Rats in compost

[bearded bloke]

As others have said, remove food sources then make it as inhospitable as possible by saturating & turning the bin frequently

[bario1]

Thanks for all the replies - I think I might get another compost bin, but the 'dalek' kind, and put it on flagstones. Then i could put all the kitchen scraps in that one instead of the one that i have right now - would that stop them getting in?
Then i could use the current one for all the other stuff as KofA suggested...
And maybe I'll dig out the bottom half of the current one now and fill my pea trench with the contents, then add what's left to the new bin.

I don't think rats are very far away wherever you are on our site, as it's in the city centre. Occasionally the council set traps, but they don't seem to do much. We have lots of visiting foxes and cats on the site too, you'd think that would keep numbers down.

[Two_Sheds]

can I discourage the rats somehow?

Rats eat grain (chicken food), protein (meat, fast food), and bread (they're attracted to bread thrown down for birds). Oh, and sweet corn.

They go in compost heaps if they're warm and dry, and undisturbed. So, keep watering the heap and turn it more frequently. Give it a kick every time you pass it and the rats will move out.

[bario1]

Update on this - I opened up the composter this morning and turfed out the bottom half. No rats, thankfully - I was dreading finding a nest with babies in - just lovely dark, dense compost, a bit wet, but I left it to dry out in the sun today. The semi rotted stuff will go into my pea trench, and the freshest stuff will go back in the composter.
I never put grains, meat or bread in the compost, just vegetable scraps, dead flowers and cardboard/shredded paper. Maybe the rats just liked to bask in the heat generated just under the lid?

[Nightshade]

Narrow guage wire mesh underneath my Dalek compost bin fixed the problem for me. I put all my kitchen waste in there including lots of bread and cooked food.

The rats would love to get in and eat but I have not had any problems for many years. The wire mesh underneath completely solved my rat problem.

[hellybore]

If you have a dalek, you can get rat proof bottoms for some models.

I have a Green Johanna for kitchen waste - it has a solid bottom (with drainage holes) and you can put bread, cooked food, all sorts in there, and never get any problem with rats. I would never harm a rat, so prevention is best method for me.

[Knight of Albion]

Update on this - I opened up the composter this morning and turfed out the bottom half. No rats, thankfully - I was dreading finding a nest with babies in - just lovely dark, dense compost, a bit wet, but I left it to dry out in the sun today. The semi rotted stuff will go into my pea trench, and the freshest stuff will go back in the composter.
I never put grains, meat or bread in the compost, just vegetable scraps, dead flowers and cardboard/shredded paper. Maybe the rats just liked to bask in the heat generated just under the lid?

The heat could be appealing to them. Though vegetable scraps would make a hearty meal for them. Even something as basic as potato rinds would attract them. It's trash to us but there's actually a good amount of nutrition in potato rinds; indeed, that's where the bulk of the goodness is.