I got a skunk.

[dave]

I am now the proud owner of a skunk. Her name is “Penny Lane” as named by our 6 yr. old girl:

our skunk is a cute little stinker.

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[twiggy]

That’s awesome! But just curious as how one acquires a skunk.

[dave]

Well first of all, not every states allows skunks. Go here to find out if your state allows skunks as pets.

Then, you have to buy your skunk from an authorized breeder. Lastly, you must register your skunk with your state’s Department of Wildlife and obtain a skunk license. You may have to attest that you meet a number of requirements in order to get your license. One of the requirements for our license is that the skunk have a cage of certain dimensions (which we have.)

Having a pet skunk (or any animal that qualifies as an ‘exotic animal’) is not as easy as the run of the mill cat & dog. It can be harder to a vet that will handle skunks. It is more time consuming to prepare skunk foods than the average domesticated animal as well. However, our skunk is fun and playful and I like when she waddles around the house.

She probably provides more home protection than a dog. A potential adversary might stick around if they encountered our unassuming beagle; but would probably high-tail it if the ran into a big black & white skunk. 🙂

[twiggy]

That’s cute. Certainly would be effective at protecting the house lol. I have a Border Collie that loves to round up the animals and skunks and porcupines I keep him away from LOL.

[Dest]

Does the stinky gland or whatever get removed?

[dave]

In the United States, you can only buy a descented skunk. The procedure occurs at a very early age.

[dave]

This… is the best skunk video ever made. ever.

http://youtu.be/Ax5G8oIh-Fo
[video]http://youtu.be/Ax5G8oIh-Fo[/video]

[twiggy]

The video didn’t come up.

[dave]

fixed. 🙂

[twiggy]

That was awesome. I am surprised how social your skunk is, just like a puppy.

[Texarkana]

How hard and expensive is it to care for a skunk? I’ve wanted one for years but the cost of food and my limited knowledge on caring for wild animals keeps scaring me off.

[dave]

got ours from the breeder for $450. we’ve done a lot of research… and exactly what to feed a skunk is still quite controversial, but this is the best I’ve found on the topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-KDRLOoXa8
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-KDRLOoXa8[/video]

as for how hard it is to care for a skunk… we are still learning that ourselves. having some problems with litter box training and play biting.. but it’s still a baby. 🙂

[Alex F.]

:huh: What happened to Auto-motive related?, but while im at it B) ive always wanted a faret 😛

[dave]

general discussion is for anything…. skunks are kinda ferret like, even in personality. 🙂

[Texarkana]

Honestly I feel like this forum could benefit from a general discussion forum that allows non automotive related discussion, they could call it “the chill lounge”. B)

[dave]

this discussion about the general forum has come up before… it’s mainly here for anything. when someone suggests that we need a chat room, the answer is usually “just post in general forum.”

[Author]

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