Skunk Removal
Colorado is home to four species of skunks, with the striped skunk being the most common. These animals usually avoid people, but they can sometimes find their way into your home and settle in.
If you have a skunk problem, First Choice Wildlife Services can help trap and remove the animal to keep you and your family safe from skunk spray or even attacks. We also specialize in preventing future issues by sealing possible entry points and removing food sources.

Skunk Problems
Skunks, like many pest animals, are widely adaptable and have no problem living in more populated areas that other animals avoid. And of course, their notorious smell means that you often know when one has moved into your neighborhood. Beyond just their smell, skunks can be quite a nuisance, getting into the trash, damaging gardens, raiding chicken coops, and digging holes.
A skunk can cause a lot of problems when they build a den near your home. These include:
- Spraying you: Skunks are notorious for their spray. It smells awful and can take weeks to get rid of. Being sprayed is also dangerous as it can cause blindness.
- Spreading disease: Skunks are one of the most common carriers of rabies, according to the CDC. Having them near your home is a serious health concern.
- Damaging your lawn: These smelly animals are known to burrow into people’s gardens in search of grub. This can ruin your garden, especially if you put a lot of time into maintaining it.
First Choice Wildlife Services will catch and remove skunks, ensuring that your family and pets are safe from skunk attacks and sprays. We will work to eliminate any future issues by addressing areas of entry and skunk living spaces. Skunks can carry rabies and other diseases, not to mention their permeating odor.
We cover a wide range of cities across Colorado, including Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Boulder, Longmont, and Denver. As one of the most highly experienced wildlife control services in Colorado, we’re your local skunk removal experts. Contact us today at 970-460-4044.
Removing Skunks
A skunk moving into your property can be a difficult problem to deal with. In the wild, a skunk will typically make its home in a hollow log, abandoned animal hole, or another protected area. But when they move into a populated area like Fort Collins, they often seek shelter under a porch, shed, or other structure.
When a skunk moves into a cozy spot beneath your deck, it can be difficult to remove. This is primarily because of the ability to produce their notorious sulfur spray from specialized anal glands. But that’s not all, skunks can cause other damage to your property. As an omnivorous scavenger, skunks will help themselves to any available food – including trash, pet food, chicken eggs, and garden crops.
Also, as a skunk looks for a place to live, they occasionally get stuck in basement window wells or even find a way into your crawl space. Removing a stuck skunk is a delicate (and often smelly) process.
Removing a skunk is a tricky business. Not only do you need a lot of knowledge and experience to avoid getting sprayed, but you’ll also need a permit to comply with Colorado’s laws.
That means that your only options are to prevent the skunk infestation from happening in the first place. You can do this by having a well-maintained fence around your home, as this prevents the pests from entering your property. You should also clean up your garden and keep your trash secured, as scraps of food can attract pests.
Preventing a Skunk Problem
As with most pest animals, there is no easy solution for preventing skunks from making a home on your property. But there are things you can do to limit the possibility of a skunk moving onto your Fort Collins property:
- Block Access: Most skunks are looking for a place that mimics their natural habitat. You can prevent skunks by blocking access to common sleeping places, such as under decks/porches, under sheds, and in your crawl space.
- Remove Food: Because skunks are nocturnal scavengers, they spend their nights looking for food sources. Store trash and pet food in a secure container, secure chicken coops, and fence off your garden to prevent providing an attractive food source to skunks.
But even if you’ve taken these precautions, there is no way to guarantee you’ll stay skunk-free. No spray or treatment can be used to drive off skunks, so if one moves onto your property, it might be time to contact a professional.
What To Do if a Skunk Sprays
Skunks are likely to spray when they are cornered or threatened and the lingering smell from the skunk can last for days. Dogs are the most common recipient of a skunk’s spray, but they won’t hesitate to spray a human that gets in their way either. Before a skunk uses its spray, it will give several warning signs that should allow you to get out of its path. The skunk will stomp its feet, begin shuffling away, and arch its back if you see these signs, which means the skunk is preparing to release its infamous spray.
You’ve probably heard all sorts of folk remedies for dealing with the odor (like bathing in tomato juice), but there is a proven and simple method. If you or a pet gets sprayed, you can create a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and liquid dish soap that will remove most of the odor. Here’s the recipe:
- 1-quart hydrogen peroxide
- ¼ cup baking soda
- Roughly 1 teaspoon of dish soap
Mix the ingredients and use it as a shampoo or body wash as quickly as possible. Let the mixture soak for around five minutes and then rinse with clean water.
Call First Choice Wildlife Services
Our experts at First Choice Wildlife Services are equipped with years of experience and the gear to quickly remove skunks. As a wildlife removal company, we also have the permits needed to capture skunks and other wildlife.
Give us a call if you live in the areas of Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont, or Loveland in Colorado. We’re always eager to help solve people’s skunk problems!
The Damage That Skunks Do to Your Property
Skunks are a very common animal throughout the United States, as they have become very comfortable living in urban settings. While they might seem cute and harmless other than their ability to spray, they can actually present quite the problem when it comes to damaging your property and buildings. Continue reading to find out more about skunks and how they damage your property, as well as how you can remove them safely and effectively.
Why Are Skunks Attracted to My Property?
You may be wondering why skunks would choose to come onto your property in the first place. This is generally a straightforward answer, however, every situation varies. Generally, skunks will come onto a property for food and shelter. One of the best ways to make your yard less attractive to skunks is to get rid of any of these easy sources of food and shelter. Seal up any pet food and garbage you have laying around. Be sure to pick up any fallen fruit from trees. Always keep a clean yard by cleaning up any wood piles or tall grass, as these are excellent places for critters to live. Simply by performing these tasks, you can reduce your chances of having skunks invade your property.
What Damage Do Skunks Cause?
While skunks seem relatively harmless, they can cause a good amount of damage to your home and property. Skunks are burrowing creatures that will settle in once they have found a home. To settle in, they often dig large dens underground, usually up against a structure. Oftentimes, this happens to be right next to the foundation of a home or building. This is a problem, as these dens and burrows will potentially weaken the foundation of buildings, creating a serious problem in the long run. When the foundation fails, it can cause serious damage that will potentially cost thousands of dollars to fix.
As if the potential for the weakening foundations was not enough, skunks can also harm your property in other ways. Since skunks love to root around in yards for grubs, they can really make a mess out of yards and gardens with their rooting around. In addition, gardens of the vegetable and flower variety can be potentially wiped out if the skunk decides to hunt around them. The final, fairly big bit of damage skunks can cause is if you have any small pets or birds around. If you have chickens, ducks, geese, or other fowl, skunks will certainly try to eat them and their eggs. In addition, small pets can often get into fights with skunks, which is never a good thing.
How to Get Rid of Skunks
Since skunks can cause a large amount of damage to your home and your property, it is important to remove them as soon as you can. It might seem easy enough to just throw a cage trap out and bait it. It is rarely this simple with skunks because many times there are more than one and they quickly get wise to cage traps. In addition to the potential for being sprayed, the dangerous diseases skunks carry is another reason why it is oftentimes a better idea to hire a professional wildlife removal company.
Why Hire First Choice Wildlife Services?
Since skunks can present quite the problem when they inhabit your property, give us a call here at First Choice Wildlife Services. We have been proudly servicing much of Colorado for all kinds of nuisance wildlife management, from skunks to bats, and virtually every other nuisance animal in between. Not only will we treat animals with ethical and humane treatment, but we also respect our clients and strive to keep them safe during all parts of the removal process. Be sure to give us a call at First Choice Wildlife Services if you have a skunk problem, big or small!

How to Remove Skunks Under the House
Skunks are incredibly annoying pests to most, whether due to their sharp claws, hungry personalities, or smelly spray. These animals are also nocturnal, meaning you’ll almost never see them unless you’re out in the middle of the night. Missing plants, patches of dirt, new burrows, and holes in your home could all be the result of skunks, animals that will happily make your home theirs. On top of all this, these animals will oftentimes move underneath your house, thanks to their sheltering capabilities, proximity to grub, and general nocturnal benefits. As such, let’s look at how to remove skunks under your house.
Locate Skunks and Entrances/Exits
This step is surprisingly difficult, thanks in part to skunks’ nocturnal nature. Without specifically going out at night or during the day to find skunks, you’ll rarely actually locate them. The only benefit to that is the fact that you’ll be able to explore while these animals are sleeping. Skunks are incredibly defensive and territorial, quickly moving to scratch or spray a predator.
Finding an Entrance
Skunks usually find themselves in holes, whether for food or shelter or underneath your home. In this case, it’s under your house, a hard place to get them out of. That’s why you need to find them first. Look for holes or patches of dirt, which skunks make to find grub. Also look around for skunk feces, which are about an inch or two long. The most obvious sign though, is skunk spray, a worrying sign.
These animals are attracted to food, plants, garbage, grubs, warm spaces, and animals. Look for small holes or spaces near the base of your house, which could easily be skunk holes. Skunks are small animals, easily fitting into tight spaces. That’s why you’ll need to search for warm spaces away from predators and near land. Usually, you can find them pretty quickly if you’re searching for gaps, spaces, and holes.
Remove the Skunks
Skunks are not animals that you want to deal with yourself. They’re incredibly difficult to find, let alone remove, so we strongly recommend you do not go for them yourself. According to Colorado state laws, skunks must be released at the site of their capture or killed. These animals can be incredibly dangerous, although they’ll likely pass away if relocated improperly.
For example, skunk feces hold bacteria, fungus, parasites, and viruses. Skunks themselves can spread rabies, as they’re an incredibly common carrier, and they can also cause damage with their sharp claws and teeth. Without the right equipment, they can also spray you directly, causing irritation, heavy smells, and potential illness. It’s definitely not worth putting your life at risk to get rid of skunks, although there are two major options to get rid of these animals.
Traps
While you have to relocate skunks at the site of capture or kill them, there’s nothing about trapping them temporarily. If you have to take care of skunks yourself, we recommend you trap them. Cage traps are a favorite, as they’re non-lethal and allow a team to either relocate the skunk successfully or put it down. Do be warned though, as these cages can result in you getting sprayed. Skunks can spray accurately from 15 feet away, so do be careful.
Contact the Pros
The other option is to call the pros. At First Choice Wildlife Services, we’re prepared and ready to take care of your skunk issue. Our team is equipped and knowledgeable enough to trap and remove these animals, keeping you and your family safe. We also specialize in preventing re-entry, sealing up, and repairing entrances and damage left behind by skunks.
It’s definitely not worth you putting yourself at risk, so it’s much easier and safer to call the professionals. Our team is standing by to take your call, and we’re ready to get to work for you. First Choice specializes in these things, and we’re able to safely relocate these skunks to prevent them from dying or harming anyone. We’re licensed by the state of Colorado, knowledgeable in the complex state skunk removal laws, and just a call away!

How to Keep Skunks Out Of Your Garden
Animals like Skunk and other pests that dig the ground are usually at odds with maintaining a buoyant garden. Their digging abilities destroy the soil structure and rip off other support systems for your plants.
Also, the odors from a skunk spray can leave a very nasty smell in your garden. Any fruit, herbs, or vegetables unlucky enough will get a generous and foul-smelling blast of this spray. Skunks may also feed on your fruits or other smaller grains if they are starving.
Keeping Skunks Away from the garden should involve lots of physical and non-confrontational methods unless you prefer a dose of the awful smelling skunk spray.
Natural Repellents
There are many natural and humane methods you can adopt to control the skunk population in your garden. Planting vegetables like Squash is a method of irritating skunks off your garden; these plants irritate a skunk.
- Spreading Mothballs around your garden
If you will use Mothballs, ensure that the pets are not around such areas. Since skunks have a keen smell, such odors easily repulse them even in small quantities.
- Use Scent repellents
Certain smells, including; repulse most pests
- Boiling vinegar,
- Ammonia solution,
- Hot pepper
- The scent of Predator’s urine.
Skunk also has a distinct disgust for Castor Oil and dishwashing detergents. It is good practice to prepare a solution of both substances and spray the area. It is better if the skunks nest within your garden, and you spray their nests.
The smell of citrus is also a natural repellent for skunks. You can place orange, lemon, or similar fruit peel around their routes.
Any of these substances can be used to repel a skunk from your garden. These substances should be sprinkled in strategic areas of your garden.
- Treat your gardens to insects.
Skunks like to snack on grubs, worms, bugs, and other smaller pests or animals in the garden. Using nematodes or other pest repellents is an effective way to keep skunks off your garden indirectly.
- Dispose of rotten food or other materials
Rotten foods easily attract maggots, grubs, and other worms. Leaving them to rot in the garden is an indirect call to skunks. Also, the smell of rotten food can spike up skunk smell receptors and help map it to your garden.
- Set traps
You can purchase and install various types of traps to catch a skunk. The purpose of traps is not solely to injure the animal but to relocate them to other areas. Also, many regional laws may clash with the use of traps in your region.
- Stun the Skunks
Most pests like to increase their foraging into evening and night times. You can purchase a motion-based light and sound detector.
A sudden blast of light/sound from the device will scare the pests out of your property, never to return.
- Fencing the area around the gardens
Fencing is a good idea, especially where your garden is far and open on all sides. Skunks can easily maraud through your gardens if there are no fences or deterrents. A surrounding fence with an electric/barbed cable is a good deterrent to skunks.
Wrapping Up
Skunks are very destructive animals, and their foul-smelling spray makes them feared by even humans. You should be very careful when attempting to dislodge skunks from your gardens and avoid aggression towards them.
The smell from their skunk spray can linger for weeks, even with special laundry on the surface. You should contact us if you deal with vast-scale destruction from Skunks.
How to Get Skunks Out Of Your Attic
Nobody wants to have skunks to live near their home, despite their relatively friendly nature and success at controlling rodent infestation.
Skunks are famous for their stink, and you can easily tell if one is nearby only by smelling it. The best hiding spots for the skunk are attics and basements because they offer them protection from predators and the elements. In these secluded places, skunks might mate and give birth.
If you spot one skunk in the neighborhood, there may already be a large population there. Like other wild animals, skunks can cause health issues and become a nuisance, so you should keep them at a distance. Skunk in the attic is a big problem that should be tackled as soon as it is first observed.
Some people claim that bright lights can be used as a skunk deterrent, probably because these animals are nocturnal and averse to bright lights. Once skunks have found their home in your attic, then whatever you do will be encroaching in their space, and they will certainly fight back with their disgusting spray. If you decide to install bright lights as a deterrent, then ensure you do that only when the skunks have left the attic to forage.
Here are the procedures to follow if you want a DIY technique to promptly and easily get a skunk out of the attic (although we don’t advise it):
Skunk exclusion with a one-way door: Get a one-way exit door from your neighborhood hardware store, and ensure that you buy one with a strong chicken wire wrapped around it. Install the trap door over the skunk’s entrance to the attic and set it up correctly so that the skunk may safely exit. Before installation, make sure that you do an initial survey of the attic to identify the entry point of the skunk.
When you install the one-way door over the entry point, the skunk won’t be able to enter your attic again once it has left. After you have confirmed that the skunk is gone, the device should then be removed, and the hole should then be thoroughly sealed to prevent future re-entry.
Get rid of the skunk stench: that unpleasant skunk smell lingers even after the animal is gone. But, you can get rid of the stench with chemical sprays made specifically to do so, after the skunks have been evicted. There are products you can purchase that you will spray around the attic to eliminate the smell. You can also do a DIY spray to remove the skunk smell. Simply use boiling vinegar or bleach and water mixed together. Spray your attic with a solution made by combining one cup of bleach with one gallon of water. Before the strong stench totally disappears, you might need to do this a few times.
Keeping Your Property Skunk-Free
After the skunk has gone, be careful not to unintentionally draw in another one. Your garbage will look less enticing if you use trash cans with locks. Skunks adore dog and cat food, so try to avoid leaving any leftover pet food nearby. They may also be drawn to bird feeders, so it may be a good idea to remove them or make them unreachable to animals like skunks. By blocking holes, and removing overgrown bushes and woodpiles, you can also try to remove areas that they find attractive.
Using motion-activated security lights is another method to keep skunks away from your home. Due to their nocturnal habits and dislike of strong light, skunks will flee if they are suddenly flashed with a very bright light.
Skunks will eventually settle in the location that offers them the most convenience, just like other animals do. Simple modifications will take your property out of the picture.
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