Coping with Critters

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When you get a skunk, throw a blanket or tarp over the trap while you plan what to do; the darkness will quiet the skunk down. A friend of mine loads the traps into the back of his pickup truck and releases them four miles out in the countryside. I have a camping shell and gear in my truck and I’m not about to risk getting it all skunked. So I put a tarp over the trap, and move it in a wheelbarrow to a pre-dug grave. I take the tarp off, dispose of the skunks using a 0.22-caliber rifle, roll them into the grave, cover them with dirt and high-tail it for the shower.

Note that a skunk has to raise its tail to spray, so keep the tail down if at all possible. If you get skunked: A popular method for neutralizing skunk spray is to scrub yourself with a mixture of 1 quart hydrogen peroxide, one-third cup baking soda and 1 tablespoon liquid soap. Leave it on for a minute, then wash it off.

Possums

The only time I’ve gone after possums was when a bunch of them began to defecate all over my lumber storage area. They’re quite easy to trap. I caught 13 of them in one month, in the same Havahart trap I use for skunks, took them a few miles away and released them. Possums will sometimes bare their teeth, hiss or even growl, appearing to be fierce, but they will seldom fight and are rarely aggressive.

Playing possum: One night when I was closing in the chickens, I spotted a baby possum. As soon as it saw me, it rolled over on its side, closed its eyes and lay still, with occasional peeks to see if I’d gone away. It made me laugh out loud.

Raccoons

We can generally coexist with raccoons. You never want to have your dogs take one on, though, because you’ll end up with an eviscerated canine. Raccoons are ferocious fighters, and clever, too. Years ago, one of them pulled the recirculating pump out of our fishpond, which drained it, and proceeded to feast on the stranded fat carp.

The one raccoon I trapped had climbed in the studio window and left messy paw prints all over my desk. I also put quarter-inch mesh or chicken wire about a foot down in the ground all around the chicken coop so raccoons and skunks can’t tunnel into their yard at night.

Hawks

A young red-shouldered hawk was picking off our chickens, so we stretched bird netting over their yard, which worked perfectly.

Termites

They are the rats of the insect world. Persistent. Voracious. Because I refuse to use poisons, I’ve tried a bunch of nontoxic techniques. It’s here that I’ve failed in the do-it-yourself department.

Methyl bromide was formerly used for serious infestations. It’s a poison that was banned following human fatalities. These days, they’re still using poisonous gas in the form of sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane). How can you blanket a home’s interior with poisonous gas and assume that all residue will be gone when you return?

I had the Electro-Gun treatment performed, which sends electrical current through the wood and zaps any moisture-containing insects. It has to be done every few years and is similar in cost to fumigation, but it’s better than poison. Read more about this technique through Ecola Termite Services, Inc.

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