Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband and I both love animals and have a goal of getting a certified backyard habitat within the next two years. That said, we've been more than welcoming to animals visiting our yard. Within the last few weeks, we had found several skunks visiting the bird feeders at nightime. I told someone about this, and they suggested putting cat food out for the skunks. This was no skin off our backs since we have cats as pets anyway. One particular skunk, who've I've named "Kiki" (I can tell her apart because of her stripe pattern) started coming up to us at night whenever we'd return home or go outside. At first I was very nervous about her, scared I'd be sprayed, but she didn't seem that aggressive toward us--she would threaten, but then calm down when I talked to her. Long story short, we forgot to close our garage door one night, and she's since decided that our garage is a good place for her to sleep during the day. She has been sleeping behind some extra drywall and gardening tools, and my activities during the day do not seem to disturb her that much. I have looked up all sorts of information about skunks on the web--All sites seem to discourage the adopting of wild skunks and feeding cat food because it is too high in protein and fat, but I think she's adopted us. We will leave her a little bit of dog food and fresh apple now. I know that we have a lot of grubs in the lawn and we've been leaving the garage door cracked so that she can come and go as she pleases, but it has become quite stinky in the garage, and my husband is afraid that use of any of his power tools will scare her too much. I really am honored that she's decided to "adopt us" and take up residence here, but we need the garage for projects and storage, and I don't want there to be a conflict of interest. Also, because she's a "wild" skunk, I don't want her to start depending on me instead of foraging, etc., but I have completely fallen in love with her--I can go out to the garage at night and even pet her now, and her comic antics with a bag of peanuts are great. But I don't want to cause any harm to her, and we don't want to lose the use of our garage for normal activities either. Any suggestions for a peaceful co-existance would be greatly appreciated.

I would go here and talk to these people..

http://stripedbandits.proboards36.com/

I think this corrected itself. Because we were leaving the door cracked for her, an opossum decided to come in the garage and check it out. He hid underneath my husband's tool bench for a while, and then left. Kiki had been out foraging at the time. When she came back in, she seemed very on-edge and was smelling all around. I think that she did not like it that a possum had been here because the next day, she was not out sleeping in the garage. She must have returned to her original den. Part of me is a little sad, but mostly I am glad that she's back out on her own living like a wild skunk probably should, and she still comes and gives me friendly visits nighttime.