Back to Gardening Chapter 6, Dealing With Pests - Part A: Mammals (cont...)

In this section I discuss how to identify and deal with a skunk problem.

Skunks

Skunks are primarily nocturnal omnivores. Their diet changes according to the season, such that they tend to eat mostly insects (e.g. beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, grubs, worms, etc.) in spring and summer; whereas in fall and winter, they tend to go for small rodents (voles, moles, mice, etc.) and carrion. They will also eat fruits, berries and nuts when they are available. For the farmer, they are generally considered beneficial due to their love of insects and rodents. For the home gardener they are also beneficial for the same reasons, in general, but they can make a mess of things when they dig up the soil looking for grubs and worms and other insects - which tend to be plentiful in healthy garden soil.