Using compost that has 'housed' rats

[LolaLou]

Some of you may have read my distress earlier in the year that I had a family (or 10) of rats move into my large compost heap in the spring The local council arranged the rat catcher to visit and I haven't seen one of the blighters since....although I am just getting to grips with emptying the heap now...
My question(s) is(are) - can I use the compost that they have lived in?? I was thinking of using it to stick in the bottom of bean trenches for next year (its not all that broken down yet so would be perfect) but am concious that the disease they can spread (I think its in their urine - Weil's) stays if the material it is on stays wet (I understand that as soon as it dries out the disease becomes inactive). So, if the heap is a bit damp (its been uncovered since about March/April this year when the pied piper came and visited) and I put the material into damp ground - would I be spreading the disease or would it effect/survive in the veg grown in that ground?
OR
Should I continue to compost the heap until it is completely rotten and hopefully the disease gone.
I'm really confused what to do for the best - we are allowed bonfires on our site on the weekend nearest to bonfire night - so I was thinking I could just burn it then??
Any advice gratefully accepted as always!

[binley100]

For all we know there could be vermin running around the plots at night , having a pee here and there ,so I can't see how it can do any harm using the compost. I think the common way to catch Weil's disease is through drinking contaminated water or through open wounds. Apparantly it lessens as stuff breaks down.

Also found this:-

Extract from Garden Organic advice

Gardeners are most unlikely to be infected by Weil’s disease, providing that basic garden hygiene is followed. After work in the garden, hands should be washed in hot soapy water, and dried. Compost in which rats have nested or burrowed is perfectly safe to use in the garden. Bacteria may survive in moist soil, but will not be absorbed into plant tissue. Always wash vegetables, including herbs, brought in from the garden. Temperatures below 4°C and above 37C° will kill the leptospira bacteria.
There is clearly no need to stop composting.

[womble]

I'm not an expert, I'd just like to get that in first.

But I do know that cold and heat kill off any problem bacteria. So you should be able to spread the compost on top of your beds and leave it there over winter, come spring you should have no problems at all.

But, I would rake through the compost carefully and see what the rats may have brought back to the nest, poison etc.

[LolaLou]

Hi Binley/Womble - thanks so much for your help, I'd scoured the internet but couldn't find the answers I was looking for. Its such a hassle knowing that they have been in there and done whatever - my other fear (not really fear, just don't want to find it) is turning over the heap and finding the remains of any 'poisoned' rats.....yuk!
Well, that's my mind put at rest a bit - I'll spread it out and let nature do its work!
And yes, like you say Binley, there must be all sorts clambering over the plots of a night (I've found a HUGE dead rat at the side of my plot in the past and thought nothing of it, except for having to remove it as the smell was violent!!) - we have lots of foxes that leave me lots of unwanted presents (acutally, they were also using my prized butternuts as teritory markers last year to add insult to injury!) but I still eat the veg after a good wash (...actually anti-bac'ed the butternuts before storing them....obsessed ).
Thanks again, LL

[Two_Sheds]

I guess you just need to bite the bullet and sort through that compost heap: it might not be pleasant, but then picking cat poo off your lawn & out of your tubs every morning isn't exactly a joy either... and cat poo is full of germs (grrrrrr)

[chris]

I may be wrong, but I thought rats were generally quite "clean" as in having a designated bog area, where they do the majority of their messing/weeing?

[Two_Sheds]

Rats spray urine everywhere to mark their territory don't they?

[chris]

Good point.. I'm not really sure - I just remember being told that when I worked in a petshop as a saturday job years ago! I guesss different for caged animals!

[Two_Sheds]

I just remember being told that when I worked in a petshop

Yeah, the pet shops would also have us believe that rats don't bite

[womble]

I believe rats do constantly urinate to mark their territory, although I suspect that is mainly the male rats.
They do however constantly leave behind a trail of urine, mice do this too, if you have a white surface, you can see virtually everywhere they have been by the trails.

I remember reading this is because they have a problem with their bladders, but I don't think this is true, more to do with scent trails.