Buying a Property

A Whole Heap of Rats: How to Keep Rats from Nesting in Your Compost Heap

21 July 2017 by Chad Diaz

Rats love people. People unwittingly provide rats with shelter and copious amounts of food, which is why rats seem to gravitate toward the areas that are most heavily populated by human beings. Sydney, for example, now has more rats than people, leading to a surge in the number of pest control bookings. Rats need warmth, food and shelter from predators. Compost heaps then, are akin to free roadside motels stocked to the rafters with free food. A nearby rat will not pass up such a glorious opportunity to establish a nest.

Obviously, this is alarming for several reasons. Rats produce lots of babies per year, especially the brown rat, which can produce up to 2,000 young in a single year! This means that your compost bin could quickly turn into a baby rat-making machine. Not only will they devour your valuable compost, but once the population explodes, you may find your house, vegetables, and fruit under attack as well. Fortunately, there is a simple method of keeping rats out of your compost.

Place Concrete Slabs under Your Compost Bin

Once you have scared the nesting rats off, it's time to rat-proof your compost bin. First, invest in some chicken wire and concrete slabs. Wrap the concrete slabs in chicken wire, and then place them on the ground. Now, place your compost bin on the wire-covered slabs. Rats can chew through just about anything, but a wire-wrapped concrete slab will keep them from burrowing into your bin from beneath the soil.

You will also need to wrap the bin itself.

Wrap Your Compost Bin in Chicken Wire

Rats can easily make short work of even heavy-duty plastic. If your compost bin is sufficiently enticing, rats will gnaw through it and tunnel into the heap to create a nest.

Stop them from doing that by wrapping your compost bin in chicken wire. Ensure you use chicken wire with the smallest holes you can find, then double up and create two overlapping layers just to be sure.

Create a Chicken Wire Compost Bin

You could even do away with the compost bin and instead build a chicken wire compost container. To do so is fairly simple. Bend the chicken wire into your preferred shape, a cylinder for example. Then use a few dozen cable ties to secure the ends, bottom, and top. Ensure you cover the top because rats can jump fairly high, and support the sides with 2-4 wooden stakes.

Composting in this way will ensure that when it comes to aerating your compost, you won't be greeted with an army of rats. However, if your rat problem continues and your veggies and fruits are suffering, call in a pest control expert to quickly and safely eradicate the rats before they eat you out of compost and garden. For more information, contact companies like Allstate Pest Control.

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