Rats in my compost heap!!

[LolaLou]

Hello, please help! I took the lid off my compost heap at the allotment on Saturday and was met by the sight of a menagerie of tails and brown fur - I think there was at least 10 rats initially on top of the heap that disappeared on my shriek and weren't there when I took the lid off again a few minutes later. On closer inspection (using my fork!!) there are little tunnels and holes all over the heap. I've called the council and am waiting to hear back and I've Googled the problem and lots of sites say wet the heap (it probably is very dry to be honest, I was going in to give it a VERY overdue turn when I found the 'visitors') and give it a good dig over and that should evict them. My questions are - if I dig over the heap full of rats......will they not run out everywhere (i.e. over me.....); what happens if there are nests of babies in there (I'll happily kill a thousand gnats but baby rats are another thing); and finally.... what do I do with the compost? Lots of the info I have seen just says carry on composting but will it not be full of disease and I'm then going to put it onto my vegetable patch - should I burn the compost and start again (with galvanised wire on the bottom of the heap)?? Any help is greatly appreciated as I'm devastated at my new guest's appearances and want to oust them pronto!!!!

[Jeanied]

If the nest has been disturbed, I think the mother will move them to safety - I found some little pink babies under a piece of vinyl flooring on my plot and the next time I looked, they were gone. So take the lid off and let the air do the work.
Next time keep the heap moist!

[Jeanied]

Oh, and your concerns about diseases and such - well, if they are in your heap spreading disease they are doing the same over the rest of the plots too. Sensible precautions should be enough - wash your hands before handling food and wear gloves.

[oldie]

Yes keep it wet. Slight concern about handling it with bare hands as rats urine can infect cuts and it is serious(can't remember name). It will wash out of the compost if you keep it wet.

[LolaLou]

Thanks for the quick replies - good to know about the babies, as much as I never want to see the little pests again, I'm also a bit of a soft touch for nature and didn't want to go killing them off.

So - can I just continue to compost the compost (?) that they have been living in if I keep it wet - will the composting cycle kill off anything nasty that I wouldn't then want to be putting on to my veg crops?

Thanks again.

[Bigmallly]

There's an interesting thread on the subject here.

BBC NEWS | Talk about Newsnight | There's a rat in me compost...

[oldie]

It is called LEPTOSPIRA. Google and found this. Leptospira require constant immersion in water to survive, and so drying of the surface for any length of time would permanently kill the bacteria. May be you should let it dry out! I think you will be getting some more advice from other more knowledgeable people.

[flighty1]

have you thought about a ferret & a couple of jack russells, or perhaps a flute. With respect letting the little bu**ers live just perpetuates the problem. They breed like mad.

[cupcake]

Weills disease rings a bell.

[Jeanied]

However if one is not of a killing disposition, and one is getting a bit worried about diseases - one should keep calm, bear in mind that none of us are ever very far from a rat, and take ordinary precautions! Otherwise one would never set foot on the lottie again!

[LolaLou]

True, true.....in reality, I just want rid of them and its right, if you don't nip them in the bud then they'll just keep on multiplying. Thanks for all your suggestions (I might hire a couple of Jack Russels for the day!!). I'm thinking I might wet the heap tonight to try and flush them out, (depending on hearing anything from the council) then rake it out at the weekend, let it dry out and then burn it and start again with a wired up heap – its due to be moved anyway so it'll make me do a job I've been avoiding! Just hope none of the little lovelies run over my feet in the process!!

[womble]

If you build your heap with solid sides and heavy duty wire underneath, that will stop any rats getting in. Keeping it wet is a short term solution.

Then you have the problem of rats in general, you should definitely try to get rid of them, the council now you've rang them should help you with that.

Weils disease is really nasty and if you have any symptoms you should go to the doctor straight away if you have been around rats, or in areas where they have been.
Every gardener should really find out about it and know what to look for. No end on google. The thing about it, is that doctors don't know for sure if you have it until after they have to start treating you. You can die and you can leave it too long before you go to the doctors, they then can't do anything for you, so don't try and brave through it.
You get it by the disease getting into a cut on you, I think you can't get it by swallowing it, but gloves are a good idea.

The disease is killed by drying out and carried in rats urine, so once it dries out, it should be fine. I would move your heap onto a wired heap and leave it for the required time, then spread it out on the ground to dry properly in the sun, it should be fine then.

Sorry about the essay! But a guy died round here years ago from it and I thought I had it once and the doctor opened my eyes to how dangerous it is. The only bright side, is that it is very rare, so don't live your whole life scared.

[LolaLou]

Hi Womble, thanks for that. I've just had a call from our very helpful allotment officer at the council. He is going to go down with the rat catcher on Wednesday and see what they can do - he said they will probably put bait down in rat sized tubes and then come remove any rats that die on the lottie. He said the bait will be down for about a month so I guess I'll water the heap up and then leave it and hope that the poison works. I will then move it to a wired heap and start again......

[bobleponge]

I had a rat problem in my woodshed a few months ago. Got a fantastic product (yes it does kill them), put the product on the ground, product disappeared, so did the rats.

Brilliant.

I had a very similar situation in my dalek a few years ago, lifted off the lid to chuck some stuff in, and found a nest of snakes all nice and snuggly.

[Liza]

Not that I am a fan of rats but I had one sat next to my compost heap on Saturday morning, her eyes were bleeding and she was obviously blind, which is a result of being poisoned. Who knows how long her slow death will take.

I have a jack Russell and would have preferred her to have killed it in an instant, but they don't allow dogs at my Lottie and wouldn't have wanted her to come in blood contact with a poisoned animal.