To quote Charlie Brown..."Rats!"

[davefromwestchester]

Hi all,

So this summer we purchased and installed in our backyard, on the lawn, two large composting bins. They are attached to the ground per the instructions, just a few plastic strews, and that's it.

Fast forward 6 weeks and we have fabulous compost developing. BUT we also have rodents digging under the plastic bins, I think they are rats, and burrowing into the pile and probably consuming all the yummy garbage. There were as of last night several holes to the naked eye. two weeks ago, I did a lame fix and placed bricks around the edge bin thinking that would stop them but they just dug under the bricks. Gotta hand it to these industrious little suckers.

My next thought was to remove the bins and compost material, re-rake the soil so all holes are filled and then lay down chicken wire as a bed, covering the entire floor of the bin and extending beyond by several inches. I figure the rats, or whatever they are could dig under but not through the wire, unless I'm wrong about that, at which point I'm stumped. I hater the idea of these ravenous little creeps out there feasting away.

Any thoughts and or advice would be deeply appreciated. We've written to the composting company we bought from but they have not responded.

Thanks!!!

David R (for rats!)

[farmerlon]

Mice (and I assume Rats too) can squeeze through some pretty small holes. So, you might have to use a "hardware cloth" wire that has smaller openings than chicken wire.

[davefromwestchester]

Mice (and I assume Rats too) can squeeze through some pretty small holes. So, you might have to use a "hardware cloth" wire that has smaller openings than chicken wire.

Thanks, I think I know exactly what you mean, it's thicker than chicken wire and as you say, more densely woven. But urban legend has it that rats can gnaw through wire, is that true?

[gixxerific]

The wire on the bottom is a good idea.

Gotta go my wife is yelling at me, the kids are being rats right now.

[Kisal]

Actually, rats and mice ... well, all rodents ... can bite right through the lightweight wire used to make hardware cloth. I use a section of 1x1/2 inch mesh welded wire fabric to keep the beasties out of my compost bin. The worms can come and go with ease, though. I laid the wire flat on the ground, set the bin on top, then bent the excess wire up around the bottom edge of the bin.

[gixxerific]

another idea is to put landsacping block down as a base. You can put them in with small worm sized gaps so they can travel but the rodents cannot.