horrific discovery in my compost bin....

[ScarletA]

Yesterday I went out to the composter with a bunch of kitchen waste and lifted the lid. On top of everything lay the mutilated corpse of a mouse. I stared at it for ages thinking how on earth did it get there and die like that (brains chewed out), knowing it couldn't have been the cat (unless she can lift the lid of the composter). Then I heard a rustle. A very LOUD rustle coming from underneath the kitchen scraps and dead clematis cuttings. The kind of LOUD rustle that had to be made by something rather LARGE.

Could this possibly be a .... rat? Or worse still, rats?? I never ever put in anything cooked or of animal origin in my compost bin but there was a large hole nibbled in a rotten avocado I'd chucked and rats are omnivorous... Rats also killed my pet mice when I was a child (and they were temporarily housed in a neighbours shed) by eating their brains out.

What can or should I do? Is this just nature red in tooth and claw and will they do no harm (apart from eat the avocados) to my compost? We have a voracious mouse hunter for a cat - should I leave the lid off the composter and put her in it? And will the compost suffer if it gets all cold?

Practicalities aside, all I am thinking really is EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!

I like to think of them as Unidentified Rodents (I always kick my compost bin several times to ensure they've all run away before I take the lid off. Obv a mutilated one wouldn't run away though)

Make a concrete base for your composter. I keep meaning to do this. I also put rat bait in it occasionally.

Mice can be very noisy though. [helpful]

But it already has a concrete base [wails]. Good idea about the kicking though.

My dp is now too scared to take the compost out. He is a wimp.

I've also followed all the rules re compost bins - and found rats poo in mine...

Oh no you have my sympathies. I never knew this could happen! How awful. I have been diligently composting for ages but am now scared to approach the compost bin as am utterly rat phobic. Yucko

We have a rat in one of ours I think. Rather a rat than a grass snake (my own particular phobia). I agree with the kicking thing. I didn't think that composters worked on a concrete base - don't they have to be on soil for the worms etc to get in?

We've got 6 compost bins and rats have taken up residence in one. He sort of does me a favour I throw in my peelings and he/she/them [yikes!] turn my compost for me. He also has avoided my Rat Trap with a piece of chocolate on as sooo much other food is available. In another one I stabbed the compost with the aerator and pulled it out complete with Slow-worm.......

Jesus Fio, that made me shudder.

We got a compost bin about 3 months ago....AND our neighbours had a rats next under their decking.

There's no hope is there?

ok, I'll own up too. We have rats in our compost bin too. I put down dog/child-proof bait boxes with the solid poison blocks in. They've been nibbled (and judging by amount of mouse poo we have wiped out half the country's mouse population). The rats did get a bad case of the runs (on top of compost heap - bleuggggh) but do not seem to have done decent thing and crawled off to die. We moved bait box into compost bin. Rats got the runs again and the feckers have now buried bait box. I suspect they are now living in it.

You can get some weird stuff which kills rats but doesn't hurt anything else if you have pets/chickens/children- something to do with how their guts work "eradirat" or something.

However, I now feel "my" rats are taking the mickey and I am considering getting electic shock zapper killer thing.

You can also get something that traps the rat in sealed chamber, suffocates it with CO2, and then sends you a celebratory text or email to let you know....

That's it.

My compost bin is going in the wheelie bin.

Surely there are rats everywhere though, not just in the compost bin? As in, they may like to live there, but just because you don't have a compost bin, doesn't mean you don't have rats living in your garden, they're just living somewhere else less visible?

eeew!! i bloody HATE rats!! i dont do composting but i was planning on doing some when i move away from the rat infested hellhole we currently live next to!!i will most definitely NOT be composting in the future!![eeewww] we live backing onto a freight railway and the rat problem is out of control!! they have chewed their way through our reinforced back door into our little yard and eat their way through our bins so we are not able to leave bags out for collection as the rats will rip them to shreds!! i used to be quite laid back about the rats but recently i was brushing the yard down (for the umpteenth time) and one ran from behind our bin and straight OVER my new boots (which were obviously on my feet!!) i screamed mostly in anger and at the same time my DH screamed in terror and slammed the bck door on me trapping me outside with the rats!! bloody wimp!! i still dont see the funny side but he insists he was protecting our DD who was in the front living room watching doodle bops!! bloody men!! ah well il be avoiding composters like the plague from now on...
xx ei xx

Get a hot composter...they are shut permanently and no rats can get in ... hooray. Ours is called The Green Johanna ( got it cheap from nice people at the council.) Can also put in hot food, chicken bones etc. Fab way of reducing landfill.

Thank the lord, it appears we are not the only ones then with these nuisance neighbours....

Bramshott - it only rests on the concrete (and brick) base, there is lots of earth all around for worms to get in (and rats of course).

As long as they will not harm my beloved compost, I am (sort of) happy to let them be. I think. As long as they a) don't jump up at me b)don't move in with me c) remain unobtrusive ie I don't want to actually SEE one of the feckers.

The cat will def keep them from the door - she has killed nearly 30 mice in the year we've had her (she has a 'star chart' on the fridge) and I think she would probably have a go at a rat if it DARED trespass across the threshold.

She is curled warmly on my lap. Little does she know that this afternoon she is taking a little reccie into compost corner - there's no harm in letting the rats know that a cat has been in 'their' bin.

We compost... dh always tells me as long as we don't put anything cooked into the compost bin we won't get rats.... oh god... can we still get them????

Laidbackinengland - don't be too laid back unless you reinforced the underground bit with Weldmesh (not just with chickenwire they can get through that!)

We have a Greencone bin and they've been in that too, just chewed in. Actually though they churned it all around nicely. Since greencone is largely used to dispose of dogpoo (plus just enough else to keep it rotting down) they do seem to prefer compost bin which gives them a more varied diet.

Wallofsilence, nope that's wrong. I guess if rats could only eat cooked food their may not be so many around.

Mine are particularly fond of any rotting fruit and cucumber. But will pretty much have a go at anything. Thank god compost bin is reasonable distance from house.

Poor slow worm, was it all right?

Surely their vile germ-laden unrine (weils disease and the like) will make the compost unsuitable for using on the garden, particularly on the veg beds?

doh - there not their.

male human pissing on compost heap is supposed to be v good thing. Dunno about rats piss though - I would guess it's unlikely bugs would actually be in edible plant - wouldn't it?

We had mice in our compost last winter, I got rid of them by making it a thoroughly unpleasant place to live. I left the lid off it, then everyday, I gave it a swift kick and gave it a good water with the watering can. Mice and rats want somewhere warm and dry to live not cold and wet. It didn't take long for the mice to move out.
Once they'd gone I gave everything a good stir and put the lid back on. Stirring compost makes it rot quicker and if it's rotting well then it's too hot for mice and rats to live in.