Phil L wrote:
Cat wrote:
Gasp!
I was turning my compost bin over the week end, and four rats ran
out of it...
I was warned not to put any cooked or meat based organic stuff in
the bin, and have been careful not to.
The following is what goes in:
Grass clippings (possibly a little too much, as it is a bit wet
and yukky at the moment)
Shredded paper (newspaper and other, but not glossy paper)
Kitchen waste (veg peelings, stale bread, and such)
Shrub/tree clippings
Weeds

The only things to interest rats in this lot is the bread..they
already have an ample (and free) supply of all vegetable products,
so
there's nothing much in that department of any interest to
them...cut
out the bread and watch them disappear!


Is some of what I am putting in at fault? Is the fact that my
compost is too wet part of the problem? I have added shredded
newspaper this w/e to try and mop up the wet.
Fortunately, my box is at the very end of the garden, and
therefore not near the house - so no danger of rats moving in.
Still, I would like to do something about it, but am a bit at a
loss...
I should say that the land beyond our back boundary - against
which the composter backs - is wasteland which may well have its
own rat population, although I am only surmising this.
So not only do I need to get rid of the current inhabitants of my
bin but I'd need to make sure I am not attracting any more.
I did turn the compost reasonably thoroughly this w/e, so that
the
grassy goo is more homogeneously spread - perhaps rats are not
keen on a gooey home?
I really do not know what to do... help!

It doesn't matter how gooey it is, they aren't living there - just
feeding, remove the food source and they will forage elsewhere.

I'm not at all sure about that: they're much more likely to be
nocturnal feeders around human dwellings, aren't they? That, and
finding a whole group in one place, suggests a nest rather than
foraging. I would cut out the bread, though -- it may not make much
difference, but it's not that much use as compost-fodder, anyhow.

Steve mentioned how difficult it is to catch more than one rat in a
trap: this is true. Sometimes you have to get over their suspicion of
anything new by leaving the trap about for a few days, then, if it
kills one, they get wise. I'm sorry to say that poison is probably
the only answer, unless you can borrow a couple of good terriers --
oops, that's h**ting! I bet the official rat man will use poison if
you call him in.

Mike.