Average Length:

20-31inches 

Captive: 90% vegetables - 10% fruit; supplemented with

proteins, dry dog food or commercially prepared insectivore diet,

and calcium

Striped skunks use a variety of habitats, but seem to prefer brushy areas, rocky outcroppings, or grassy fields close to woodlands.  Skunks also require a constant, permanent local water source.  In extensively cultivated areas, like central Illinois, cornfields may be an important habitat for these animals.  Skunk dens are typically underground, but can also be found in stumps, cliff crevices, woodpiles, farm buildings, haystacks, or refuse dumps.  Often, striped skunks will inhabit old badger dens rather than dig their own.

Striped skunks are primarily active at night, although they have been seen at dawn, dusk, or extremely cloudy days.  The home range of a striped skunk may be up to 1½ miles in diameter, but they rarely travel that far in a night.  Most skunks spend a majority of their lives in a very small area.

For the most part, striped skunks are slow moving and docile.  Striped skunks’ senses of sight and hearing appear to be poor, but have a well-developed sense of smell.  In addition, skunks are best known for their defense mechanism.  When cornered or threatened, a striped skunk will warn the intruder of what is to come by raising their tail, stamping their feet, then shuffling backward.  The second step of this warning process is to turn the rear end toward the intruder, tail raised, and look back to make sure the aim is correct.  The third and final step is to discharge the foul scented musk from a special gland at the base of the tail.  Striped skunks have remarkable aim, and are accurate up to 10 – 15 feet.

In autumn, striped skunks put on a thick layer of fat and, as the weather gets colder, start to spend more time in their dens.  Although striped skunks are not true hibernators (all body processes do not drastically slow down for long periods of time), they will retreat to their dens to sleep intermittently when temperatures reach near freezing.  The duration of these periods of inactivity are influenced by many factors including snow cover, rapid changes in temperature, and hunger.