Keeping skunks out of your lawn and away from your home is often thought to take a great deal of effort. However, when you know what attracts skunks to your home, getting rid of them is very easy and does not require pest control.
Several inexpensive products are used to repel skunks from your lawn and do not demand animal control services. If you have a skunk problem, it is easy to deal with.
We show you have to repel skunks using unique tricks. If you want to use all-natural skunk repellents, we provide ways to use everyday household products that work as natural skunk repellent.
- What is Attracting Skunks to Your Lawn?
- How to Stop Skunks from Digging up Lawn Surfaces with Odors
- Getting Rid of a Skunk Problem with Cayenne Pepper
- Know What Attracts Skunks to Repel Them
- Scare Skunks with Bright Lights
- Get Rid of a Skunk’s Food Source with Dish Soap
- Get Rid of the Smell of Skunk Spray
- Implementing a Trap to Get Rid of Skunks
What is Attracting Skunks to Your Lawn?
Additionally, we show you how to get the awful skunk spray out of your clothes or pet’s fur. Live traps, cayenne pepper, outdoor lighting, and castor oil are all products used as skunk deterrents.
Before learning how to stop skunks from digging up lawn surfaces, you must first understand what attracts these pests to your property.
Before you learn about keeping skunks away from your home, you need to know what they like. Common skunk attractants include food sources found in your garbage can or bird seed in a bird feeder. If you leave pet food like cat food out overnight, skunks are attracted to the source of nutrients.
It is also essential to understand that skunks feed off of grubs, earthworms, and other larvae found in the soil of your lawn. Skunks seize the opportunity to create a den under porches and small crawl spaces.
Keeping skunks out of the yard takes a little effort, but you’ll be pleased with the results.
How to Stop Skunks from Digging up Lawn Surfaces with Odors
A skunk’s sense of smell is quite strong. There are a few odors that repel a skunk from ever invading your lawn in the first place. Skunk prevention is simple when you use fragrances as a repellent.
Mothballs, citrus, and predator urine are three odors skunks hate. When a skunk smells these odors, it is deterred from digging up your lawn.
Scatter a handful of mothballs or cotton-balls soaked in a citrus essential oil under your porch to repel skunks from making a den.
After you are sure there are no skunks under your deck, seal the area off with chicken wire. Sealing the skunk’s den prevents any critters from invading your backyard.
You can also add a few cat deterrent plants that also work with skunks and other animals to strategic areas in the yard. There are many plants that deter skunks and give off an odor that is unpleasant to these animals and they avoid areas where they grow.
Getting Rid of a Skunk Problem with Cayenne Pepper
If you need to know how to stop skunks from digging up lawn and garden areas, a cayenne pepper mixture is an excellent solution.
This DIY repellent for skunks uses all-natural ingredients found at your local grocery store. What are skunks attracted to? Small areas under your porch. Using a mixture of cayenne pepper deters skunks and other wild animals from making a den.
In a large pot, boil the ingredients for 15 to 20 minutes. Next, strain the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray the area around your garden and near the skunk’s den to relieve your skunk problem.
Sprinkling a small amount of cayenne pepper around your deck is another skunk removal technique that works great. As a bonus, it is also an excellent home remedy to get rid of chipmunks, squirrels, mice, and other pests.
Know What Attracts Skunks to Repel Them
To avoid a skunk infestation from ever occurring, eliminate possible den sites around your house. What attracts skunks to make a den is small openings and under steps, decks, and porches.
Knowing where a skunk prefers to live makes it simple to avoid a skunk problem in the future. Remove all woodpiles and rock piles from your house. Clearing away debris around the sides of your home also helps prevent a skunk infestation.
Since skunks like to make their dens under your deck and porch, close off the area with chicken wire or durable fabric. These skunk deterrents are easy to install and prevent a skunk problem.
Scare Skunks with Bright Lights
Critters like moles, raccoons, and skunks are nocturnal and do most of their foraging for food at night. Since skunks are nocturnal, their eyes are susceptible to light. Bright lights placed in your yard are one of the most effective skunk removal tools.
Set up a motion sensor light in your backyard. When a skunk walks into your yard, the lights turn on and scare the animal away.
Using motion sensor lights is an excellent product to combine with other skunk deterrents for getting rid of skunks in your yard and to ensure that the critters do not make a den by your house.
Get Rid of a Skunk’s Food Source with Dish Soap
Learning how to stop skunks from digging up lawn areas is easy. It helps if you repel skunks from wanting to eat grub and earthworms in your yard.
Ingredients in dish soap and castor oil make the ground taste bad to a skunk and they make one of the best home remedies for keeping a skunk out. Without a food source in your lawn, they avoid coming back to the area.
This is one of the easiest and best home remedies for getting rid of a skunk in your yard. Spray the mixture over the entire surface of your lawn. The combination makes the ground and grubs in the dirt taste unpleasant to a skunk, driving them away from your yard.
Use the mixture in garden areas, too, to prevent squirrels digging up plants that you’ve worked so hard to grow.
Knowing what attracts skunks is a great way to learn how to get rid of an infestation in your lawn.
Get Rid of the Smell of Skunk Spray
If a skunk sprays you or your pet, there is a straightforward way to get rid of the smell. Using peanut butter to get rid of the skunk’s smell was common in the past.
However, ingredients in hydrogen peroxide and baking soda are far more effective in getting rid of the odor. Baking soda absorbs the odor molecules found on the surfaces it interacts with.
Combine the ingredients in a container and stir the solution with a spoon to mix. Let the DIY solution sit for five minutes on the surface before rinsing it away with cool water.
You may need to repeat the cleaning routine a second time if the odor remains. This cleaning mixture works excellently on humans and for getting rid of skunk smell on dog fur. Adding it to a wash cycle run on cold water helps eliminate the skunk odor on clothing.
It’s also useful for getting rid of skunk smell in your house if the odor lingers. Spritz the carpet or furniture if necessary.
Implementing a Trap to Get Rid of Skunks
If you want to add another process to the previous skunk control tips, adding a skunk trap is a fantastic way to avoid a skunk problem.
A skunk trap the size of a raccoon is perfect to catch a skunk. It is vital to cover the top of the trap, as skunks are attracted to dark places.
Knowing what attracts skunks is essential, so you know what kind of bait to set the trap with. Sardines, cat food, bread with peanut butter, and marshmallows are products you can use to bait your trap.
After you trap a skunk, call a professional from your local wildlife control to get rid of the animal.
Learning how to stop skunks from digging up lawn and garden soil is simple when the correct tools are utilized.
All-natural ingredients like cayenne pepper and citrus are great ways to avoid a skunk infestation. Skunk traps and liquid dish soap are also outstanding solutions to get rid of a skunk.
If you learned what attracts skunks, repost this article with tricks and tips to avoid a skunk problem on Facebook or Pinterest with your friends and neighbors.