Rats in compost bin

Roberta1

Had a nasty shock today when found two rats in our compost bin.

On removing all the compost we found four babies too - yuck!

Compost bin and most of the compost have gone to the tip, and the rest has been dug in to our veg patch.

Do you think that is the last we will see of Mr Rat and his friends and relations? I hope so!

Is there anything else we should be doing to make sure they don't come back and make a new nest somewhere in the garden?

quietheart

We had ratman out twice when this happened to us. He suggested chicken wire on the base of the bin so they can't get in. Ours were too persistent so we've moved our Dalek to the allotment and just take our scraps there. Our bin was by a pond so i think our compost was a particular draw.....
Poor you finding babies as well, that was my nightmare scenario.:eek:

elsien

I've decided to stick with my compost bin and try to drive the rats elsewhere. I'm tipping lots of water in to make it too uncomfortable for them to nest, and turning it everyday to keep disturbing them so they take themselves off. And putting more garden waste and less vegetable scraps in.
I'm hoping that with the better weather they'll find a better food source with less disturbance elsewhere.
I do spent 5 minutes kicking the bin and making lots of noise before I take the lid off though - coming nose to nose with a rat twice is two times too many for my delicate constitution!
The rats have been attracted by the bird seed as well, as the council rat man said that as long as there was food around they'd keep showing up. He put poison down, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I've decided I don't want to stop feeding the birds and I have nowhere else to put the compost bin which I don't want to stop using, so it's me versus ratty from here on it.
Watch this space.

Lotus-eater

You almost certainly haven't seen the last of them.

Stop any throwing of food into the garden, no bird food, nothing. Put heavy duty wire mesh under your compost bins, up the sides a bit so they can't crawl in.

Inspect the garden now and again, if you see a hole the size of a fist, it's a rat. They like to be in overgrown areas and under things.

chelms38

Should of either got pest control in to kill them or put down poison yourself as they breed like hell if left to do so.