Kitchen Garden Forum

Can anyone tell us about wildlife they have had visiting or living in their compost bins?

I have a number of "dalek" type bins and in the past have found mice scurrying around when taking the top off. Until now, I have never put mesh under the bins and they sit straight on the ground.

Recently, I noticed a "hollowed out" channel as big as my fist on one side of a bin, going down to the bottom. This re-opened after each time I added more material. When I last looked in, there were a couple of light brown droppings around 1cm wide by 5cm long on the top of the material. Any suggestions on what this could be?

Picture?

Mink perhaps?
Surely there is a natural history webstite that can help.
Googles, lots.
Hmm don't search for "scat", trust me.
Lots selling books about id animal from its tracks or droppings, none with an online picture look up.
Odd that, there should be some bloke in the UK somewhere who doesn't socialise much and wants to show everyone what the difference between Weasel & Stoat poo is.

It sounds like the common old rat to me.

oldherbaceous wrote:It sounds like the common old rat to me.

And to me, too.

Hi OH,
Although it has never occurred to me to measure a rat pellet I am sure that they are no larger than 5mm x 15mm so according to size of the pellet Colin describes it sure will be some sized Rat!
I am intrigued and eagerly await the announcement of the name of the eventual culprit.
JB.

Morning Johnboy, i do agree 50mm does sound very large for a rat, but so saying that, i have seen pellets from large old buck rats that must have been 40mm long. Maybe it might have something to do with what they are eating.
I will be interesting indeed to see what the culprit is, i can't really think what else it could be.

Sounds like you need "Wild about the Garden" videocam.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Without going into graphic detail, the dropping shown in Alan's message are completely smooth and neatly tapered at each end - our ones were uneven with roughened ends - more like a miniature dog poo .

Do hedgehogs ever go into compost heaps?

Finally, I wouldn't discount the suggestion of rats because the bin is only 10 yards from my neighbour's chicken run.

Hi Colin,
Our local fox burrow under our two compost bins at the bottom of the garden on a fairly regular basis, I presume looking for worms and other juicy treats. Could this be your visitor?
Vivien

Hedgehog droppings are a greasy looking black streak.

Colin said these are a light brown colour, that's not like any rat poo I've ever seen, rats round here drop coal black pellets all over the place. Don't know about other animals though. Colin, could you take photo?

It sounds like rats to me, especially the hole under the bin. We always get them. Might the nature of the droppings depend a bit on what they've been eating. I've seen light brown and dark brown rat droppings, and our cats' droppings vary according to their diet. And we all know about dogs!
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Granny

I hope it's not a Python burrow, but if it is you won't have any Rats.

Chantal wrote:Colin, could you take photo?

"Sigh" I was worried it would come to this

The last lot of 'evidence' was been covered with fresh peelings. I'll keep an eye out for any more. In the meantime I'll get on to OH for some antipython spray......