What Are The Skunk's Mating Habits, When Do They Have Babies, And How Do They Raise Their Young?

Skunk Mating Habits

Skunks, like all animals, have their own mating habits. How they court one another, how they handle courting, and how they care for their young are all unique to them.

Whether you have skunks on your property or you are simply curious, there is a lot to learn about the skunks’ mating habits.

If you fear that there are skunks on your property, and that they have young, knowing more about how skunks raise their young can help you to learn more and understand better. You will know what to expect. Since skunks all follow the same basic path, there will not be many surprises.



Finding a Mate

Skunks do not mate for life. They are solitary creatures that prefer to stay away from each other. That is, until mating season comes along.

During mating season, which occurs in late winter to early spring, males begin to seek out females. Not for companionship, but for mating. Again, skunks do not mate for life. They mate because it is instinctual.

When a male attempts to woo a female, the female determines how it goes. If she is not interested, she will release an odor to make the male leave. She will continue to do this until she finds a male she likes.

The male will likely mate with multiple females over the entire mating season, fathering the young of numerous females.

Pregnancy and Raising Her Young

Pregnant females will go looking for a place to nest. They want to find a place for their young before they arrive, which occurs usually two months after conception. After giving birth, typically to 4 to 7 babies, the mother will keep them in the den. She will go out on her own to find food, coming back to care for and feed the young.

This continues for a month to two months, after which the young can go out with the mother when she searches for food. Skunks stay together as a family through summer and into fall, at which point the young will go out on their own. The process begins again come next mating season.

Skunks have their own mating habits. While much of it is what you expect and know, they also have their own habits. Each type of skunk, too, will have its own unique habits and approaches to mating season, though, for the most part, it is the same across the board with minor changes.


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