Re: skunks
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: Re: [SG] skunks
- From: D* B* T*
- Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2001 22:00:18 -0600
- Importance: Normal
Well, viva le skunks then! Why haven't we brought them up before as super
garden heros? Do they eat slugs with their grubs by any chance??
Diann
-----Original Message-----
From: PRIMROSES [s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU]On Behalf Of
Marge Talt
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2001 7:17 PM
To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [SG] skunks
As Nancy R. says, they will eat grubs or cat food and also mice,
rats, moles, aphids, beetles, yellow jackets, grasshoppers, cutworms
and earthworms. As far as I know, they don't eat plants at all.
For more info. on these mild mannered and beneficial critters, see
the Skunk & Opossum Web Site.
http://granicus.if.org/~firmiss/m-d/md-main.html
Rather doubt a cat would engage a skunk in any kind of debate that
would cause the skunk to spray. They usually don't spray unless
they feel there is no other way to get rid of whatever is threatening
them...retreat is their first order of defense. They are
nearsighted but have excellent senses of hearing and smell. Now,
dogs will chase skunks and pay the consequences and if your neighbor
isn't too bright, he/she may be trying to trap one or scare it away
from catfood left outside, causing the skunk to retaliate.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
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----------
> From: Nancy Stedman <stedman@RCN.COM>
> Date: Saturday, March 03, 2001 7:41 PM
>
> Does anyone know what they eat? They've suddenly started appearing
at night.
> Someone--possibly my neighbor's cat, more likely the cat's
less-bright
> owner--has been engaging in confrontations with the skunks,
naturally
> occasioning the inevitable result. I'm wondering if the skunks are
being
> drawn by the new green shoots in my garden. However, the tops of my
bulbs
> (primarily Spanish bluebells) have not been gnawed off.
> Nancy S. (NYC, zone 6b)
