What Should I Do If I Find A Nest Of Baby Skunks?

Skunks are wild animals that you will quite often find roaming in your yard at night. Just like all the animal, they reproduce and raise their young ones. Since the mother is the sole protector it its babies, anything can happen leading to the babies being orphaned.

Where can you find them?
While cleaning your yard area or flower bushes, you may bump into a nest of baby skunks. When this happens, back off! Babies in a nest are usually under the protective eyes of the mother. Perhaps she is nearby and the confrontation will be bad for you. In case you stay there for some time but the mother doesn’t appear, leave the babies alone and leave the area.

When are the babies alone?
During daytime, the mother leaves the nest to go foraging for food. She doesn’t go out for long without coming back to check on her litter. At this time, she is probably breastfeeding and needs a lot of food to support the babies. Sometimes this may not be the case, the mother can be injured or knocked by a vehicle leaving behind a nest of desperate babies. The mother may also be trapped hence leaving the litter insecure.

What should you do when you notice orphaned litters?
When you discover that a litter in a nest is not under the care of a mother, probably after observing for a day, you need to plan on how to catch the babies. Skunks- whether babies or adults- will always spray whenever cornered or scared. Taking safety precaution measureswhen handling the babies is critical. Such babies are usually taken in by a rehabber who understands the medical and nutritional care for the babies.

Do not feed the pups
As a well-meaning rescuer, you may feel the need to feed the babies. This is wrong, skunk are wild animals. If the urge to feed them is too high, call any wildlife rehab and report the case. Most people will often feed the orphaned babies with:

• Kitten formula
• Puppy formula
• Baby formula
• Cow’s milk
• Condensed milk
• Canned dog or cat food

Some of these feeds are not good for the baby’s digestive system. Statistics from rehab centers indicate that most rescued babies are usually trying to gum down canned food lodged in the throats when rescued. And even if the food is swallowed, they commonly bloat and diarrhea. These feeds do not mean well to the babies as many of them suffer from nutritional deficiency even after feeding for quite