How to get rid of a skunk

[Zephyr]

Hey all,

Just happened upon a really simple way to get rid of a skunk that had found residence under a low hanging bay window while my wife and I were on a weeks vacation recently.

I waited untill 10 when it was dark and the skunk had struck out for its nightly meal. I grabbed my trouble light with a hi efficiency halogen bulb, and my extension cord. Skunks are nocturnal, don't like light. I slid the trouble light under the bay as far as I could using a wood pole, and left the light on all night. I'm guessing as some point in the early morning the skunk came back home to go sleep for the day and found the lights on.

at 7:30 the next morning when I checked he was no where to be found. I filled in his hole attempt to skunk proof the bay this weekend. A lot less stinky than a 22 or live trap. Works without messing with chemicals.

I used the halogen bulb cause its not nearly as hot when on, so if some leaf or other debris was kicked on the bulb I wouldn't have a fire risk.

good luck,

Dave

[Bob]

Skunks like dog food, so another trick is to make a trail of dog food over to your neighbor's yard for a few nights. Just kidding, you solution sounds like a good one.

Bob-tx

[Stormin Mormon]

Halogen bulb not being as hot? As I understand, the halogen vapor in the lamp allows them to run a lot hotter, so you get more light out of the filament. Please use fluorescents under there.

[HeyBub]

Someone penned a similar suggestion a time back. As I recall the response:

"Thanks for the advice. I now have TWO skunks under my porch!"

[Zephyr]

sorry, your right, I was using a florecent, not sure why I typed Halogen.

Dave

[Blattus Slafaly]

Throw some firecrackers under there.

[Uncle Monster]

I always thought the best way to get rid of a skunk was to start a grass roots movement and vote the skunk out of office.

[8~{} Uncle Monster

[Dave Martindale]

Generally, 120 V halogens seem to have two lamp envelopes (bulbs). The inner one is small so it runs very hot - that's necessary for the chemical reaction that removes vaporised tungsten from the bulb. It's made of quartz to handle the heat.

But then there is a second outer bulb, made of ordinary glass. It's a lot further from the filament, so it has more area to dissipate heat. It should be about the same temperature as an ordinary incandescent bulb of the same wattage (since both of them ultimately dissipate almost all of the input power as heat).

On the other hand, a fluorescent is a good idea because the amount of power to be dissipated is about 1/4 as much for the same amount of light.

Dave