Help identify this animal

Joe.Menardo · Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:35 pm

Hi, something has been eating my tomatoes all season. I finally decided to set a trap. I caught this animal but can't figure out what it is. (it was caught in the daytme). It looks like a skunk. Am I right?

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ccar2000 · Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:31 pm

Looks like a skunk, does it smell like one?

Joe.Menardo · Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:36 pm

Thanks. That's what I thought originally. But it doesn't smell like one, it hasn't sprayed me, it was trapped around 9 am, and I found a half eaten tomatoe in front of the cage. I thought they didn't travel in the am and didn't eat tomatoes. Hmm. It's still in the trap and what it is affects how I handle it.

ccar2000 · Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:45 pm

You may want to throw an old towel or something over the trap to block it's aim!

cynthia_h · Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:42 pm

[url=https://www.google.com/search?q=skunk&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=caY&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Rt2HTu3-N6PXiAK0zqGfDA&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1453&bih=880]Here[/url] are many photos of skunks. Interesting; the head shape of your animal is very skunk-like, but the coloration is not.

I also looked up weasel, shrew, hedgehog, and groundhog photos, but no dice there, either.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

!potatoes! · Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:49 am

hog-nosed skunk. you're in texas or new mexico or arizona or maybe colorado...somewhere around there, right, joe?

garudamon11 · Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:09 am

I don't know what it is but its cute and I want it

rainbowgardener · Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:51 am

Skunks are cute and are reputed to make good pets if de-scented.

thanrose · Sun Oct 02, 2011 9:12 am

The cage is too small for it to spray you. They have to do some acrobatics including standing on their hands, butt and tail high in the air.

I don't know that it's a skunk, but I hope you've safely let it go by now.

!potatoes! · Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:14 am

pretty sure it's only spotted skunks who do the acrobatics. striped and hognosed just turn around and let fly.

stella1751 · Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:28 pm

Gosh. It looks like a badger to me. If so, watch yourself around it. They can fight like nobody's business!

DoubleDogFarm · Sun Oct 02, 2011 3:02 pm

Pepe' Le Pew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlQUktX9QAs

Eric

Green Mantis · Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:50 pm

DEfinately a Skunk. When we lived in Armstrong, we saw spotted skunks and skunks the same colour as the one pictured. Some have more white on than others, and there are even albino skunks. Good Luck getting it out of the trap. They can make good pets from baby stage, but can also carry rabies, so careful.

Green Mantis · Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:51 pm

Definately a Skunk. When we lived in Armstrong, we saw spotted skunks and skunks the same colour as the one pictured. Some have more white on than others, and there are even albino skunks. Good Luck getting it out of the trap. They can make good pets from baby stage, but can also carry rabies, so careful.

stella1751 · Sun Oct 02, 2011 5:36 pm

Definitely a badger. [url]https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_W90V87w3sr8/TSC-Atuep5I/AAAAAAAAAkg/IGpNv-tjQ50/s1600/badger_close470_470x303.jpg[/url]

Green Mantis · Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:41 pm

Nope, a skunk, look at the beady little eyes, the nose and badgers don't have that much white in the back markings. A friend of ours trapped skunks, to keep his poultry safe from them. After messing themselves in the trap, they are that dirty and definately look like that. Skunk all the way. You shouldn't have to let it let it's smell loose to tell, they smell anyway, when un-scented. Even un-scented they have an odor about them.

DoubleDogFarm · Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:49 pm

Definitely a Mustelidae!

Eric

stella1751 · Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:52 pm

Okay. Definitely my grandmother. Don't let her go! She won't stop at tomaotes.

DoubleDogFarm · Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:04 pm

stella1751 wrote:Okay. Definitely my grandmother. Don't let her go! She won't stop at tomaotes.

Um What?

Eric

Charlie MV · Sun Oct 02, 2011 9:54 pm

Sorry, if it's not a road runner I just don't know.

!potatoes! · Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:06 am

due to relatively recent genetic evidence, skunks are no longer classified as mustelids.

this one's still a hog-nosed.

DoubleDogFarm · Mon Oct 03, 2011 1:31 pm

I vote to make this post a Stinky:

Eric

!potatoes! · Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:20 pm

Marlingardener wrote:Now there's a job--studying the genetic make-up of skunks.

personally, I'd rather be doing the lab work than the field work on that one.

Boomslang · Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:35 pm

Down here in Alabama we call them critters "Pole Cats". If it's one of them, then it is relative to a skunk but will not technically spray you. It does carry some gawd awful stank glands, however. I grabbed one from under a house one time and had to bear hug it while trying to crawl under the water pipes. My wife made me strip down in the yard and use the water hose to try and get the smell off me. If your ever driving down a back country road and smell something so bad that it makes you want to gag, then it is probably one of these guys that has been run over and had his stank glands smashed by a tire.