On Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:20:56 +0000, jess1990
wrote:


hello.i've got rats nesting in my compost bin!i'm not sure how they have
got in.what should i do?cheers,lee

You, like many others, would be surprised to find out just how near
rats are everyday. That they're in your compost bin is simply because
they're opportunistic blighters.

If it's one of those dalek type compost containers, or any sort of
enclosed plastic bin, get yourself a garden fork and, wearing stout
gloves, drive the fork into the compost and turn it around, lift it,
tilt it - generally try to move the compost about a bit. Rats hate the
disturbance and will, if you do it on a daily basis, relocate, exiting
by whatever route they entered.

OTOH, they won't relocate far.

Consider that leaving them in your compost bin until the spring could
actually help. They will eat their way through any thing appetising
and pass it out the other end, helping the composting process.

Just remember in the spring to wear gloves and stout somethings on
your legs when you turn the compost bin out, just in case. They're
more scared of you than you are of them.

And, in the meantime, you know where they are.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
URGling in between collecting leaves at
the dryer (east) end of Swansea Bay.