Skunk
The spray comes from two glands under the tail and carries up to six metres, about twenty feet. Pet skunks are usually descented, and they are omnivores that dig for grubs.
Photo by Dan & Lin Dzurisin, CC BY 2.0
Overview
Everybody knows about the spray and most people underestimate it. A striped skunk fires from paired anal glands and the stream carries up to six metres, with the mist going further, and it causes nausea, intense pain and temporary blindness at close range.
It also tells you first. The warning is a display: back arched, tail up, front feet stamping the ground, and sometimes a brief handstand while it backs toward you. An animal this well armed does not need to be quick to use it. Adults run 465 to 815 millimetres and 0.7 to 6.3 kilos, they are nocturnal, and 80 to 90 percent of the diet is animal matter, mostly insects in warm months.
Temperament
Calm, curious and slower than most of this shelf. Skunks are not fast animals and they are not climbers, which makes them easier to live with indoors than a coati or a genet.
Most pet skunks are descented, which removes the spray but not the animal's reasons for wanting it. They still stamp and posture, and they still bite when cornered. They den communally in cold weather and go quiet and inactive in winter without truly hibernating, so a drop in activity in the cold months is normal.
Care and grooming
Weight is the whole battle. A pet skunk gains easily and obesity is the most common health problem in captive ones, so the diet needs to be measured and heavy on protein and vegetables rather than on fat and grain.
Rabies is the other thing to sort out early. Skunks are a rabies vector species in North America and there is no rabies vaccine licensed for them, which affects both veterinary care and what happens legally if one bites somebody.
Living and exercise
Indoors suits them, litter trained, with somewhere to dig. Those long front claws are for excavating and a skunk with no outlet for that will work on carpet and furniture instead.
They are nocturnal but adapt to household hours better than most animals here. Give a dark, enclosed den to sleep in, keep food out of reach because they will find it, and check the rules where you live, since skunk ownership is banned in many states outright.
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