We have a tenacious rat/s that dines out in our plastic compost bin, I was wondering whether anyone had any no-non violent way to banish it?

I have shored up the door at the front of the bin, but they promptly chewed a huge hole in the side next to the door. So I covered that one up and they have now chewed a hole on the opposite side. Quite tempted to buy a stainless steel bin just to see if they could chew through that too!!!

Thanks

Lizzy

I suspect that they could chew through even a stainless steel bin, although it would take them longer.

Politely asking, of course, what are you putting in the compost which would attract him/her? Rats are especially attracted to meats and fats, both of which would not normally go into a compost bin.

Otherwise, to put it delicately, I suppose you could always allow the rat to compost that material his or her own way...

I don't know if there are any good non-violent methods for discouraging rats, other than to tightly seal things in a rat-proof bin, but I think that would defeat the purpose of the composting.

Kingfisher

Hi

We only put veg peelings, grass cuttings, weeds etc. in the bin.

I think the only course of action is to buy a more robust bin!!!

Thanks very much

Lizzy

Aye, I think that would be the way to go, then. It's not that odd to have rats attracted to peelings, grass cuttings and the like (I've had a terrible time with rats in the past eating spilled seed from bird feeding stations, to the point where I had to cease feeding until the rats went onto a more profitable territory!), so it would seem that the metal bin would be the way to go.

Kingfisher

Lizzy, have you found a bin that can stand up to the rats?

Hi

I spoke to the environmental health department and their advice was  not to put "food" into the bin only garden waste!  Nice conflicting advice from the government once again!!  

Apparently if you dispatch your incumbant rat, other rats will follow the same trails and take over the vacated patch very quickly.  So I've just placed bricks around the edge of the compost bin and stopped putting peelings, old fruit and veg into the bin.  That seems to have worked as we haven't noticed any fresh activity!

Another upside, my husband noticed a half chewed rat in our garden the other day, so we were wondering whether a fox had had a go.  We think Mr Fox has been in our garden before, as a large animal had chewed my daughters juice beaker that she'd left in the garden overnight.

If you're thinking of investing in a compost bin I would recommend buying one that was robust and built more like a wheely bin rather than the cheaper ones you can buy on your local council website.  Rule of thumb if it has an edge that they can get their teeth a round they will chew a hole, smooth continues sides are best.  Alternatively invest in a very big cat!!  My friend's feline used to bring home on average 3 rats a night when they lived in basingstoke next to the canal.

Good luck!

Lizzy

Thanks for the advice! I'll have to look into getting a smooth sided bin, like you said a normal wheelie bin would be perfect so I'll see if you can buy those from anywhere.

We don't have a cat unfortunately and I don't think we can get one at the minute, even though it would be very effective pest control!

Typical!

It seems that the the environmental health department need to get things like this straight before they give conflicting advice.

Some more tips on keeping rats out your compost bin/pile:

• Every so often fork over your heap or bin as rats don't like being disturbed
• Rats don't like to have to move across open spaces, so keeping your bin away from walls and fences may help