Your garage is a safe place that holds your tools, your precious vehicles and even your most valuable possessions. But it’s no place for sheltering pests. Especially skunks! Skunks might be the absolute worst kind of pests to attract near your home. This is because of the foul odor they produce when frightened.
A skunk’s spray not only has the worst smell but also can cause intense discomfort if gotten into your eyes. If you’ve happened to forget what skunks look like, they are black with a white stripe going down their backs. They have bushy tails and are about the size of a regular house cat. Some skunks are brown, grey or even cream-colored.
Having a skunk in your garage can cause quite the problem. If you are so unlucky to come across them then it’s important to know how to get a skunk out of your garage. But first, you need to know what brought them there in the first place. In this article, you will learn about what attracts skunks and how to keep them away from your garage.
How Do You Get Skunks?
Skunks will scavenge for food in your garbage and trash cans. They will especially be attracted to your garage if you store your trash cans right next to it. They also like seeds and fruit. Skunks will dig through freshly planted yards or gardens. They’ll eat the seeds, vegetables or fruit growing there.
Skunks also tend to dig underground to create or find burrows and use them as dens. They’ll use these dens for reproducing, hiding and resting. You’ll find these dens underneath porches and any other dark low spaces.
How to Keep Skunks Away From Your Garage
Now that you know what attracts skunks to your garage, let’s read about the different ways you can keep them out.
Check Your Garage Door
You must check your garage door when closing it. Some doors might not function properly and leave gaps in between the door and the ground. This allows for the skunks to squeeze right through, and invade your garage. Make sure your garage door is tightly shut and locked. Also, make sure that the skunks aren’t able to dig underneath them to get in.
Seal Any Windows
Skunks can also get in through the garage windows. Make sure the windows are tightly sealed shut so that the skunks can’t knock them loose enough to crawl right through.
Store Trash Inside the Garage
Store your trash cans and recycling bins in your garage until it’s trash day. Keep the trash cans closed tight and be sure to take the trash out weekly.
Pick Up Vegetation
Vegetables and fruit found in gardens act as skunk bait. If you have a garden near your garage then that’d be a reason for seeing them in there. Be sure to pick up any fallen fruit from fruit trees or plants and sweep up any seeds. Also, it’d help to build up a fence around your crops, therefore, making it difficult for skunks to invade.
Make sure the fence is long enough to prevent them from crawling over or even digging underneath.
Use an Electronic Repellent System
A solar ultrasonic animal repellent gives off a high frequency that is unpleasant to skunks but undetectable to the human ear. Sprays of water emitting from electronic repellent systems can keep skunks and any other animals away as well.
Use Bright Lights
Skunks thrive in the night and hate bright lights. A motion-activated or timer-based light will startle them off, for their eyes are very sensitive to lights.
Call in the Professionals
Too scared to face a skunk head-on. That’s okay, sometimes it can get too complicated to get rid of skunks. In this case, you should contact a pest control company right away. It’s best to leave this job to the experts sometimes.
Things You Should Know About Skunks
Before you try to keep skunks away from your garage, it helps to know a couple of things about them first.
Skunks Are Foragers
Skunks dig holes all through yards to look for food. If you notice any holes in your yard then there may be skunks camping out.
Skunks Are Crafty
Skunks can find a home anywhere. They live in bushes, woodpiles, holes underneath your garage and, if able to, inside your garage or basement. They’ll hide pretty well so you may not see them. You’ll know they’re there if you happen to smell a musky odor coming from them even if they don’t spray.
Helpful Tips
If a skunk happens to burrow in your yard, then you’ll need to know how to spot skunk burrows. They’ll burrow underneath porches, decks, in tree hollows, brush piles and many more locations. If you notice any wide, shallow holes in your yard or smell a musky odor then you may have skunks hanging around.
To keep skunks away it’d help to surround your house with things they hate the most, like certain odors. Skunks hate the smell of citrus fruits, mothballs, ammonia and the urine of predators like dogs, coyotes and more. To keep skunks from returning, close off any areas where skunks can burrow. Keep your trash can tightly closed. Lawn maintenance can also help.
Conclusion
Nobody wants a skunk invasion in their garage. With these helpful tips, you can now get rid of your skunk problem and prevent them from invading your garage ever again. If all fails, then contact a professional asap. For more information, visit our website or contact us today!
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Your site provides lots of information regarding prevention but is thin on remediation. How do you convince the skunk to leave the garage so that you can put the prevention into action?