Meet little Hershey, a tiny, sweet boy only 6 months old. We found Hershey through another skunk owner who had contacted me earlier this week about an ad for a skunk that she had seen posted on Craig’s List. It is illegal in Florida to sell Class III, captive wildlife without the proper permits but unscrupulous people seem to find this an easy way to make a buck at the animal’s expense. I searched for the ad and found that the owner had posted pictures showing a young male skunk in horrific condition. While it is sadly not uncommon to take in adult rescues in poor condition, this was the worst case of neglect of a junior skunk that I have seen in years. Several people contacted the owner in the hope of reasoning with him to turn the skunk over to skunk rescue. A volunteer was able to meet up with the owner, come to terms (ransom), and delivered little Hershey last Wednesday. I got the phone call to fill the bath tub as they approached my home. Hershey arrived drenched in his own urine and smelled worse than awful. The skin on his belly and inside his legs was bright red and inflamed. He was removed from his carrier and placed into the bath tub. From his reaction, this was his first bath! I gently washed him twice, which turned the water red by the time I finished. Even though he must have been in pain, he never tried to […]

Here is our beautiful Cleopatra. She is my second Mephitis, the first being a chocolate. My first one passed on New Years Eve of 2014-2015, suddenly. It was saddening, and I could not live long without another skunk in my life so I called the breeder again, Ruby Fur Farms, as that was the only breeder I was aware of. Unfortunately, I am temporarily away from home for training with the U.S. Navy, so I had asked the breeder if he had any new arrivals, and if so, could he possibly wait to ship one until I was home in Mid-September. He said he could not, so I consulted my family back home, and it was agreed that we would have one shipped, and they would care for it until I returned, which they were capable of having assisted me with the last one. She arrived by plane in Eugene, Oregon on July 23rd at 2:30pm, and by assumption, with the aviation laws on animals, she should have been approximately 8 weeks old, or older. She was healthy and lively, but excessively cuddly for a new arrival. Typically they are more fearful after the long flight, separation from their mothers, and introduction to strangers. She did well for about two weeks, then suddenly, with no warning, she became unresponsive, on a weekend no less. The emergency vet was called, but upon hearing it was a skunk, they stated they would be unable to see her. Panic! My family called me, […]

I’m posting this on behalf of Landa Berry. She recently lost a kit because another kit attacked it. Sadly, it did not survive. Her story is below. “Yesterday turned into a horrible day. I am going to post what happened, so that others may be spared what we are going through. We have been having trouble keeping Gypsy in her playpen, we did everything. She would sometimes get in Gidget’s playpen and be mean to her. I went to lunch yesterday with my daughter, picked up some stuff from Wal Mart (skipped the trip to Publix) and went home. I was not gone 2 hrs. When I got home I checked on the girls, Gypsy had mauled Gidget, I rushed Gidget to the vet, but she did not make it. Milt and I have had skunks for 15 years (I got Peu June, 2001) and we have had around 65 skunks-mostly rescues over the years. NEVER! have I seen a baby skunk kill and maul another baby skunk, especially 2 females (ages 7-11 weeks). Milt and I are beating ourselves up, maybe if we put the playpens in different rooms, maybe if I got home sooner, what if, what if…As, ripped up as we are, please know, we still love Gypsy very much, she is still a baby and I honestly believe things happened before I bought her (like being fed only once a day, kept in pine shavings….who knows what) that caused her to be mean to Gidget, I […]

On February 21, 2006, I took Henri (my otherwise glowingly healthy, not quite 6 year old boy) to see his regular vet. At that time I knew of no other skunk vet in my area, and she came recommended from the reptile store where I discovered him. He was my first baby, and I was a neurotic over him! When I brought him home, I was a helicopter mom; I agonized over all my choices regarding his care (as best I could anyway with the limited and conflicting information that was available to me at that time). All of a sudden one day, I noticed he had a slight limp and needed to be sure he was O.K. She took x-rays and concluded that he had “a touch of arthritis in his right knee”. She gave me two different medicines and the option to choose. One was Torbutrol, which she explained was a narcotic, and the other was Metacam / Meloxicam, an “anti-inflammatory”, which she likened to “you or I just taking a Tylenol”. Naturally the narcotic sounded dangerous, and an unnecessary over-kill, so I picked the Metacam, comfortably believing I chose the safer option. I started him off very slowly and even gave him HALF of his prescribed dosage. He seemed to improve and I continued him on the Metacam, again keeping the dose at less than half of what she prescribed. When I took him back for a follow up visit, she was pleased with his improvement and […]

I am an owner of a boy and girl skunk, both brown and white, and about 8 years old now. Their names are Gizmo and Molly. I was a very naive new skunk owner 8 years ago when I bought one from a pet store and adopted another as a friend. Both skunks were about 3 months old when I got them and full of that cute but really annoying baby skunk energy. They were completely nuts and I actually thought about getting rid of them as I felt completely overwhelmed everyday. Then I decided I would not be one of those people that gives up on family just because it got hard. My pets have always been family to me. I had stumbled upon another skunk owner website that looked like it had all the information I needed to raise a perfectly healthy skunk, but I was very wrong, especially when it came to diet. This particular site a encouraged a mainly vegetarian diet ( peas, carrots, other assorted veggies, berries, nuts, and CHEERIOS….yes.. CHEERIOS). My skunks were always remarkable lazy after reaching about 8 months old, I had heard this was normal so was never too worried about it. They would come out for meals and the occasional lap around the house, but that was it. They did occasionally play together and had very big personalities, but just mostly just slept all the time. When Molly turned 6 her health took a sudden turn. She began missing meals, […]

We have a new topic category featuring your skunk. This is where you tell your skunk’s personal story. The topic is open to past or present skunks. What did you learn from them that would help others? Share with other skunk owners, the good and the bad.