Composting and rats?!

howardtog

Rats are omnivorous but they prefer grain.If they cant get grain they will eat meat and veg.If you are putting veg peelings on your heap they will go for that especially this time of year when food is scarce and composting rate slow. Poison them and rat proof your containers.
Give them no quarter: only compost garden debris ,turn compost,keep it wet.When you rat proof the bin watch for any tunnelling and if you see any use poison.
All gardens have rats you see them only when food sources are abundant.

beautiful_ravens

Well I spoke to the gamekeeper, he said its not worth ratting with the terriers and to just put poison down. We do have a special T shaped tube thing which you put the poison in, so the rats have to go in it and eat the stuff from the tube. Just really worried about the other animals, as the last place we lived we used this dispenser thing and a few days later, we found a little pile of poison inside a shoe in the shed - so we know they (or maybe it was mice) carry it around.

I often say that wherever there are chickens there are rats,

EVERYONE round here says that!!

Yes must get a hopper thing for the chicken food - the remaining 2 chickens are terrified now, and are not going far from their house. Should also get some more chickens I guess.

Busy weekend for me!

angelavdavis

I really think the best bet is to pull the heap apart and then reconstruct it with the wire as has been suggested. Such a pain I know, but its worth it to get rid.

Catwoman_Kent

I don't worry about rats as my cats always get them. I have 8 cats, two are semi domesticated ferals and they are more than happy to eat the rats and their off-spring. Saves me a fortune on cat food!

elaina79

When putting in the veg or the fruit then try wrapping it in newspaper first to mask the bulk of the odour that comes from it. Also do not put any poisons into the bin as this will make the compost unusable.
Use a material like chicken wire to stop them getting under the bin.

Try and move the bin to a location that is more open as rats prefer to be hidden away. Or put an item maybe a spade near the bin and move it every few days so they know there is activity near the bin. Lastly when you are near the bin give it a little kick to disterb them, they should get the message eventually and move on.

arkonite_babe

We have a thread similar to this already, I'll add your query to it so all the replies are together. Posts are listed in date order so you'll need to read from the beginning to catch up

campingmol

YUK. Nearly had a heart failure, just went to compost bin to empty kitchen waste, big fat rat sitting on the top of it having a lovely time! I shreiked and put the lid back on and left it for my other half to deal with. Very very annoying. Really don't want to be scared of my compost bin but this is a step too far. Have known they were there but actually seeing one on the top of the dam thing....
We put poison down in tubes under the shed which is right behind the bin earlier in the year but they seem very determined. We have been given a tumbler compost bin but both the ordinary sort are full so not sure what to do. I guess its not a good idea to put the rat poison in the bin cos it will poison the compost surely, any idea anyone!:mad: We already have two wormeries on the go and we produce loads of waste. We already pee on our compost and the chicken wire thing is not really an option at this stage cos bins are full.

Lotus-eater

campingmol wrote: »

We already pee on our compost and the chicken wire thing is not really an option at this stage cos bins are full.

I'd argue it is the right time

Pull the bin off and spread the stuff out, go through it carefully as you can bother to check you haven't got any ratty stuff left over, then rebuild bin with wire underneath.

ps, get hubby to do the above

Farway

I had rats in my bin, I always used to knock first, so Ratty & I never had a suprise

I put the rat poison in it's tray on top of the compost in the bin, rats gone now, so have removed the poison tray

RAS

I found taking the lid off the compost bin and letting the contents get wet, worked rather well, particularly when it them froze last year.