These rodents are very different, specially known for their spray that smells really bad. If you are smelling bad odors for a few days, you might as well want to check if there are any skunks around. During mating days, the smell would increase as they would stay at the same place for a while longer than usual.
Seasonal Mating But Active All Year
Although the peak season for their mating is between the beginning of February to the last days of March, skunks are known to be animals that actually do not hibernate in this case. However, keeping in mind that the most reproduction activity is going to take place in the above mentioned part of the year. A male won’t be shy in looking for a female mate to start breeding and will go more than 6 miles in search of her. The search begins just before the season and will not end anytime soon or if one finds a good female who accepts the breeding invitation. Moreover, during the search, there will be situations where males will find a lot of females and many won’t agree, to show that, the females will release a scent to show the male of the repulsion. Consequently, in this season, you may sense worse odor than in normal days during the year.
Birth Time & Place
Once mating is done, the female is ready to give birth to kits after 66-70 days. They may be around 5-8 skunks given birth by each female. The birth place is usually dried grass containing underground nests. The period of growth will continue for around 9 weeks as skunks are placental. Prior to conceiving an offspring, the female unearths a lair to house the units.
Once mating is done, male is not asked much of and won’t be of much use and the babies will be now in custody of the mother for protection and feed. Infant striped skunks are brought into the world pink and they have swoon hints of highly contrasting. The musk is produced in younger ones as early as 8 days but the ability to spray won’t come before 3-4 weeks. The younger ones at birth are covered in fur and are blind and deaf.
In 3-4 weeks, the eyes open and the ears as well. The mothers don’t leave the babies until they are ready. To protect the kits, the mother won’t take a moment to spray on anything it finds danger to the kits.
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