"Oh, I can't have compost. I have rats."
If you aren't keen on rats, stop right here.
I've been fighting a battle with rats since I moved to my current garden. They obviously have an extensive underground community, a series of tunnels that run along the side of the house, underneath the house next door (although they have two dogs and a cat) and up into the compost bins here. At first I thought, gosh the compost here turns itself over and goes down very quickly! Then I realized that it was not due to my diligence and the felicity of my healthy blend of microorganisms, but rather due to the creatures digging through it every night and eating the larger scraps. The result is actually a very nicely aerated compost, but the situation clearly couldn't continue because a) the tunnelling and digging does make a mess and b) they're rats.
This rat likes avocado.
Whether one could actually get a disease—such as, say, bubonic plague or Rat Catcher's Yellows—from having rats in one's compost is unclear. But, I'll say it again...they're RATS.
So I decided to use the compost bins only for garden waste (leaves, grass, small clippings) and use the worm compost for kitchen scraps. It seemed to be going well. Got my worms in, started putting in the potato peelings and limp arugula, and the compost was progressed at a great rate. Then, the other evening, took a bucket of scraps out to the compost, lifted the lid, and out jumped a rat. Fast. How did it get into the wormery (actually 4 stacked compartments)? See photo below.
Just chomp right through the plastic.
So now the worm composter is basically up on stilts and has bricks on top and hardware cloth (similar to chicken wire) lining the inside of the handles. It's like a Fort Knox Compost. Will it keep them out? Probably not. I may have to move. Or join my divorcée friend and become a non-composter.
Hi, Fiona, My worm condo is stacked indoors in the front hall, greeting everyone as they arrive. I wouldn't put it outside, not due to rats but to the voracious and ingenious raccoon population, who would soon slurp up the worms like hand-milled spaghetti. Soon, we'll all need second residences just to house our composting and recycling paraphernalia.
ReplyDeleteIt's true but I take such pride in my compost. Am about to move and simply can't think about living without it. It's like alchemy.
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