Breeding.
Earl Williamson says:
"I see in the H-T-T where persons have found skunk dens with nearly all female skunks. My experience has been that in every den there is one male and two or more females; twenty-two being the highest I have ever heard of being taken from one den. The females and male den up early while the rest travel around in nice weather and stay in any hole in bad weather."
Says a Nebraska trapper: "I have seen from 2 to 12 skunk in one den, but never more than 1 male with a den of females. The males of a litter seem to be forced to leave, only one remaining. The males so treated den themselves individually at a distance from the herd of females, returning in the spring. I have never known them to use their odor in a fight among themselves, neither have I known them to make a noise other than patting on the ground with their front feet."
J. M. Bray writes of Skunk Handling:
"Norris Johnson, John K. Hallman and myself went into the ring and started the performance by taking a pair each of live skunks by the tails and holding them while the pictures were taken. Some of the onlookers thought that was wonderful the way we handled those skunks. Now, right here is where I want to say that you can do it just as well as I can, if it is necessary for you to handle them. Go to them with a quiet, but firm step; take a good hold on their tails and you can carry them anywhere you want to. I have had a number of inquiries whether my skunks were odorless. I will say they are not and it is not necessary to make them odorless. If you use them gently you can have them around for a year and no one would know that you had them. Some ask, will black skunks breed all black, or will some breed back into lower grades? It is a known fact that all animals will breed back sometimes, but by having black you will breed black. But I find by having black bucks and by having short stripe females (and no threes or fours) your breed will be from fifty to seventy-five per cent black, or No. 1.
"Some have asked me what to feed them. Skunks will eat anything that a cat or dog will eat, also various fruits, such as apples, pears, persimmons, sweet corn or field corn (so long as the grains are soft). Where you have a number you will have to figure on the feed. Skim milk and stale bread, butchers' scraps, meat from dead animals, dead chickens or anything of that nature, but it will be necessary to vary their feed occasionally.
"If you start with a pair or so for an experiment you do not need such a large enclosure, but if you want to make a business of it, then I would advise you not to be afraid to spend a few dollars on your pen and the larger the lot the larger the pen. Don't crowd them or you will be the loser."
Skunk have no means of defense other than their scent, but this is sufficient in many cases and the majority of people will give them a wide berth. This scent is only used when alarmed or frightened and in captivity there is no trouble whatever from this source as they soon learn that there is no occasion for alarm and become quite tame.