Warning!!! Skunk Fatality :*(

[farmercoope]

Soo sorry to hear that Caz, such a shame and thankyou for the warning, even though im not sure what to do about breeding it must be devastating, xx

[supakimmy13]

I dnt really come in this part of the forum, well post anyway as i dnt have any exotic animals but i saw this thread n had to leave a post, I'm so sorry for ur loss but i think its great that u r advising others of the possible fatalities that could happen to make them aware even if it is under these infortunate circumstances. My condolances (spelling??) to u n all the best for the future with the other skunks x

[karl 1996]

sorry to hear this sad news m8 you have my sympothy

[Stacey010884]

I'm very sorry for the loss of Stella. It's so random and sudden though. I mean like many of us here who watched the mating vid, all seemed well then. They didn't even seem to bat an eyelid that Stella was running around while they "made babies".
I'm sorry that this lesson had to be learned the very hard way but like you, I hope this saves others the same fate.

Rest in peace Stella

[africajohn]

Condolences from us all Caz. RIP Stella xx

[Pouchie]

Thankyou John - and everyone else for your wishes .

[JungleExotics]

sorry to butt in but i would like this question answered if possible as i think its a very important question to ask??
The skunk could have been impregnated by her father as my as one of my skunks started to mature very early (just under 5 months).

Originally Posted by xXFooFooLaFluffXx

Going slightly off subject but in no way an attack just a curiosity of mine what's the resting period for a female skunk between litters? Could koko having 2 litters within 6-8 months of eachother not cause her to be more aggressive than usual? Also was Stella spayed or going to be? As I would have thought having her living with her father you would be running the risk of 1 Stella having kits way too young and 2 inbreeding? Unless 6 months is ok for a female to breed at or breedin daughter to father is acceptable in skunks as it is in rabbits? Again I'm askin for my info as I don't know enough about it, though I will research it if and when I decide to breed.

Could koko have seen her as a threat? I'm not sure if females know when one is spayed or not, like neutering males calms them, does that make sense? Then again it could have been a total freak accident and maybe koko would have still done it even if she wasn't pregnant. Either way it's a horrible way to learn and as I said before, you have my greatest sympathy for that

[Pouchie]

I will answer that as reasonably as I can under the circumstances... my little girl just died in a horrific way and I am just trying to put a warning up here for people. So with due respect if you would like to know how many times a skunk can breed each year or at what age they can have their first litter then why not start yourself a thread and ask?

[ferret lady]

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss.

While I don't breed skunks, I do breed hybrid ferrets (polecat/ferret crosses). They tend to react as polecats would in similar circumstances, so my pregnant jills are separated from their cagemates (usually a daugahter) and put into a whelping cage in a room by themselves no later than the end of the 4th week.

I'd wonder if Stella's death was the result of extreme stress to Koko by having to share her den and living quarters at a time that she would have instinctively needed privacy. She may have been willing to at least tolerate her mate at that time, but having to share her living quarters with another female (even her daughter) clearly raised her stress level to the point that she acted as she would have in the wild.

I don't mean this as a criticism, but I think it would be wise for skunk breeders to research how pregnant skunks live in the wild and use that as a guide.

[xXFooFooLaFluffXx]

Originally Posted by Pouchie

I will answer that as reasonably as I can under the circumstances... my little girl just died in a horrific way and I am just trying to put a warning up here for people. So with due respect if you would like to know how many times a skunk can breed each year or at what age they can have their first litter then why not start yourself a thread and ask?

I think they're asking more about the risk of inbreeding keeping Stella and bear together rather than at what age a skunk can breed at .

Going back to the original subject I've been talking to nerys about this and she thinks it's a definate possibility that koko didn't kill Stella and that Stella could have died of other causes. Apparently it's common for skunks to eat the dead starting from the head. Seen asstella didn't have any other injuries or none that caz has mentioned this could be what happened. Nerys has known of several cases of this happening and a pm has shown that the injuries sustained to the head have happened after death.