A visitor, part 342

[da]

The problem with planning to wall off the underside of one's porch, our porch, is the reality that 6-8 inches of headroom on top of rough uneven rocks and dirt isn't particularly helpful. Especially if the leading reason for doing this is to block a digging mammal who can get into small spaces. And my last two weeks have been somewhat occupied.

My state of mind was not great at 2:30 this morning, having been woken up at 1am, then at 2am, the second time by telltale skunk, who had come back home in a stinking... stink.

There is a lot of conflicting information on the net about how to scare off a skunk. The least foolish of this advice seemed to me to be "don't try."

The second least foolish was to introduce moth-balls or clothing soaked with ammonia. Only we didn't have either. So I drove to the 24-hour grocery store and picked up ammonia, and the means for making alkaline hydrogen peroxide, which is supposed to be the only really effective deodorizer. I swear the employees thought I was making a bomb. 4 bottles of peroxide, one box of baking soda, one gallon of ammonia. The two guys in line behind me stopped talking about trucks and women long enough to swear about how it suddenly smelled like skunk.

3am, behind the house. Right, hi skunk, said the guy with the flashlight. You're not going to spray me, are you? I'll just stay down here and maybe the light will scare you away? Nope, it just hissed and went around the corner under the porch where I couldn't see. So I lobbed a few shirts soaked with ammonia under the porch (tied to string so I can remove them) and went to bed.

In the light of day, I'm glad I didn't try more last night. I still can't figure out how to wall off under there, unless it's with about 30 feet of wire mesh cut, stapled, and crimped to fit, which given the uneven ground, sounds damn painful to install. Does that make me a wuss?

Also, either it needs a one-way door for skunk escapes at their own convenience, or being totally sure all of them are out before the last part gets tacked up (so, 9 or 10pm; and guesswork, because I can't see around the corner where it/they are living).

All of this is preamble to saying that AAA Wildlife Control is coming at lunchtime today.

[Edit to add: They came, they went. They can't do anything permanent until the ground is soft. But they can live-trap the skunk for... $500. With no guarantee there won't be another one along in a few weeks.

We've opened all the windows, we're going out for a few hours, and maybe I'll try calling around for cheaper trapping options.]

Comments

[chezmax]

"Another visitor! Stay awhile! Staaaaaay forever!"

</geek>

[cypherpunk95.livejournal.com]

Destroy him, my robots.

[catbear.livejournal.com]

You can probably get a havahart live trap for less than $500. Of course, you have to release the skunk somewhere else yourself, which may have consequences if not handled well...

[sulle-stelle.livejournal.com]

Daniel, that is AWFUL! I"m so sorry to hear about this!

My vote is for paying the $500 (though, of course, it isn't my $500, so it's easy for me to say that).

You guys could just leave the house, and, say, come visit me in Tampa if it's stinky.............

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

My vote is for paying the $500 (though, of course, it isn't my $500, so it's easy for me to say that).

You guys could just leave the house, and, say, come visit me in Tampa if it's stinky

*grin*

Indeed, we could use that same $500 and fly to Florida.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I've got $400 in Southwest vouchers.

It does not help that roverthedog just farted.

[sulle-stelle.livejournal.com]

Yesterday, it was unseasonably warm and 85 degrees. Today, it is raining and in the 60's.

In any case, there certainly isn't any freezing rain or snow....... And no skunks in my apartment........

(Though I'm not sure Dan is well enough to travel right now.)

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I'm well enough in the "no pox still popping" category. But these night sweats kind of suck, so I wouldn't want to be travelling, much.

I really figured it'd be over by now. I guess I'm at around 75%.

[thingo.livejournal.com]

There was a discussion about this topic a few months ago on CBC. I think the best solution mentioned was simply to mark your territory the, uh, old fashioned way. Seems to me that two able-bodied men such as yourselves should be able to make that solution work in no time flat.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

You have got to be kidding.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's just so crazy... it might just get us in trouble with the neighbours.

And scare off the skunk.

Hmmm...

[kraig.livejournal.com]

If the neighbours complain, you could wall off the skunk such that it has only one natural way to go...

[dawn-guy.livejournal.com]

Mowat detailed how he kept pace with the profligate scent-marking habits of his lupine associates, an activity requiring considerable time and copious quantities of tea.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Well, we do drink lots of tea.

Ain't adopting no mouse diet, nohow.

AAA

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Daniel,

I found your blog via Google. We have a similar problem, but with raccoons. How do you find AAA? We've had our raccoon problem for a few years now. When we first encountered the problem we got AAA to get the raccoon out of the attic and chimney ($600). But after a year the raccoons came back. The funny thing is AAA didn't back their guarantee. So we were forced to pay them $600 again or find someone else. Needless to say, this "game" has been going on for a few years now, and I'm tired of having raccoons stealing from my pocket. I have now exhausted pretty much all well advertised wildlife companies around the GTA - so I have no idea what I should do. Should I go back to AAA?

Any suggestions?

Much thanks,
Nelson :)

Re: AAA

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Well hello there!

I should preface this by saying that when I was looking up pest-control places, I got confused and AAA wasn't the company who I ultimately talked to; it was "Humane Wildlife Control".

After I got the quote for $500 for live-trapping, which we're not too happy with, I called AAA (the actual AAA) and spoke to their rep; and it turns out that we are outside their service-area.

I wish I could make a recommendation for you, but we're still at the stage of a bit of shock at the pricetags involved. If you want to follow what we end up doing, I think I'm gonna have to add a "wildlife" tag to my journal, since this seems like a common theme for the spring. (We've been skunked in previous years, but not nearly as much as this year.)

I really have no idea whether you should go back to AAA. I'd say call around... and I wish I had better advice than that!

Racoons are supposed to be difficult to get rid of- good luck with it.