Skunks can be found throughout most of the United States. Skunks are opportunistic omnivores. Their diet will consist of insects like grubs and bees, nuts, seeds, and small rodents. They can find food in the garbage and will eat your pet’s food. The animals have adapted to live in urban and suburban habitats.
Skunks are not aggressive and will not give you any trouble if they do not feel threatened. However, when a skunk does feel threatened, things can get pretty smelly.
The Lingering Effects of Skunk Odor
When a skunk is threatened, it releases a spray of musk from its anal glands that leave a foul odor in the air. The smell of the skunk is notorious. The spray’s intensely pungent odor comes from thiol, a chemical compound mainly composed of sulfur and hydrogen.
A skunk’s odor can last fourteen to twenty-one days!
Skunk odor can be so foul that it can cause your nasal passages to close, basically replicating the effects of pepper spray. If during its search for food or shelter, a skunk manages to get into your house and secrete its musk, then your lovely home will have an unwelcome stench laced into its very fabric, from the couches and other furniture to the walls and carpet.
10 Skunk Odor Removal Solutions
- DIY Skunk Remover Liquid dish soap, baking soda, and 3% hydrogen peroxide, you can make your own de-skunk solution.
- Replace Your Air Filters Skunk odor can stick to your air filter in your air conditioning, creating the possibility of foul smells circulating throughout your home.
- Air Out Your House Open windows and screened doors to create an avenue for external airflow by opening your home to allow fresh air in and bad smells out. This formula can be used in a spray bottle or used as a shampoo for pets. Apply formula, let sit for fifteen minutes, and rinse with warm water. Repeat these steps as needed.
- Run Fans It is important to keep the air circulating in your home so that the smell can escape.
- Place Bowls of Vinegar in House White vinegar is a natural, chemical-free skunk smell removal. It should be able to absorb much of the smell over 24 hours.
- Take a Bath Immediately If you get sprayed directly by a skunk, then the smell can soak into your skin, leaving a permanent odor you do not want to carry around. Have a good bath for about 15 minutes. Use plenty of soap or dish detergent. Afterward, rinse off and repeat the process the next day until the smell dissipates. (NOTE: Tomato juice does not work to get rid of the skunk smell).
- Wash Fabrics Immediately (but consider replacing) Wash clothing with heavy-duty laundry detergent or borax. For household fabrics, spray a white vinegar-baking soda recipe to naturally deodorize. Skunk spray can be especially difficult to get out of fabrics and upholstery. Consider replacing the contaminated fabric.
- Bleach Hard Surfaces Skunk spray can contaminate hard surfaces like floors or walls. Scrub with one cup of bleach in a gallon of water.
- Consider Steam Cleaning Carpets You might need to hire a professional carpet cleaner if the skunk odor has ingrained itself into your carpet or rugs.
- Clean with Chlorine or Tablets Skunk musk is sulfuric in nature, and chlorine neutralizes sulfur. However, make sure to use chlorine that is used in swimming pools and hot tubs and not the chlorine-based bleach used for laundry.
Skunk Control
Stumbling upon a skunk on your property is rare. Depending on the time of year, you are much more likely to smell a skunk. During mating season, male skunks travel to the females. She will spurn his advance by spraying him.
Skunks are nocturnal and often burrow under HVAC units, under porches, or dens inside crawlspaces. Pets especially dogs can happen upon a skunk and get sprayed. Skunks can be relatively harmless, but a pregnant female skunk will stay in one den for most of the spring. The gestation period lasts over sixty days, and the skunk babies will stay in the den for eight weeks.
Do you really want to avoid a skunk roommate for over three months?
Call Trutech in to get the skunks out. We’ll safely trap and remove the skunks without getting sprayed. We will install skunk exclusions to keep them from returning to their burrow.
