Last night, our dog, Petey, got all excited and got us up.  He was going nuts
and barking at something in the dark outside our bedroom window.  After
putting Petey in temporary jail, we turned the light on and there was a small
skunk (See note at end of this item) digging in the ground in an area covered
with periwinkle and bushes.  The skunk was digging hard, bringing up white
stuff and eating it.  We could not figure out what it was.  Every so often,
the skunk would scratch itself violently, like it had fleas.  This scratching
on occasion got quite violent, resembling some kind of spasm.  We had plenty
of light and the skunk was not bothered by it.  We guessed it was either
rotted wood, roots, or some kind of bulb.  

This morning, we found a destroyed nest of yellow-jacket bees.  Almost all
of the "paper" nest was gone, and a few lonely bees were walking around
assessing the damage.  Boy, the bees must be good tasting to take that kind
of punishment.  The skunk was getting stung and we guessed that the spasms
were stings on the snout, mouth, etc.

note:  This skunk is the second one we have seen with markings totally 
       different than the standard variety.  It was really pretty.  It had
       very glossy black fur and did not have the standard white stripes.
       It had a thin white line down it's side and the line was not straight.
       Instead, it was a continuation of graceful curves and it was, maybe
       one-half inch wide.  Other than that it was all black.

       Anyone ever see a skunk like this?

24 responses total.

Skunks come in all sorts of patterns; the Y-shaped stripe isn't
necessarily the norm. Some have very little white at all.

Ok, I was not aware of the variety - I thought it was some sort of
sub-species.  Thanks.

Please, yellow-jackets are waspsNOT BEES. People keep calling wasps bees,
giving bees a bad name for deeds they do not do. Bees do not pester people
and generally are hard to rouse to sting. They provide us with honey, and
are *essentiall* for the pollination of many crops. Providing bees for
pollination is a multi-million dollar agricultural enterprise. Never refer
to wasps as bees. 

Well, I am not sure what these are  - they are the insects commonly referred
to as "sweat bees."  They sting  but I don't think they seek flowers. 
Commonly you see them going into fruit, especially damaged fruit.  About the
size of a honey-bee.  These things usually have a paper nest in a dry place
underground.  They commonaly are seen flying in a very distinct flight path
to a hole about 1/2" across in the ground.  I don't believe there is a
honeycomb in these nests.  

These guys have bodies like bees, not wasps or hornets!

Do I get any reduction in the lashes?

OK. I was, of course, ranting about the *honey*bee. The sweat bee is a
bee, not a wasp, and does nest in the ground. The yellow-jacket is,
however, a wasp, and it does sometimes build paper nests underground.
There are 3,300 species of bees in North America, and many more wasps. The
major difference is bees collect pollen with "pollen baskets" on their
legs, and so pollinate flowers. I usually respond like I did in person,
when I can see the insect is a wasp and not a bee, so I put in some "good
press" for bees :). 

Wow!  Most interesting.  I wonder if having the light on made it eaiser for
the bees to find their target?  Bees seem to be out only in the daylight and
I understand that they navigate by the sun.  I wonder if skunks and such can
raid their nests with less pain in the dark?

I agree skunks come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I have even seen a blue 
and white skunk. I have seen "B" shaped marks on there backs befor..

-EMF

#5:  Rane, after your note, I went out and smelled the paper cell pieces which
     were left.  I think there was a faint, barely detectable, smell of honey.
     The cells quite small, about 1/2 the "diameter" of honeycomb cells.  The
     entire nest was about the size of a softball.

#6:  Klaus - Wow!  I never thought I may be contributing to the skunk's 
     flinching & twitching by providing light for the bees!  

#7:  Moonwolf - My wife came up with some info that there is a lot of variety
     in skunk's markings.  I never new that even though I saw one like this
     before.  I just assumed it was another variety.  Thanks.  

By the way, the skunk never let off a whiff (Rane, would that be a sulfoxy
compound?)

It sounds like the skunk knew exactly what it was doing and what to expect.
Bees (wasps, too) are much less active at night. This would cause skunks
to attack such nests only in the dark.

The skunk odorant is primarily isobutyl mercaptan. Lots of animals
dig out bee nests for the honey. The best known is the bear (like,
Pooh...).

I came across a young skunk on my ride into work this morning.  A couple
of women, out walking their dogs, were watching as I rode up.  It was
running around in circles under a car.  The two dogs would go bazerk
every time it came out from under the car.  As I got closer I noticed it
had a Dixie cup for a head!  The poor thing must have been trying to get
bit of pop out of the bottom.  I would have stopped and helped it out but
was afraid of the consiquences.

Just didn't want to get involved, huh? I hope the women got their dogs
out of there, so the skunk could deal with its problem in a little
peace. Well, the consequences would have washed off, and you'd have
been a hero.

It might not make Klaus a hero to the people who would have had to work around
him for the rest of the day.

My brother was a Boy Scout camp nature counselor and one summer he
caught and "fixed" a skunk at camp, and kept it as a pet. He smelled
of skunk when he came home weeks later.... Skunks, incidentally, make
quite acceptable house pets. They act somewhat like cats: they will
curl up on your lap and purr, and will use a litter box. My personal
experience otherwise has only been to catch one in a live trap in our
back yard. I took it out into the country and released it (without
mishap).

I will have to ask my mother-in-law, who does a lot of wildlife rehab, about
this situation.  Would I have come out of helping the skunk smelling like
a skunk?  I doubt my wife would have let me into the house that way.  You
say the oder washes off but then you say your brohther came home weeks after
"fixing" one, smelling like one.  What does a good job of washing off the oder?

I forgot to mention that my brother brought the skunk home with him, and
we kept it for several years. Well, my brother only smelled "lightly"
of skunk, and one also has to consider that campers at Boy Scout camps
don't wash much...Actually, skunks smell more like cats - until they
squirt. They are themselves very fastidious, and always washing
themselves (again, like a cat). The skunk will not spray you if it
cannot see you. When I caught a skunk, I put a cover over the trap,
and was able to transport it without problems. For cleaning off "skunk",
the "old hunters tale" was that tomato juice was good (for their dogs).
I just saw a more recent, and apparently more effective deodorant, which
contained hydrogen peroxide. I just noticed that the tomato juice
treatment is repeated in _Mammals of the Great Lakes Region_, by
Allen Kurta. If I can find the formulation that is purported to be
better I will post it.

This Spring, our landlord hired a trapping service to get rid of "the"
skunk under our front porch.  Turned out to be *three* skunks, although
I think the last was a neighborhood wanderer.  The fellow used Twinkies
for bait and from what I saw escaped any odorous consequences when
picking up the live trap and carting it to his truck (he threw an old
blanket over the cage).  Anyway, I'm glad the skunks are gone--they'd
spray every time someone would come stomping up the porch (which is
every single one of the college kids who live upstairs, who couldn't
come home quietly if their lives depended on it).  Peeew.  Although the
kids upstairs were totally scared of going anywhere near the cage when
it had a skunk in it, I never had any problem even standing two feet
away and (quietly) watching.  I didn't feel like rattling the cage,
however :)

I had a pet skunk. He grew extremely large. He was very sweet, but sorta
stinky. 

Had he been de-scented? Our skunk would go through its foot-stomping,
hand-standing, tail raising routine, if antagonized, but could not
squirt. As I recall, he smelled no worse than any other pet mammal.

Neat!  My wife tells me that well designed live traps are designd so that
a skunk can not raise its tail.  If it can't do that, it won't squirt.  it
even makes sense.  next time I encounter a skunk with its head caught in
a cup, I'll be a little braver.

Put a cup on its tail too, though.

Mine was descented. Still smelled musky.

We saw a uniquely marked skunk two nights ago.  This one was all silky, shiny
black with no white other than a little snow-white patch on top of his head
about the size of a quarter.  It was a very pretty animal.

Could that have been a juvenile?  I don't know for a fact but have heard
that markings change as skunks mature.

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