I currently have two, a chocolate and white (8) and a champagne and white (6). I used to have 4 total when I was doing domestic skunk rescue, and one time I had 5 babies running around, that came from an illicite breeding. I also know how to descent babies, without surgery. I've taught the method to a few vets that now use it. I have a thing for natural skunk smell, I think it's great! I posted a few outside shots of Sammy recently, Here. He's a ham for the camera. I used to be involved with the various pet skunk groups, and know all about how controversial diet is. I used to have all of mine on the Skunkie Delight (Dr. Pitcairn's recipe). As they matured, bloodwork showed liver damage, anemia, and other diet related problems. I switched them off of it, and now use the ferret food and mealworms, crickets, sometimes a piece of chicken or turkey. Bloodwork looks alot better. Mostly, I go the cheap route, and give frozen veggie mix, defrosted with warm water, but I love it when I can get fresh veggies. Then I'll try giving them whatever's available. They love pumpkin. This year, I'm planting several varieties for the Fall. I have two friends who have different feeding procedures, supplementing diet with various items. Taurine really is a major need. I've noticed improvement overall since offering the Vit C. One friend uses Omnivore food, but she uses it a lot for her program. She also gives hedgehog bug mixes. The boys each have their own large dog crate for sleeping in. I prefer to let them free-roam the house, but Sammy (aka Pixel, the Skunk Who Walks Through Walls) will climb anything and gets a kick out of knocking over cages. He will also mysteriously end up outside. After feeding them this morning, I found him on the front porch. My hubby was on the computer, right by the front door. The screen door was closed, but Sammy still found a way out. I was running around, feeding everyone else, and just happened to notice he was AWOL. They get lots of (normally) supervised out time through the day, but are crated at night and when we're not home. The crates are big enough for a large litterbox, and a blanket. I don't use any litter, just dump and rinse boxes as they are used. They have a couple of litterboxes in their favorite potty spots while out, as well. Pet skunks really do much better being given free-roam of the house, and I wish I could leave them out all the time. They tend to be more cuddly and interact with humans more. On a side note about the Skunkie D, using cooked brown rice, it makes a great maintenance diet for ferrets. My insulinoma ferrets did very well on it, living 2-3 years longer than expected, and without surgery.
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I posted a few outside shots of Sammy recently, Here. He's a ham for the camera.
I used to be involved with the various pet skunk groups, and know all about how controversial diet is. I used to have all of mine on the Skunkie Delight (Dr. Pitcairn's recipe). As they matured, bloodwork showed liver damage, anemia, and other diet related problems. I switched them off of it, and now use the ferret food and mealworms, crickets, sometimes a piece of chicken or turkey. Bloodwork looks alot better. Mostly, I go the cheap route, and give frozen veggie mix, defrosted with warm water, but I love it when I can get fresh veggies. Then I'll try giving them whatever's available. They love pumpkin. This year, I'm planting several varieties for the Fall. I have two friends who have different feeding procedures, supplementing diet with various items. Taurine really is a major need. I've noticed improvement overall since offering the Vit C. One friend uses Omnivore food, but she uses it a lot for her program. She also gives hedgehog bug mixes.
The boys each have their own large dog crate for sleeping in. I prefer to let them free-roam the house, but Sammy (aka Pixel, the Skunk Who Walks Through Walls) will climb anything and gets a kick out of knocking over cages. He will also mysteriously end up outside. After feeding them this morning, I found him on the front porch. My hubby was on the computer, right by the front door. The screen door was closed, but Sammy still found a way out. I was running around, feeding everyone else, and just happened to notice he was AWOL. They get lots of (normally) supervised out time through the day, but are crated at night and when we're not home. The crates are big enough for a large litterbox, and a blanket. I don't use any litter, just dump and rinse boxes as they are used. They have a couple of litterboxes in their favorite potty spots while out, as well. Pet skunks really do much better being given free-roam of the house, and I wish I could leave them out all the time. They tend to be more cuddly and interact with humans more.
On a side note about the Skunkie D, using cooked brown rice, it makes a great maintenance diet for ferrets. My insulinoma ferrets did very well on it, living 2-3 years longer than expected, and without surgery.