Skunk Smell

[Spicoli43]

I'm drawing a blank. This morning, the master bedroom smelled intensely like a skunk, 10 out of 10 on the smelleriffic scale... The connecting bathroom was a 3, the bathroom on the other side of the house was a 3, and the laundry room was a 2. Everywhere else was 0.

Ok, so the septic drains are dried up... Ran water in all of them. Doesn't explain the master bdrm.

Ok, the venting is the problem... Ran fans in both bathrooms and ran the dryer... Doesn't explain the master bdrm.

No dead Skunks outside

I have a "lean over and walk" space under the house, no smell there.

No smell in attic

Dog didn't get sprayed

I don't keep rotten orange peels or anything like that in the bedroom.

Any ideas?

 

[Spicoli43]

I decided to go for a drive for a while to "reset" my smell sense, figuring the smell would be real bad again when I got home.

First off, the smell was a 10 in the car. Same exact Skunk smell. That wouldn't explain anything in the house.

When I got home, the Garage smelled, say 6 on the scale. It didn't smell when I left (or my nose was used to it).

The smell was completely gone from the inside of the house when I got back.

The garage is about a 2 now, and the car a 3.

If there was a dead Skunk anywhere, the smell wouldn't go away.

This is bizarre.

 

[havasu]

You checked your pockets?

 

[Spicoli43]

You checked your pockets?

HA!!! That's the first thing I check if I smell something, personal funk. The problem with this incident is personal funk doesn't forecast itself like that into rooms.

The only explanation would be a juvenile delinquent running around with stink bombs in the middle of the night.

 

[havasu]

We use to place that stink in a tube onto the door handle of our fellow patrol officers for a night of fun. We also use to place the defrosters on patrol cars on high, then spray the intakes with OC pepper spray. It brought tears to their eyes.
Maybe someone is pranking you as well?

 

[Spicoli43]

Oh yeah, you have to take the edge off. I would draw the line at the pepper, though.

In the Army, we just made Privates go do stuff like get a box of grid squares, a can of squelch for the radio, check for soft spots on the hummers, go get batteries for the chem lights, Go find the MP's to get a key to the main gate, get a turret lock key for the Tanks, Pay them $5 to chug a small bottle of Real Lemon, Pay them $5 to down a mystery drink (usually coffee with an MRE bottle of Tabasco in it) $5 back then was a carton of cigs, or a roll of dip, so they complied.

I don't know if it was a prank or a legit Skunk, but the Skunk can't climb the side of the house to get to the bathroom vents. A pranker with a ladder could. There is 40 families of Skunks here though, it's a common smell outside (Not as concentrated as today ) and common to pass a flattened one on a County road.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Reminds me of the time a friend from high school got married, we had the alachol induced idea that placing limburger cheese on his muffler would be a funny practical joke at the reception....well, it wasn't. Even after changing the entire exhaust system the only thing was to trade the car in. The marriage lasted a little longer than the cheese tho....

 

[Spicoli43]

Reminds me of the time a friend from high school got married, we had the alachol induced idea that placing limburger cheese on his muffler would be a funny practical joke at the reception....well, it wasn't. Even after changing the entire exhaust system the only thing was to trade the car in. The martiage lasted a little longer than the cheese tho....

Wow... That's the cheese that smells like feet, isn't it? Actually all those specialty cheeses smell to me, but I know there is one that you couldn't pay me to try.

 

[bud16415]

Every profession has there own set of hazing that go with it. When I started my machinist apprenticeship at 17 the factory was like a city roughly a one mile square. My dad warned me to be on the lookout for pranksters and they often came in the form of your boss or instructor. He pointed out the common ones like putting Prussian Bluing on the bottoms of the handles on your machine or the nose bridge of you safety glasses when you were not looking and a few others they might pull.



I was only a couple days into my apprenticeship and the leader called me over and told me I had to take a walk they needed a spool of ¼-20 thread and they had it in the tool crib in building 17 that was on the other end of the plant. I said ok and he said you better take the wheelbarrow as the spool is good sized. I said oh thanks and grabbed this big all steel wheelbarrow with a steel wheel and off I went to everyone’s amusement I was sure. I pushed it till I was out of sight and I figured the tool crib people in bldg 17 were also in on it so I stashed the wheelbarrow and found some guy and asked him where I could get some ¼-20 Heli-coils and he told me to go someplace in the building and I found that guy and he said how many do you need and I said one but could I have the little box they were in also. I put that in my pocket and proceeded to walk around the plant for the next 6 hours giving myself the grand tour. About quitting time I returned with the little box in my wheelbarrow and the guy that sent me was frantic wondering what happened to me all day. I said oh I had a heck of a time finding the spool of ¼-20 thread bldg 17 was all out of it but I found some in bldg 6 but all they had were small spools so I got one and handed him the box.

That was the last time they let me out of their sight.

Sorry I can't help with the skunk smell but when you find it put tomato juice on it.

 

[BuzzLOL]

A skunk doesn't have to have been dead to spray the smell... it may have sprayed to ward a dog off... and the smell can easily cover a square mile while moving down wind...

 

[Jeff Handy]

Skunks like to hang around very close to houses, they have a route or territory that they patrol every night.
This skunk might have been right under your window.
Or exploring a window well, wood pile, under a deck, under your front stoop, in your garden.
Or digging through your garbage.
Doesn’t take much for them to let go a little stink juice.
A slammed door, loud car, kids shooting fireworks, a cat or dog worrying them.
They have bad eyesight, only can see well to about three feet.
I live in a condo, and a skunk has claimed the area right by our busy back door as its territory.
We have to open the door carefully, because he/she is often sitting right there.
The security light attracts bugs and provides easy pickings.
Whenever the door slams, or someone walks their dog, a stink comes wafting up to my 2nd floor unit right above there.

 

[Eddie_T]

Also, as shooters have GSR (gunshot residue) skunks have SSR (skunk spray residue). We have had two skunks as pets the first one au naturel and the second was descented. The first one would playfully take aim at us and do a handstand but only sprayed once, a neighbor's dog. My wife bathed the dog then had to sleep with her right hand in a plastic bag as she kept it near her face. The second one didn't aim as much, both were good playful pets, loved popcorn and taking a nap in someone's lap.

 

[Flyover]

Eddie, pet skunks are legal here in Oh Hah but they must be de-glanded; I knew there were several other states where they are legal but I had no idea you could own a fully "capable" one!

 

[Eddie_T]

Eddie, pet skunks are legal here in Oh Hah but they must be de-glanded; I knew there were several other states where they are legal but I had no idea you could own a fully "capable" one!

I think our "fully loaded" one was illegal due to its potential for carrying rabies . The descented one was from a pet shop in TN. I recall that they are legal in OH, I saw a fat one asleep untethered in a pet shop in Cleveland with a sign saying "Grandpop Not For Sale" when I worked for NASA LeRC. I didn't live in OH just travelled there monthly for meetings.

 

[Flyover]

In a suburb just west of Cleveland they have an annual domesticated skunk festival, complete with races, beauty pageants, etc. I plan to take my kids. I think a skunk probably would bother my oldest's allergies if we had one in the house but once she's 18 and moved out all bets are off and I might get a skunk, a husky, all the pets I've wanted since I was a kid!