William Asher wrote:

I live in Royal Oak, Michigan, a close-in suburb of Detroit. Recently
a handful of rats were detected in a one-mile square area in the north
end of my city. The city fathers (and mothers) were rightly
concerned, and took action. One of the actions was to ban composting
of all kitchen waste, because it was considered an attractant to
rodents.

They just now noticed they have rats? Lead pipe cinch they've been
there since the town was settled.

I have been using an Earth Machine composter for about 5 years now,
and feed it regularly with vegetative kitchen waste and various yard
scraps.

I am really very ignorant of rats (I did see one in an alley in
downtown Detroit once, and it wasn't a pleasant sight!), but I find it
hard to believe that rats would be able to get through the hard and
comparatively thick plastic of which the Earth Machine is constructed.

Lining the box with 1/2" mesh screen will keep rodents out.

Does anybody out there have any experience with rats and Earth Machine
composters? I'd really like to know if a study exists that determines
one way or the other how resistant they are to rats. Anecdotal
evidence from hundreds of Earth Machine owners probably won't sway the
city commission to rescind the ban (or change the ban to a ban on OPEN
composting of food waste).

Rats ain't all bad. The lab strains that nearly all life-saving drugs
were tested on were bred from the same rattus Norvegicus species
you crossed paths with in that dark narrow alley.