How to Evict a Skunk ... Out From Under Your House for Less Than $5

Our house was across the street from a rather large park. Occasionally we'd see some wildlife traipse across the yard (a beautiful red fox once, complete with LARGE fuzzy tail!). On first moving in, I was surprised to see a mom skunk, with a baby skunk in tow, cross our back patio in full view, not sneaking around or ninja style. Brazen hussies!

So, I setup an expensive sonic / high pitch pest controller, and set it to full blast. Well, the next night, the same skunks came through, walked along edge of the radius of the sonic system, and continued as if nothing happened. So much for technology. That cost me $75.

Since they didn't bother me, I didn't bother them. But, then we discovered the Skunk Club!

Step 1: Uninvited House Guest

Unfortunately, a family of skunks found our 12" high crawl space to be super luxurious, and slept until the demolition guys came one day for remodeling the house. In a few minutes, all of the demo guys were outside, and the General Contractor was called to settle the problem. Every time the men made any loud noises, they were sprayed by the resident skunks. ONE skunk's spray is bad enough, but with several ...!

We called pest control who quoted us $150, and when we balked, they shunted us to a wild life refuge group. The chipper woman at the other end of the phone instantly suggested, "peanut butter and moth balls!" It sounded disgusting, and confusing. Were we supposed to cover the moth balls with peanut butter? Stick moth balls to peanut butter?

She said the peanut butter attracts skunks, and they hate the smell of moth balls! What an irony - stinky skunks don't like the smell of moth balls. So, here's the simple solution below on how to get RID of skunks that have moved onto your property.

Step 2: The Peanut Butter

First locate any and all entrances / exits to the house for low-flying animals (rats, mice, skunks, raccoons, possums, etc.). Block all but the one you want the skunk(s) to use for an exit. Leave a good scoop of peanut butter at the entrance with a disposable spoon. Keep the opening clear so there's NO MISTAKE it's an exit for the skunk.

Step 3: The Moth Balls

Now for the fun part!

Moth balls are about as easy to find as the peanut butter but usually in a hardware store or cleaning supply store. They're inexpensive (usually a couple of dollars for a box).

Scoop a handful and throw toward the skunk hideout. If there's no action, toss a couple handfuls more. Within a few minutes, our skunks waddled out, looking rather grumpy since they're normally nocturnal party animals.

The moth balls stayed around for a month or so, but they do eventually sublimate - disappear. But they weren't ever needed again because of the next step!