it a pest is not a smart thing to do. (not to mention those traps arnt cheap!).....

Ummmmm....I take it that you've never actually seen a rodent drown in a trap have you? There is nothing inhumane or slow about it. They breathe in the water with the very first breath and die nearly instantly. It is actually much faster and more humane than a single .22 lr round to the skull with the added advantage that there won't be skunk spray as it dies and the trap will not be damaged.

[Cinebar]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

Ummmmm....I take it that you've never actually seen a rodent drown in a trap have you? There is nothing inhumane or slow about it. They breathe in the water with the very first breath and die nearly instantly. It is actually much faster and more humane than a single .22 lr round to the skull with the added advantage that there won't be skunk spray as it dies and the trap will not be damaged.

I call b.s.

[Mrs. Skeffington]

Originally Posted by fisheye

I even took a skunk out of a two spring conibear trap many years ago. I did that without getting sprayed and without any protection. It was a very small skunk and the main trap wires were slightly bent - otherwise it would have killed him. It closed on his neck. I talked to him thought the operation of releasing the springs and did not get sprayed.

I simply talk in quite calm tones - like I would to a dog or cat. Maybe I have just been very lucky?

I came very close to being sprayed forty years ago. I had a broken sewage line in a crawl space under a commercial building I owned. I armed myself with a flashlight and a bottle of commercial grade disinfectant. I wanted to see where the problem was. I was crawling through when I saw movement to my left. I put my flashlight on the tail of a skunk only three feet from my face. I shot first with the commercial disinfectant. He put down his tail and ran. I presume that the disinfectant probably burned - at least on tender tissue. It probably would not have made any difference if he did spray me - I smelled that bad!

PS For those that are into relocating nuisance critters - did you ever think that they might be in your backyard because somebody relocated theirs?

Years ago, after we moved here to the country, there was a "thump thump" in the plastic garbage can out back next to our porch. I opened the lid and two beady eyes looked up at me. I saw the white stripe and closed the lid - fast. I called the local game commission, but got an answering service, as it was Sunday. I then called the local police (I was concerned about rabies), who told me to put a garden hose in the trash can and drown it. I couldn't do that. Instead, my daughter and I, leaving the lid on the can, took it to the adjoining field, took the lid off and tipped it over at the count of three, then ran like heck. We saw Mr. (or Ms.) skunk waddle into the woods.