74 FUR FACTS 



The mating season is usually in March and most raisers re- 

 commend keeping a few females and a single male in one run together. 

 If two males are kept in a single pen they are likely to fight. The 

 period of gestation is about nine weeks and the young come usually 

 in May. Before the young are born the females should be placed 

 in separate breeding pens containing a den or nesting box supplied 

 with straw or similar material. As soon as the young skunks are 

 about two months old they should be placed in a run set apart for 

 them. The yoimg skunks are full grown and their fur will begin to 

 turn prime in December. In many cases skunks that are raised in 

 captivity have poor fur as compared with the pelt of the wild animal 

 and this is the result of keeping the animals in small pens and over- 

 feeding them. They do not get sufficient exercise and they run to 

 fat. The pelt becomes heavy and there is no under fur, conse- 

 quently the fur has httle or no value for fur purposes. The male 

 skunks that are to be raised for the fur should be turned into a large 

 enclosure in September, when they are three or four months old, and 

 kept there in order that they may have ample exercise and can find 

 their natural food such as insects, etc. If they are allowed to l^ad 

 a natural wild Ufe they will develop as fine a coat of fur as the wild 

 skunk in the same locahty. If they are penned up in small en- 

 closures the fur is likely to be poor and the farmer will have all of his 

 trouble for nothing; so that you can see that this is a very important 

 point and should be watched closely. Select the largest and finest 

 skunks as you go along for breeding stock and breed to the all black 

 kind. The broad striped and rusty colored skunks should be taken 

 at the time when the fur is at its best which is usually in December 

 and January. Careful selection of the breeding stock will result in 

 better skunks year after year and if the blacks are selected in a few 

 years they will produce all black skunks, or what is known to the 

 trade as black, and will have very httle white on them. 



Removing the Scent Sack 

 If skunks are not disturbed they will never prove a source of 

 annoyance to the owner or the neighbors. Skunks become tame 

 very readily and the keeper can handle them without danger, but it 

 is not advisable to pet them and disturb them too much. When it is 

 necessary to transfer them from one place to another they may be 

 Ufted by the tail, or they may be driven from place to place without 

 any trouble. For these reasons it is not absolutely necessary to re- 

 move the scent sacks. Some owners prefer to remove the sacks and 



