Skunk

Any time that you find baby skunks wandering around alone, with no parent anywhere to be seen, there is reason for concern.  Unless the babies are super tiny with their eyes closed, Mom should not be too far away from them.  If you can approach baby skunks without mom running you off pretty quickly, there is a problem.  If babies eyes are open and they are capable of walking around, digging or playing, and look healthy from a distance, give them some time to see if mom shows up.  If it is day time, babies should not be wandering around outside of the den without mom.

Skunk babies do not open their eyes until around 3-4 weeks old.  Their teeth usually start coming in after that.  At around 6-7 weeks old, the babies start exploring outside of the den, but mom is usually not too far away.  At around 10-12 weeks old, baby skunks can spray but not on purpose and have a terrible aim.

If you find a baby skunk who truly needs help, you can pick up the baby and place it in a container with fleece or T-shirt and put the container in a quiet, safe place away from children and pets.  Baby skunks cannot yet regulate their body temperature and will need to be warm at all times.

There are several ways to warm up a baby but be sure you do not overheat the baby or heat it up too quickly.  One option to warm up the baby is to put the baby on a soft piece of cloth or fleece in a container with a heating pad on LOW setting underneath the container and only under HALF of the container. Leaving HALF of the container bottom surface off the heating pad allows the baby to crawl to the cooler side if it gets too hot.  Another option is to put dry rice or beans in a sock, tie the end, and heat in the microwave for a minute or so. Put the heated sock near but not on the baby.  Be careful with overheating the sock; you just want the sock to be warm.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO THE FEED THE BABY. 

*IMPORTANT - Skunks are a rabies-vector species.  Please use extreme caution when dealing with ANY animal that could potentially carry rabies.