One male sometimes occupies a den with females, but usually lives alone in its own den. The striped skunk is a true omnivore, eating a vast assortment of things including insects, small mammals, the eggs of ground nesting birds and amphibians, fish, crustaceans, fruits, grasses, leaves, buds, grains, nuts, and carrion. What a striped skunk decides to eat depends on what it encounters in its travels, with the diet changing depending on the time of the year and available resources. Females are monestrous, but they occasionally can have a second estrous if the first pregnancy is unsuccessful. Males use their spray to communicate with the opposite sex during mating season and to mark their territories.
Males are usually polygamous and solitary.
Males and females usually do not have relationships beyond the few days required for fertilization. The gestation period for striped skunks is between 60 and 77 days, with delayed implantation probably involved. Usually, five or six young are born in each litter. At birth, baby striped skunks are blind, deaf, and extremely immature. They nurse for about a month and a half in the mother s den.