Rat in the compost bin
Garden noob
Posts: 260
I filled up my compost bin on Saturday after mowing and scarifying. I saw it had settled today so started to fork it over. 10 seconds later a rat (I think) darted out of the bottom of the bin and under the shed (2 feet away). The bin also smelt unusually bad when it was forked, but I'm not good at identifying smells.
I've assumed we've had mice in/around the shed - I take this almost as an inevitability - but I don't like the idea of a rats nest (even though I live in the London suburbs and assume there must be rats everywhere).
I don't think much has gone in the bin to attract rats - we're largely vegetarian. We've composted eggshells (not many though) so I'll stop doing that.
It's not easy to fork thoroughly (on a raised bed under a small tree) but I'll try to regularly disturb it over coming weeks/days.
I'll give it a thorough drenching too...
Anything else I can do? 
It was bad enough when we had ants in the compost. I don't want rats!
Posts
Hmm, I am surprised it has gone in so soon if you have just filled the bin. I am afraid they may be living under the shed & have just gone to the compost to investigate they are very inquisitive. Sounds like you are doing most of the right things. If there was material in the bottom of the bin before this may have gone stagnant over winter. In this case you might need to empty the whole bin out & if you see nothing in the way of nest etc put it all back. This will mix all the material & help the heap heat up and rot faster. I would get a bait box (get one you can re-fill) and set it by the shed with a brick or something heavy on top to keep it in place. Wear heavy rubber gloves when handling bait & box- keep them for that one job only. Keep re-filling with bait until no more is taken.
I moved the compost bin to it's current location in October, so that was the last time it was well turned. It was about a third full over the winter but I've hardly touched it since. We've been adding food waste, and I've added grass clippings in recent weeks. I gave it a little stir a couple of weeks ago but nothing major. Today's the first time it's smelt really bad.
I put a load of grass clippings in the council brown bin over the weekend (it's new turf so may have had weed or other chemical treatment on it so no good for the compost bin).
The grass was quite damp and I've just opened the bin lid. The clippings have settled quite a bit but it smells like a slurry pit in there. Just the clippings starting to decompose.
That may also be the source of your compost heap smell unless you've mixed in a lot of brown material as well.
A good stir never does any harm. I agree with Iain that the the rats are probably under the shed. Pest control or DIY I'm afraid. If you feed the birds stop doing that for a while - and move any bird food / seed out of the shed
Last edited: 15 March 2017 11:03:31
Rats like nice warm compost heaps for nesting and babies. Fresh grass cuttings will make it smelly of not mixed in with lots of brown stuff such as paper, cardboard, dead stems and leaves. Egg shells are good in compost as are coffee grinds and tea leaves and any uncooked food waste.
I suggest you loosen up the heap and add some brown material and then water it thoroughly as this helps both to start the composting off (add an activator if you want or get hubby to pee on it) and put some sachets of rat poison in your shed and between it and the heap but somewhere children, birds, pets won't get at it. Repeat as necessary.
Thanks for the feedback. You're right that it's very green at the moment - kitchen waste and grass clippings. What brown material do you add at this time of year? Autumn leaves are almost the only brown material that goes into my bin.
I was thinking I could shred paper instead of recycling it?
I tear or screw up all junk mail paperwork providing it is not shiny. All cereal boxes get torn up, egg boxes, any waste loo paper. I use a lot of kitchen roll around the kitchen for mopping up spills as we have wood worktops and I'm trying to preserve them by not leaving small pools of water around the tap and sink, they all go into the composter too.
I use shredded paper, cardboard (torn up), newspaper (torn up), shredded woody plant material, contents of the vacuum cleaner, sawdust, OH's hair after its been cut - lots and lots of stuff.
Place the compost bin on a sheet of wire mesh to keep Roland out.