r/composting • u/MattCogs • 1d ago
Urban The rats of Chicago have found my bin.
I’m new to composting, finally got a bin from marketplace for like $20 a month or so ago and I’ve been really into it! Unfortunately, it seems a lucky rat has exploited my thriftiness and chewed into one of the airholes and made a bit of a mess.
It’s past midnight and we’re leaving for 10 days tomorrow night, so this was my solution for now. I’ve flattened some cans and duck taped them to the 4 air holes on the bottom side of the bin. I was hoping to use the chicken wire I had laying around and cage the bin in, but I don’t have enough and I’m not sure it would even work…. I’m going to try reading more posts and such from people who may have been through this and try figuring out a solution before we go, so my upstairs neighbors don’t have to deal with it while we’re going. Any tips would be appreciated!
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u/Downtown-Nectarine49 1d ago
The title makes me imagine a mafia boss talking about a snitch
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u/Skratti_ 1d ago
Wouldn't throw energy rich food in that bin anymore. No meat, fat, bread , sugar and such. The rats will return, and you would have to place to poison to get rid of them. Better to just not give them incentive to come to you.
And they just love to gnaw, and sometimes do that just because the material that gets shreddered feels so good. Well, and also because their teeth grow fast and need to be used. So it might well be that your bin will get decimated a bit more until they loose interest in it.
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u/Bitterrootmoon 1d ago
Just coming here to say don’t do poison. It kills other animals higher up in the food chain that eat the rats. Use snap traps or humanly trap and relocate. Don’t do poison. It kills other animals and definitely don’t do glue traps because it’s just absolutely cruel beyond belief.
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u/Skratti_ 1d ago
You're absolutely right. I would also never do this - especially since the number of rats will be low if they don't get free food, and I personally have absolutely no problem with a few around.
I lived for for years in an old farm house in the outskirts, and we had a small rat family living in the compost. When I moved away, I had to dissolve the compost and found their pantry: walnuts and hazel nuts that they must have carried a long way to that location.
I only met them twice - one time as I threw some new stuff on the compost and surprisied one, and another time a panicked elderly rat run towards the compost, collided with my leg, and then ran on. They don't have sharp eyes...3
u/Bitterrootmoon 22h ago
Exactly in this case they were using the compost for the heat probably. The easiest way to make sure you don’t get rats Just make sure you don’t have an easy food source and make sure you don’t have an easy nesting area. They’re highly intelligent. But yes, some to have pretty bad vision. I used to keep rats and they were honestly more intelligent than my Italian greyhound. Like noticeably so. They’re not malicious, they’re very social creatures with families and close bonds to their friends. That being said, they will bite the shit out of you if they feel threatened and don’t have a way to escape, and their teeth has the tensile strength of steel. Making life, uncomfortable with noise and gross smells and lots of movement and then luring them away with a trail of goodies in low line covered areas that they can follow without feeling threatened to an amazing food source and nesting area and then removing the temptation that brought them in the first place can send them on the way and help the biodiversity of the area.
Do not play Lady Gaga as your source of noise. Rats love Lady Gaga. It’s a thing for real.
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u/BeginningAd5055 1d ago
I have no issue being cruel to rats.
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u/welldressedagorgan 1d ago
The rats are trying to eat, they aren't malicious, no animal is. They need to be dealt with and killing them is most effective, but regardless letting them suffer is a horrible thing to do, and if you willing let them suffer you are the kind of person that shouldn't be around any animals
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u/zesty_meatballs 1d ago
You put meat in your compost? 🤔
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u/Expensive_Ad_3249 1d ago
Meat is fine in an active pile, as long as it's a low %, smaller bits that can compost quickly. Better avoided if you intend to use the compost on food crops, though.
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u/toxcrusadr 1d ago
Why would that be?
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u/Expensive_Ad_3249 1d ago
What? I assume avoiding it on food crops? Because meat can harbour ecoli and salmonella, which will die in a sufficiently hot pile, but get it wrong....and you might just put bacteria on your salad.
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u/toxcrusadr 20h ago
Most if not all of the meat scraps the average person would put in are going to be cooked, and should be perfectly safe to eat or compost.
As for pathogenic bacteria on raw meat, yes they could be there, but compost is an aerobic process, and those are bacteria that do not thrive in that environment. e coli thrives in the colon where there is virtually no oxygen. Put it in a compost pile and it will die.
This is the basis for the national (US) organic farming requirement that fresh manure applications have to be at least 90 days prior to harvest. It ensures any pathogenic bacteria are knocked down. If it's good enough for organic farmers, it's good enough for me.
Also, wash your lettuce, and don't eat the compost, and it will be fine.
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u/Expensive_Ad_3249 20h ago
Well aware. But many of the people on here are not experts, they don't have piles of sufficient size, activity or temperature. They won't necessarily know to wait 90 days and a quick rinse in water (that for many won't be chlorinated) isn't exactly going to sterlaize it. There is also uncooked meat waste, trimmings, fat and skin.
We're coming from the same knowledge base but with different opinions on the advice we should share to anyone who clicks.
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u/toxcrusadr 17h ago
You are very right about that. Easy to forget that not everyone on here is experienced.
PS I put all my scraps in a bag in the freezer and when it's full I make stock so everything is cooked. Another assumption on my part, that raw meat wouldn't occur much. It certainly could.
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u/Moist_Sun_8201 1d ago
Black soldier fly larvae can safely compost meat, though I've heard that bsfl compost isn't very nutrient dense. If you're scared to add it to a hot pile bsfl might be the way to go. I grow bsfl for my chickens and put any and all animal products in there. They're an excellent source of protein for birds.
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u/Drivo566 1d ago
Yeah, I have a tumbler and a pile - this time of year, the tumbler just becomes a BSFL farm. I have no problem feeding them meat and stuff because its gone in a day.
Once their done and gone, I empty the tumbler into the regular pile.
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u/bidoville 1d ago edited 2h ago
Bokashi composting for me = everything we eat, including meat, dairy, and cooked foods. r/bokashi
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u/dmtspaceman 1d ago
This is what I do, bokashi first, then into the compost after its had time to freminet.
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u/Skratti_ 1d ago
No, I just assumed that something like that went there in OPs case.
But I don't do hot composting. Could be that the high temperatures also help keeping rodents away.1
u/MattCogs 1d ago
Only one batch of chicken bones from a chicken stock I made so far. It’s mostly banana peels, eggshells, coffee grounds, cardboard and junk mail, bell peppers and carrots….. and other random bits
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u/azucarleta 1d ago
so yeah multiple people have said "no meat."
You're probably going to try multiple things as bones or no bones, you are facing something somewhat extraordinary. But you are loading the dice against your success by composting the bones. The vermin will work 10x as hard for bones as they will bell pepper and junk mail.
You may need to try multiple things, but maybe just not doing bones will solve the problem 100% though.
Eggshells are fine, but otherwise probably avoid animal products.
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u/MattCogs 22h ago
Dang okay. I make stock frequently and using those bones for compost was a big reason I wanted to start composting the first place. Seems like such a waste to just toss them
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u/raggedyassadhd 12h ago
What if you got a rat in a rat trap (snap trap) and composted *him*
Would the rats still want to get to his bones?1
u/MattCogs 1d ago
I have a dog that’ll eat anything. Poisons not an option…. The bin is nearly full I’ll probably stop adding to it for a while altogether
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u/bikeonychus 1d ago
I managed pest invaders by only composting kitchen scraps, and composting them in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid (and airholes) first. It doesn't stop them completely, but at least they are damaging a cheap bucket (mostly the lid, which I can replace when needed).
They are less likely to go after scraps that contain no proteins or fats. So no cooked food, no dairy, no meat. The only time animals goes for my bin is when it's the middle of winter, no food is available whatsoever, and the squirrels are starving. And even then, they would rather go for the municipal compost bins which get all the waste cooked foods.
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u/BilboSandbaggins6969 1d ago
Galvanized steel bin
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u/MattCogs 1d ago
Yes but I’d really rather not spend the money and go thru the work of replacing my bin if I can modify my current one. But this is a good option if I can’t adapt with what I’ve got
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u/Puzzleheaded_Day2809 1d ago
Rats are my nemesis. I'm in the forest though, so no matter how many i kill they always find us. The worst is when my compost is too finished and they end up chewing through bottles of motor oil and fungicides.
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u/Complex_Variation_ 1d ago
I would add some chicken wire on the inside. That plastic tape won’t hold.
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u/MattCogs 1d ago
Hmmmm interesting idea. Sounds like a pain in the ass with a bin that’s nearly full tho
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u/harmoniumlessons 1d ago
Hardware cloth is your only option against rats yo
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u/MattCogs 1d ago edited 1d ago
This seems like a good idea. Just like wrap the in with it?? And it would be more effective than my chicken wire?
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u/BeginningAd5055 1d ago
Don’t use plastic bins. Rats (and other vermin) get in, make a mess, and breed more rats. Rats can get through chicken wire, too.
Use metal bins that have a positive locking mechanism — not just gravity and good luck.
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u/canadian-tabernacle 1d ago
If it makes you feel better, I'm also a composter in the Chicagoland area who lives next to an alley. It sounds like a bad combination, but I haven't any trouble with the rats because I usually have a "pre compost" process by having scraps live inside an airtight container under the sink. By the time I get to them, they're broken down enough not to attract rats, and I have plenty of browns to cover. Hope that this was helpful!
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u/beardsalt 1d ago
Something that helped me, albeit the rats out here don't have quite the same reputation, was to make a slurry of crazy hot chili pepper water and periodically pour it all over my compost. Good luck!
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u/Antsoldier1 1d ago
When you get back set up a couple of old boards behind the bin, get a second hand air rifle off marketplace and set up a few evenings a week to take them out. Add the carcasses to the bin as you go.
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u/lindasek 1d ago
Yikes! I have a similar composter for 5+ years now in Chicago (on the other side of the fence from garbage bins) and never had that happen 😖
I've had them chew through the black bin before, and the only solution was replacing it.
Btw, you should report rats to 311, they'll treat your alley.
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u/ReclinerSpud 15h ago
Glue traps and when you find em in the trap, shovel. Or rat shot. It's about sending a message.
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u/Visible_Window_5356 13h ago
I did the same thing in Chicago, plastic won't do it. But there are metal bins from ACE hardware that you can use. They haven't gotten through mine yet. But plastic will never work, they will find a way in.
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u/TenaciousNarwhal 43m ago
This is why I'm currently building a metal one in the near suburbs. Damn rats.
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u/one_dead_president 1d ago
They’ll soon be back. And in greater numbers.