Stand up and revolt freedomm to compost! Just do it any way unless
you have a crochity old meany who lives next door who will turn you
in. open composting attracts rodents I used to see llittle mice now
and again in my compost even a rabit or two munching on a freshly
tossed vegi when I just had an open compost but now I have a closed
one and no trouble with bunnies or mice any more but the previous
poster was correct they came on boats in the 1400's and they aren't
going any where soon.

On Thu, 20 May 2004 07:15:46 GMT, Travis
wrote:

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.

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.

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).

Thanks!

Rats are everywhere. Banning composting will not get rid of them.