composting wiht rat problem

[tomloaf]

Hi

I am relatively new to gardening and just got a house with a garden
I got some of the Blackwell compost bins for general garden rubbish, vegetable waste and peelings etc, anything cooked I give to my chickens.

I have recently found that the compost bins have been encouraging rats. I have had an exterminator in to fix the problem and they think that the rats are living and mainly drawn to the compost bins. They have advised to get either full metal sealed compost bins or bins that are raised of the floor

Obviously these cost money I would rather not spend. I have heard people talk about putting wire mesh under the bins but the exterminator said they would just chew through it

I thought compost needed contact with the ground so worms and microbes can get in to do there composting job. Is this true

Could I not just get some galvanised metal rubbish bins to have the compost bin and put them on bricks. If it needs access to the ground I could drill some small hole sin the bottom to let worms and bugs in but not rats.

How about wormerys. Are these any good for waste. I thought they wouldn’t have the capacity. The majority of our waste are peelings and tea bags.

Any help and experience would be great

Regards
Tom Smith

[bantiekeeper]

Hi Tom,
We have compost bins on our allotment. Rats have only been a problem once in 17 years. The bins are made from pallets and sit directly on the ground.
It was found that if the heap is turned on a regular basis the disturbance seems to keep the rats from moving in. It also helps if the area surrounding the heaps is kept clear. Once the contents are well rotted we move them to another bay by which time there is not much there to be of interest to them. You could try adding more in the way of dry twiggy material as well to offset the wetness of peelings and teabags. I also burn the soiled newspaper from the chicken coop floor on the heap every day and put all the woodchip from the run floor on there as well when we change it for fresh material.
Hope this helps.
Brian

[scarybex]

Hiya, you can get a plastic bottom bit to fix on your darlek type composter to help deter rats. Personally I stopped mine getting in by fitting a sort of nappy of metal wire around the bottom (so it came a couple of inches up the body of the composter) and wiring it tight on. Also I bought a Bokashi system. You can read my rat woes here if you like.

What with that and Rentokill rat boxes along the fences it's worked so far. It's been all quiet since then.

[Tom J]

found one in mine today, but my site isn't quite level so it got underneath the gap. planning on building a concrete base and setting the bottom cm or so of the plastic bin into the wet concrete