Housing

The skunks have been placed in a 12ft x 12ft brick outbuilding. The floor is concrete and there are windows.

Hemp bedding has been placed on the floor and skunks given straw and some old clothes for bedding.

To the outside and atteched to the out building is a large enclosed concrete area. The area is enclosed by secure fencing but is open to the elements.

The plan for our Skunks is to eventually be able to introduce them into the home enviroment. We have taken a couple of measures to try and help this along.

The first measure was to build a stable door for the outhouse so that we could open the top door. The outhouse is directly in front of the kitchen door, with the kitchen door open and the top stable door open the skunks will be able to smell the house and hear house sounds ( that will scare them ). Over a period this will hopefully acclimatise them.

The second step we have taken is to enclosed the space between house and the outhouse so that when we open the bottom part of the stable door the skunks if they want to explore can only come into the house.

There is no time period for this. we will just take one step at a time.

Stimulation and Interaction

As of yet we have not really interacted with the Skunks. On getting them we found them to very timid and nervous. We feel they have not had much human interaction previous to us getting them. They do not appear to be aggressive or excessively flighty. If we walk in to the enclosure they will walk to a place they feel secure, they do not run.

When we feed them, they will come out to sniff and eat but are always wary.

We have placed a couple of toys in the enclosure but upto present time it appears they have not touched them.

We are planning to build a climbing frame made from tree trunks in which we can drill holes. In these holes we are ging to put bits of their favourite and healthy foods. Hopefully providing stimulation and exercise. If it works, we are going to build one for the outside run.

Over time we are hoping to interact more with the skunks as they will hopefully begin to trust us.

Another picture of Ziva. She has backed herself into a corner here. She can easily escape to safety but appears settled with us taking a photo.

Feeding

When Jethro and Ziva came to us they had been used to a diet of wet and dry dog food and day old chicks. Unfortunatley this is not a particularly good diet for a skunk.

From day one we cut down the dog food to a very small amount and completly cut out the day old chicks. The dog food was used to flavour the food we were going to be giving to the skunks.

The foods we are going to offer includes, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, carrots, corn, corn on the cob, peas, mange tout, cucumber, tomato, peppers (sweet ), chilli pepppers, all types of beans ie kidney ect, cooked pasta, cooked rice, tuna in spring water, natural low fat yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, cheerios.

We will add to this list as we try try different foods.

A typical meal we give is 4 small florets of cauliflower and broccoli, 1/2 corn cob cut into 2 pieces, 1/2 chopped sweet pepper, 1/2 cup of cooked pasta covered with a few teaspoons of low fat cottage cheese and 1/2 tin of tuna in spring water.

We have been suprised how fast and how eagerly they have adjusted to this new diet. We have actually placed dog food in the food dish and the Skunks will eat the veg, fruit etc before the dog food. We have therefore completely ommitted the dog food for the time being and will give it as a treat on occassions.

We will swap food items around for example, swap pasta for rice or cheerios, swap cottage cheese for natural yogurt, alternate different veg etc. We try to keep the Skunks diet varied and interesting.

Please see link below for a more comprehensive list of food items we feed and also some foods not to give.

Skunk Foods and Menus

Breeding

Updates

debonaireexoticanimals@yahoo.com