Help name seven baby skunks, please

[BoulderHead]

Ahight, I give up, call them all what I would;

Ah pa'ai (name of polecat animal. Pronounced: Ah Pie).

[edit]
Oh, and whatever you do, don't swap the P with a B, hahaha!

 

[Evo]

The Skunkapult:

And before you have a fit Evo, I intend to put a little parachute on each of them.

That is acceptable.

Uhm...could you add some tiny crash helmets?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Where does this notion that you have to shoot any of them come from?

The most direct answer is from the guy at the feed store that has helped to walk me through the trials and tribulations of country living for the last fourteen years. When in Rome... Much more often than not, like nearly always, the advice has been good.

They won't spray you unless you corner them and threaten them. Just don't feed them, and as they grow up they will disperse to find their own territory. I believe as adults they're solitary animals.

They are disease carriers for starters; most notably rabies. Beyond this though some will stick around and it is too easy for our animals or us to get sprayed - which is quite an ordeal. The problem with any wild animal like this is the unplanned encounter. Still, it is bad enough to shoot one. I'm just not going to shoot seven babies.

I got a picture of them tonight. Its not too good but I will post a little later anyway. It seems that we have either seven or eight babies, and mama.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

But, nope, it isn't breed dependent, it's not shaped like a corkscrew, sorry. Just long and skinny.

Hmmm. I just can't imagine what penis I'm thinking of! I will have to check with Tsu. She is an expert on many things. Btw, it was her idea to use the skunkapult. I was tending towards an air-cannon.

When we had two pigmy goats - a brother and sister named Grunt and Bambi - we had the female studded by a local billy. Our male was a wether. When Bambi got home from her illicit interlude she really stunk and Grunt started to attack her. He kept ramming her in the side to the point where I was afraid he would injure her. So, in an effort to desensitize Grunt to the smell of the billy-goat, I rubber down Bambi and then rubbed this all over Grunts face. That was not a good idea.

That goat about went into orbit. He started snorting and yelling and jumping wildly like a rodeo horse. He would shake his head and run in circles while snorting and then start jumping again. This went on for quite some time...like ten minutes or more. He was really ticked off at me for hours. It was absolutely hilarious!

 

[Tsu]

It must depend on the type of goat. I am quite sure that I have never seen a pigs penis... I think these were all pigmy goats but I would have to check with my expert, Tsu.

and

Hmmm. I just can't imagine what penis I'm thinking of! I will have to check with Tsu. She is an expert on many things. Btw, it was her idea to use the skunkapult. I was tending towards an air-cannon.

Er... thank you, dear. (I think,) Goats are not among those animals known to have a corkscrew penis. Those would include bulls, http://www.world-sex-records.com/sex-299.htm ducks http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1023_corkscrewduck.htmland and pigs (the boars having one with a left handed thread :surprise: ) http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/articles/592_breeding_cycle_male.htm . Now, I've been TOLD by a fairly reputable breeder that Pygmy goats have a 'hook' type apparatus on the tip of their long, pencil-like penis that helps to 'anchor' the situation until the time is right. However, I have no first-hand knowledge of this since I was not present at Bambi's de-flowering.

Here is a picture of the babies! It's not that great of a shot, as it was taken at night as the were heading for shelter under the chicken coop. You can see two tails on the left, one in the middle and three on the right. You can also see a little baby skunk head peaking out from under the coop between the two right-most tails. Aren't they sweet?
http://imageuploader.milbrathnet.net/uploads/skunks1[/URL] 6-29-04.JPG[/PLAIN]

Evo, you'll have to provide the helmets! We don't have enough and I'm not letting them stink up our kitties helmets that they wear when we send them down the creek on a little kitty white-water rafting trip. :surprise:

 

[zoobyshoe]

They love cat food.

Two separate skunks were coming around at night eating the cat food I leave out for the backyard stray kitty. Whenever I appeared at the door they scurried away. That's all. Not the slightest attempt to spray me. Solution: bring the cat food in at night.

The trick to capturing skunks in a cage is to keep the ceiling of the cage low enough that they can't raise their tails. They will put off spraying almost forever if they have to get it on themselves to do so. The second trick is to cover the cage with a sheet or whatever, and for the cage to be made with a solid bottom (not wire mesh that they can see out of). Skunks will not spray unless they can see a target. The exception to that would be if you physically touch them by poking something into the cage.

Approach the trapped skunk gently from behind so it can't see you, throw the sheet over the cage. Then reposition your self facing the skunk for safety in case it does spray. Gently lift the cage and set it in a large plastic tub big enough to hold the cage. That will protect the bed of your truck if it sprays en route.

Arrived at the release point, set the cage on the ground with the skunk facing away from you. Pull the sheet back from the end where its face is, then open the door in front of it. It should scurry out of the cage and away as soon as it gets a look at the new environment and makes some decisions about the best cover to run for.

 

[The Bob]

Tell you what.. tell me where you live and I will get my friends BB gun to scare them away. Oh no that is cruel erm... I will get the smaller B gun and pump up the pressure so it is as dangerous but looks more inoccent.

No on a real point just let them go in the middle of a wood and give them food to surivie for a night. They would get the idea and learn to survive.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[zoobyshoe]

Beyond this though some will stick around and it is too easy for our animals or us to get sprayed - which is quite an ordeal. The problem with any wild animal like this is the unplanned encounter.

A skunk will not spray you unless you threaten it. They will either ignore you, as you mentioned, or scurry away.

Skunks, like rattlesnakes, warn before they use their weapons. A skunk will face you and pound the ground with one of its front paws. That means back off immediately or it will turn with its back to you, hop up onto its front feet and squirt one at you.

 

[The Bob]

Ivan Seeking,

Are you going to keep the skunks as pets or not otherwise what is the point of thinking of names? All that effort

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[holly]

OH THEY ARE ADORABLE! But as I.S. mentioned, they are wild animals. Aiee, what a lot of trouble...

 

[Math Is Hard]

Oh my goodness, Tsu! Aren't they cute?!? Look at the little bottle brush tails! Thanks for that picture.
Maybe you could capture them like Zooby was saying.

Zooby - how will they catch all the babies at once? They need to release them together.

 

[Evo]

I love how they all have their tails up in the air.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I love how they all have their tails up in the air.

I had to get pretty close to get that shot and they seem to want to come over and say hello. :surprise: For perspective, less the tail they are about the size of a two month old kitten. They are absolutely cute but when standing five feet away, it is more of an ominous sort of cute. Lordy lordy lordy, what a sight!

Zooby, sounds like great advice! Where did you pick all of this up?

They travel in a tight little pack so I'm thinking of a fairly long, narrow box. Maybe 8"X12"X36" or so. If I can coax them all into the box with some food and set a trap door, this might be fairly easy.

Also, its seems to be final; US Fish and Wildlife says I'm on my own. They were the last hope for an easy way out. The guy at the feed store says "22 shells", though even he admits that shooting eight or nine would be pretty ugly.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I used to live in another place that had a crawlspace beneath it where a skunk lived. Another skunk used to sneak in and they would fight and spray each other. The landlord called animal control, or someone, and they set a trap for it. I was the first one to find it caught in the trap, which is when I saw it pounding its foot whenever it could see me. I covered it with a sheet, picked the cage up, and moved it to the shade till the guy came to get it. I mentioned the foot pounding thing, and he told me it was their warning, but that they couldn't follow through without spraying over themselves under the circumstances, and that they wouldn't unless you poked them.

When he came, he took the sheet off, picked the cage up, and started toward his vehicle, whereupon it sprayed. I believe his mistake was letting it see him up close at the same time it could see it would be possible to spray down through the mesh bottom of the cage. When I moved the cage, it couldn't see me at all.

You could catch them all at once in a big cage but you'd have to wait for them all to go in and spring the trap yourself. I still suggest a solid bottom for it, and a cheap disposable tarp for the bed of the truck, just in case.

Edit: The animal control guy said that peanut butter works every time. It is the skunks downfall.

 

[holly]

Are the babies still nursing? Because you'll want to catch the mom, too...otherwise, she'll probably get mastitis. When I catch feral kittens, I must catch the mother, too, or have a way to feed her antibiotic-laced food (wet food) for 10 days. My vet taught me this.

 

[Moonbear]

LOL! I've noticed the ads at the top of the page are now all for goats and goat breeders! The ads must be selected by some program that scans for keywords in the messages or something. But, yeah, there is that dangly thing at the end of the goat penis. I don't know what it does either...I have a vulgar thought, but can't write that here. The pig is the only one that is supposed to have a corkscrew penis...it fits the shape of the sow's cervix. In bulls, it's considered an abnormality, and a bad one at that. More often they get more of a deflection or curvature to one side or another.

I'm now trying to figure out how a discussion on naming skunks wound up with an embedded discussion on animal penis shapes.

Baby skunks are the cutest things. When I used to live with my parents, we had a skunk that came to visit with her babies, right after the raccoon with her babies. It was pretty cute...the raccoon would show up, open the garbage can (was usually very neat about it all), hopped in with her little ones, and either ate inside the can or pulled out a few items that must have needed washing in the water bowls we left outside (for whatever animal stopped by in need of a drink or bath), and then the skunks would show up a little later and clean up the scraps the raccoons left behind. Well, except the day the skunk showed up early and the raccoon wasn't done yet...had pulled leftover turkey bones out of the trash and the skunk and raccoon started a tug-of-war over it...it actually seemed pretty civilized, though we decided to close the windows just in case. This was back when I still lived with my parents (I was only a teenager then)...my parents had the attitude that since they built a house in the woods, and the wildlife was there first, as long as they were outside, they could do what they wanted. Of course I was also the kid who would train chipmunks (mom wouldn't let me continue feeding the squirrels by hand after they ate their way through the back door to get to the peanut jar, but I could feed the chipmunks while sitting out on the patio)...once they figured out I was a reliable food source, they had no problem climbing up my leg to get peanuts...but then they didn't seem to discriminate among different people, so scared my grandmother something fierce when one climbed up her leg while she was visiting. I think I was destined from an early age to either study animal behavior or become a circus performer.

 

[Moonbear]

Are the babies still nursing? Because you'll want to catch the mom, too...otherwise, she'll probably get mastitis. When I catch feral kittens, I must catch the mother, too, or have a way to feed her antibiotic-laced food (wet food) for 10 days. My vet taught me this.

The mother shouldn't get mastitis from weaning, but I'd be more concerned that if she's still nursing, the babies aren't ready to be on their own without her yet. So, yep, need to catch the mom too. I don't know about with skunks, but with some animals, you can do that easily once you have the babies...the mom will follow the babies and you can lead her into someplace where you can catch her.

Yes, a solid bottom on the trap would be good...that should also keep them calmer when you pick up the cage if they can't see down, and since you have a mom and babies to catch, their feet are all different sizes, so you don't want a mesh bottom that their feet will slip through and lead to injury.

I think I'd hold the sheet in front of a plastic shower curtain liner or tarp just in case they do decide to spray while you're approaching them.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think I'd hold the sheet in front of a plastic shower curtain liner or tarp just in case they do decide to spray while you're approaching them.

Not needed. You make the cage/trap ceiling low enough that they can't raise their tails. If they were to spray, they'd get it on themselves, and they will avoid that. This is the point of the solid bottom: so they realize that spraying isn't going to do them any good.

 

[holly]

It isn't a natural weaning, so that's what gives the moms mastitis. It's the sudden stop. Amoxicillin is pretty cheap & easy to get, that's what the vet gives me to use.

I really feel for I.S. & Tsu, what a headache, to have all these babies show up.

 

[Evo]

Ok, this is a bit off topic, but we have some wild creature lovers here so maybe you'll get a kick out of this.

I also live in a rural area, and as I had previously mentioned I had an opposum move into my house. Well, I got him out of the house, but he moved into my garage.

Now you are about to find out just how demented my sense of humor is.

One of my cats is obsessed with "pumping", you cat owners know what I'm talking about. He gets VERY serious about pumping, his eyes closing to slits and he really concentrates on it. We joke that this cat is a "professional" pumper. His name is Foofer. Anyway, my friend in Italy and I tend to make up stories combining all my weird animals. Yeah, neither one of us has a life.

Here is the result of my obsessive pumping cat Foofer and the opposum in my garage.

I will understand if all of you avoid me from now on.

http://imageuploader.milbrathnet.net/uploads/drfoofer[1].jpg

 

[Math Is Hard]

Is pumping the same thing as "making biscuits"?

 

[Evo]

Is pumping the same thing as "making biscuits"?

Hmmm, my cats have never made biscuits (lazy bums). I don't know.

It's what they do with their front paws when they are happy. Kittens do it when they are feeding on their mother.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yes I'm confused. What exactly is Foofer pumping? Are you saying that Foofer falls in love with inanimate objects?

Edit: Late post. Never mind. As a kid we had a cat that, well...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

His name is Foofer. Anyway, my friend in Italy and I tend to make up stories combining all my weird animals. Yeah, neither one of us has a life.

Nonsense. I loved my animals even when I had a life.

Not that we go overboard or anything, but really the cats just let us live here.

 

[Tsu]

...but really the cats just let us live here.

Only if we feed them. :surprise:

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It appears that our cats are wise to the skunks. Einstein was waiting for them tonight at the right place and time. Last night he and Zoobie both came down at the right time - right after the sun sets.

See Zooby, pretty soon the cats will start leading them to the cat food...in my office, or worse, in the house. We have sung this song before.

 

[The Bob]

I will understand if all of you avoid me from now on.

http://imageuploader.milbrathnet.net/uploads/drfoofer[1].jpg

[/URL]

Out of interest did anyone else see this picture because I cannot. Is it my computer?

Cheers

Thr Bob (2004 ©)

 

[holly]

ROFL! Evo's Pump Cat is hilarious! So that's what it's called! We called it "Happy Paws." New cat does it! Maybe he's kin to Dr. Foofer and should go live with Evo...Er, does Dr. F also drool a lot when he does it?

I can see the pic fine.

Wish we had a "cat smiley."

What deters skunks? Can maybe you throw a bunch of chiles around under the coop? Do you have some dogs? Maybe you could get their fur and place it strategically and the skunks will run away...?

 

[Moonbear]

I've been having trouble with the links to those sites, even when I copy the link into a new window, it sometimes won't work and sometimes will. Instead of just clicking on the link, do the right click thing that copies the link to the clipboard and then paste it into the address line in a newly opened browser window. Is there a way to paste in a URL without it being converted to a link on this board since you have to copy and paste it anyway? It would be easier if the full address showed up instead of something with "..." in the middle of it.

And I finally figured out that by pumping, you meant what I call kneading...that thing they do with their paws as if they are trying to fluff their pillow to make it more comfortable. When you called it pumping, I had in mind something very different :blush:

 

[Evo]

Out of interest did anyone else see this picture because I cannot. Is it my computer?

Cheers

Thr Bob (2004 ©)

I have the same problem sporadically. If your browser is IE (Internet Explorer), you can click and drag the X (where the picture should be) up to the address bar and it will display the picture.

 

[faust9]

http://imageuploader.milbrathnet.net/uploads/skunks1%206-29-04.JPG

The original link was missing a % between some white space. The original link has skunks1 206-29-04.JPG which is an invalid URL. Add a % and you get skunks1%206-29-04.JPG which works.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Thanks, Faust! Now I can finally see them.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Sorry folks, I couldn't see that there was a problem. It came up on my screen.

 

[Evo]

http://imageuploader.milbrathnet.net/uploads/skunks1%206-29-04.JPG

The original link was missing a % between some white space. The original link has skunks1 206-29-04.JPG which is an invalid URL. Add a % and you get skunks1%206-29-04.JPG which works.

All I see is a red X. I had to go to properties and copy & paste the URL of the pic into the address bar in order to see it. I couldn't even click & drag it this time.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Yep.. pumping = kneading = making biscuits. Just depends on what part of the country (or world) the cat owner is in I guess.
My neighbor's cat was weaned a little too early, and usually when that happens to cats they suck and knead on wool blankets. For this particular cat, though, there was just nothing quite as good as sucking on a human earlobe. I used to cat-sit for them when they went out of town. I should have charged them extra for having to put up with that!