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Original poster

Rats in the compost bins (shudder)

59 replies

DottyDot · 02/03/2009 17:48

Does anyone know how to get rid of rats foraging from compost bins? We only compost fruit/veg/eggshells/bits of cardboard but our neighbour has told us he thinks we've got rats as there are bits of chewed carrots and other food taken from the compost bins.

Unfortunately the bins are kind of open - a wooden criss cross structure - open sided and an open top - we put cardboard on the top but that's it.

sigh. You try to do your bit....

Any suggestions gratefully received!

OP posts:
themoon66 · 04/03/2009 18:55

I'd go for a long pole with a hook on and a deep bucket of water TBH.

themoon66 · 04/03/2009 18:59

Or you could use that well know rat destroyer the vacuum cleaner

pooter · 04/03/2009 18:59

i cant kill - just cant do it. wouldnt be able to pay anyone to kill either.

im now thinking of using the long pole to put the cages into a huge plastic container - put a lid on v quickly and take them in the car ot the woods, then do the reverse. oh yikes this is going to be a fiasco isnt it

HairyMuff · 04/03/2009 19:07

We had a rat in our bin.

DH tipped it over whilst I stood on the patio screeching like a girl. He raked through the contents and the rat ran off to find a new home (they hate being disturbed).

He then layed some bricks and housed the bin on top of the bricks - or you could house it on slabs (you then have to dig some worms up and put them in the bin by hand to turn your rubbish into compost).

The rats cannot bury underground and chew through the bricks/slabs to get back in.

This was done about 3 months ago and we haven't had any rats return (fingers crossed).

themoon66 · 04/03/2009 19:08

If you read this to the bottom of the page, it appears to be suggesting that you have to soak the dead rat in disinfectant anyway, so you might as well just drown them in disinfectant in the first place.

do it

themoon66 · 04/03/2009 19:11

Oooh hairymuff (love the name) Rats DO bury underground... my lawn is like a honeycomb at the moment. We are going to have to put rat proof fencing all around, plus buried at least 2 foot underground all around the perimeter of the garden.

I have borrowed an air rifle with sights and I take pot shots at night from bedroom window, but there are too many to kill really. Am hoping poison, traps and perimeter fencing will work.

Good luck with your problem pooter. I live next door to a grain shed, so I have little hope really.

HairyMuff · 04/03/2009 19:14

Ah yes they do bury underground (thats how the last bastard got in my bin), but the bricks the bin is housed on now mean it cannot get up into the bin. Rats shouldn't be able to get through concrete slabs or bricks apparently.

The rat man told me they can get through a hole the size of a 50p piece so no cracks between the bricks!

I am still too scared to go and look in the bin though . Will have to take Dh's word that its buggered off for good

ABetaDad · 04/03/2009 22:22

themoon66 - I was not going to say that but you are right a cornered rat is extremely dangerous. My Grandad used to pick the cage up with a pole that had a hook on the end before he dropped them in the horse trough.

I know that drowning them now is illegal but as my Grandad is dead and this was 60 years I am sure he is safe from the law.

ABetaDad · 04/03/2009 22:23

Rats can eat through concrete.

NotAnOtter · 04/03/2009 22:27

just a thought

when we composted ( ) our bins were right by a stream that connected to other underground streams and these type of area are renowned for rats

our bins ( green placky ones)were on concrete slabs and we kept them lidded - never had a problem at all

NotAnOtter · 04/03/2009 22:27

just a thought

when we composted ( ) our bins were right by a stream that connected to other underground streams and these type of area are renowned for rats

our bins ( green placky ones)were on concrete slabs and we kept them lidded - never had a problem at all

hellymelly · 04/03/2009 22:32

We often caught rats in one of the humane traps-we lived on an old boat and they would someimes come in after my cat died.I never had one hurl itself at the wire,the usually just looked scared.We threw a towel over the trap and then my DH took it to a rather elegant part of London with a large park and released it.I had pet rats so I rather like them as a species but obviously I don't want them in my house.They are everywhere anyway.

themoon66 · 04/03/2009 23:38

Right... what about this little beauty

pooter · 05/03/2009 00:02

oooh i like the look of that! so much for not hurting the little blighters! I will bear that in mind if my softy-softly-catchy-ratty method doesn't work. - ta the moon66. admit it - you are obsessed

themoon66 · 05/03/2009 09:32

pooter... yes I am obsessed. They tunnel in my garden every day, and every day they get closer to the house The holes are the size of rabbit holes. We have giant monster freaky rats in the Lincolnshire countryside.

fircone · 05/03/2009 09:39

I spoke to local councillor about this. Apparently it's a big problem round here. And it's got worse now lots of people have started composting.

He said that the local rats are now immune to the council's poison, and they're having to develop a new cocktail to try to get 'em. Also the problem is exacerbated by the fact that a rat can apparently have sex 200 times a night!!

themoon66 · 05/03/2009 10:05

Our council have stopped the rat killing service. We have to pay privately or deal with it ourselves.

LOL at rats having sex 200 times a night though

Poor Mrs Rat.

Lenlen · 07/03/2009 06:10

Whoa! no wonder they keep growing and growing in number.

pooter · 08/03/2009 17:24

Well, the humane rat traps have been a partial success. I caught 1 rat, and two blackbirds. Of course, because they are "humane" rat traps i could just let the birds out. I managed to ferry the rat (put the trap in a plastic recycling bin) in the car to a remote spot and let the rat out. It wasnt happy at being in the trap, but was just anxious to run away when i opened the gate. So all is well.

I will now try to catch his friends. Although my husband wants to buy an air rifle now

KerryMumbles · 08/03/2009 17:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

littlerach · 08/03/2009 17:34

We had rats a couple of years ago.

They started in the garden and then wen tinto our cavity walls.

It was awful.

The ratman from the council blamed our location (by fields and stables), the compost bin, bird table and next door's huge rabbit enclosure.

It took 3 months to get rid of them, but they havent been bcak and thta was over a year ago.

They tunnelled thorugh next door's rabbit enclosure, through their paving slabs and when she went ot feed the rabbits, found 3 rats looking up at her

RosemaryBingle · 08/03/2009 19:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Scrumplet · 08/03/2009 20:17

Haven't read whole thread, but we have the same problem, in several of those black plastic composter bins and a big "heap" behind. Because of our proximity to a public area, we are having them treated, but have been advised that we won't get rid of them completely. Focus on population control rather than eradication. Our compost bins are a long way away from our house, and yet we had rats scurrying about on the patio and within a foot of the back door, in daylight. So they needed reigning in. If you've got only a bit of evidence, and you haven't seen them as such (can you see their tunnels in the bins?), I'd leave them be TBH.

However, DS is old enough to know that if he plays in the garden, his hands stay away from his mouth and he washes them when he comes in. If you have little ones who are putting anything and everything in their mouths still, you might want to try getting rid of the rats.

Has anyone used a bokashi bin? I haven't, but have heard evangelical things about them, and wonder if you put all your composting stuff through that first, before it hits the heap, if the rats wouldn't be interested?

pooter · 11/03/2009 15:02

well the little buggers have now chewed THROUGH the plastic compost bin now it has been relocated onto mesh. ggrrrr. i gave them a chance, they've blown it. we are going to buy an air rifle at the weekend! so much for my pacifist vegetarian morals - my DS will NOT get Weil's disease - i am ready to dispatch the rats!!

themoon66 · 11/03/2009 18:39

pooter - nuke em. At my old house they chewed through the bottom of my chest freezer! They laugh in the face of mere plastic