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Rats in the compost heap :(
Ben-Jovi
Posts: 3
The title says it all, It's happened before and we managed to catch them all with humane traps for release a long way away, but the whole town is infested so they're never gone for long. we're doing the same this time and we've already caught one since baiting the traps this afternoon, but I was hoping one of you marvellous horticulturists might know of some sure fire way of stopping this from happening again. Obviously we want to avoid poison, as we plan on using the compost to grow fruit & veg, and having a bunch of dead, toxin filled rats contaminating the compost is unlikely to improve either their taste or nutritional value. Please tell me there is a solution.
0
Posts
If rats are happy to live there then it sounds as if your compost is too dry. Keep the heaps damp and turn them thoroughly and regularly. Ensure you don’t put any food waste or potato peelings in the compost … rats love potatoes.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Either use a proper trap yourself, with suitable bait which kills them, then dispose of them appropriately in your waste, or get someone in to do the job.
Certainly, it sounds as if the heap is far too dry - they wouldn't set up home if it was damp/wet, so that's the main thing to look at for future use as @Dovefromabove says.
Rats are very good climbers @StephenSouthwest so raising something a few feet won't prevent them getting in. It would have to be on something which had no legs, and that's a bit tricky...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My neighbour has about 20 bird feeders and about 20 pans of water dotted around her garden (and has done for 30+ years), so the area is rife with rats.
There are 2 bird feeders directly behind my compost bins on the other side of the fence.
So they use next door for food and water and sleep in my bins.
The compost is ready to use, so it's rich and crumbly.
Over the years I've learned to tolerate it - to some extent.
This year 2 of my 3 bins have collapsed as the rats have chewed through the backs of the bins and the supports.
Replacement bits for the bins will cost ~£140 - so I'm not happy about that.
But there are rats everywhere and even putting poison down only kills those that eat it, then more move in to take their place, so I don't bother any more.
I sometimes find droppings in my loft too (as do other neighbors).
I put poison down and it's gone in a few days.
Eventually the poison isn't eaten, so I can breathe easy for a while until more move in again - usually over winter.
My other neighbour's father is a pest controller and he's going to give me some professional bait to use.
He did mention that if a dog eats any the antidote is vitamin K1.
It's losing battle.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Advice I received at the time, was to ensure the edges of the dalek were buried. I thought how crazy an idea that was, but tried it. I assumed mice would just burrow through to get inside.
But it worked!!
I'm not sure whether it will work for rats, or what type of compost heap you have, but it might be worth trying.
Perhaps the pest control chap could go and have a word with them.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
They could hear rats in the loft when sleeping.
They hear rats running up and down between the cavity walls!! and they've found nests in their loft between the roof tiles and felt!!
So they are overrun with them - they're not the tidiest (or cleanest..) of people....
She didn't want to mention it to her Dad, but when I told her the droppings in my loft were definately from rats, she alerted her father.
He's put in rat traps, mouse traps and squirrel traps in their loft.
No food waste whatsoever in my bins and as Dove mentions above potato peelings are the rat equivalent of steak & chips.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
We do have them here, as we're near farmland and we're across from a small NT garden too, so plenty of available sites for them. They've never been a problem until a couple of years ago, when a chap across the road was getting work done along a boundary which had probably been their home - lots of honeysuckle/shrubs/hedging etc, and I suddenly had one I'd caught on the camera. A trap bought and placed at the hole under the shed it was using. Job done after about ten days or so, and so far - no other signs. I was quite lucky though. I expect any others went the other way into the NT garden's woodland edges.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My next-door but one neighbour (the other side of the rat infested neighbour) is my best mate. She is also extremely phobic about rats.
She's already contacted the council - they're not interested, so she told them that their young children are in danger due to health and safety.
The council have asked her for photographic evidence - of which there is plenty.
When they change the baby's nappy they put it in a bag and chuck it out of the 1st floor bathroom window.
Sometimes it gets stuck on the roof of the extension and will stay there for weeks (for all passers-by to see!). Usually the bags drop onto their driveway and they remove them eventually.
Other times foxes take the nappy bags under the shrubbery in their front garden - there have been 2 bags of dirty nappies there for months now.
They leave their black bag rubbish by their garage, so foxes frequently rip them open, much to the disgust of my mate as the bags are close to her side-door.
So there's no shortage of photos she's taken.
I wonder what the Council will actually do though.
Their once beautiful 150ft garden is now a wilderness.
They bought the house only because of the excellent primary school just down the road. They have no interest in gardening (or tidiness/cleanliness) at all.
Shortly after they moved in she asked me if I get lots of flies in my house - well, no I don't. But she does.
Her husband works from home but there are rarely any windows open at all to stop the flies getting into their house, even in on hot days - yuk!
You can't choose your neighbours (but I did choose the previous ones when I sold the house
So I basically ignore their behaviours and try and keep the peace somewhat.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.