Ants in my compost bin

[andrew1973]

Hi,
I'm sure that this will have been discussed before - have tried the search facility with little success.
I have had a colony of ants move into my compost bin. Not sure if this is a good thing or not. Should i try to get rid of them & if so how??

Am dreading emptying the bin to use the compost at the bottom!

Any suggestions out there?

[taff]

The way to get rid of them is to keep turning your heap, they don't like their homes being tipped upside down.
As far as i can tell [I had some red ones living in mine] they're not doing any damage, I just hate finding all the eggs, and ants in my bra when I get back in again...ewww...
You can try exposing the eggs for the birds to eat if you can't turn it over, but I wouldn't worry too much, they're more of a nuisance than a problem.

[Paul Wagland]

Soaking the heap with a hose sometimes works too. Not likely to be a problem until you need to use the compost though. And even then, as Taff says, the birds will scoff the ants and eggs as soon as you spread it around.

[podfather]

my compost heap has ants too, also found 2 slow worms when moving it this weekend, didn't see any others worms which i thought you needed in a compost heap, should they be there if so how do i encourage them?

[taff]

Is your compost bin on soil or a solid surface? You'll find more worms if it's on soil, they're a reddish colour, and quite thin compared to the monster ones in normal soil.
If it is on soil, lightly fork it before you put your bin on it, make sure there's enough brown to green ratio [ this depends I've found on the person giving the advice] if it isn't smelly and slimy it's good. If it's dry and doesn't seem to be breaking down much, add some water or urine.
A good mix of ingredients in your bin will do the most to encourage them. I have a dalek style one just for grass clippings and i never find many in that one, but loads in the 'normal' compost bins.
Slow worms hang around compost heaps/bins because they're nice and warm.