Jun 28, 2012 – Get One Skunk, Get ‘Em All
QUESTION:
I have a residential account that had a skunk die underneath the foundation of their house. Since then there have been numerous other skunks trying to dig under the house for re-entry. 1. Is there something you can recommend to help control the smell since I can't find the dead skunk to remove it? 2. Would the smell of this dead skunk be attracting others to come 'visit'? 3. Is there something I can spray or place around the home to repel future skunks from trying to dig under the home? For the smell I've tried laying out plates full of coffee, trying numerous deodorizers, and even tried Internet recommendations of a mix consisting of hydrogen peroxide/Baking soda/soap.
ANSWER:
Unhappily I can attest to the awful tenacity of the skunk odor. A former dog of ours did not learn from bad experience and 3 times got sprayed point blank by skunks in our yard. The last one must have been directly beneath the dog as her chest was actually oily. And, of course, these things always happen at 11 o'clock at night so you can deal with it when you'd rather be asleep. We tried the tomato juice myth with no luck and then tried one of the internet recipes with better luck, but for the next 6 months every time we washed her (every weekend) we could still smell the skunk odor as it volatilized off her skin.
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I have a residential account that had a skunk die underneath the foundation of their house. Since then there have been numerous other skunks trying to dig under the house for re-entry. 1. Is there something you can recommend to help control the smell since I can't find the dead skunk to remove it? 2. Would the smell of this dead skunk be attracting others to come 'visit'? 3. Is there something I can spray or place around the home to repel future skunks from trying to dig under the home? For the smell I've tried laying out plates full of coffee, trying numerous deodorizers, and even tried Internet recommendations of a mix consisting of hydrogen peroxide/Baking soda/soap.
ANSWER:
Unhappily I can attest to the awful tenacity of the skunk odor. A former dog of ours did not learn from bad experience and 3 times got sprayed point blank by skunks in our yard. The last one must have been directly beneath the dog as her chest was actually oily. And, of course, these things always happen at 11 o'clock at night so you can deal with it when you'd rather be asleep. We tried the tomato juice myth with no luck and then tried one of the internet recipes with better luck, but for the next 6 months every time we washed her (every weekend) we could still smell the skunk odor as it volatilized off her skin.
In your case the ideal thing would be to remove that dead skunk, but your question suggests that this is a slab foundation, and thus the inability to get under the slab to access the dead animal. Of course, the question has to be are you sure there is a dead animal under there or simply the lingering odor of skunks that have tunneled under the slab for some time and contaminated that soil? Either way it appears you are stuck with having to try to eliminate the smell without eliminating the source, and hoping that in time that source will eventually dissipate and no longer create the smell. If so, then try one of the dry bag deodorizers such as the Earth Care Bags or Pouches. These are touted by the manufacturer to be able to pull foul odors from the air and remove them, and while this seems like hocus pocus I have to say that good feedback and my own personal experiences seem to give them a thumbs up. These can be placed around the home in the rooms where the odor seems to be most noticeable and see what happens.
There also are liquid deodorizers that do a fairly effective job of eliminating the cause of the odor, but really need to be applied directly to the site of the odor to work on the source itself. If there is some burrow leading under the slab that you could fog into this might be helpful, but perhaps not. Overall, though, your goal is to prevent any more mishaps like this from occurring by keeping all future skunks out from under this home. If there is no way to keep them from getting onto the property then you must find a way to physically prevent them from digging under the slab, and this means a physical barrier. Your customer may not like the idea of spending money on this, but it is always better to look for the permanent long term solution rather than the constant application of chemicals to resolve the problem after it occurs. Liquid and granular repellents may have some effect temporarily, and you may want to try them immediately to move skunks away while some permanent fix is being installed.
If the first skunk found the slab to be a great place for a den then it may simply be that other skunks will too. These are generally solitary animals, so I don't think that new ones are trying to den up with existing ones, but simply find the slab to be acceptable. The simplest solution is to just lay patio pavers or heavy rocks around the base of the house extending outward for several feet. This can sometimes be enough to discourage the skunks from digging any further and getting all the way under the slab. The more certain way is to install a physical barrier down into the soil all the way around the structure. If the customer will find a way to dig a trench down at least 1 foot deep and 1 foot out from the foundation they can install hardware cloth or metal flashing, down that foot and then bent outward a foot at a 90 degree angle. Another technique is to use rebar cut into 2 foot lengths and driven down into the soil ALL the way around the foundation, spacing them a few inches apart so the skunks cannot squeeze through.
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