could this be rats?

I noticed that in my shed today, i had about 40 litres of soil!

My shed is situated next door to neighbours compost heap. This is just a bare heap, v. large. They do not garden, they just use it to get rid of garden waste. They have an apple tree and have put 100's of apples on the heap recently.

Today i noticed this huge pile of compost under a table in my shed. It had loads of knawed apples in it too (could be birds before apples were chucked?).

I know it was probably rats, but im having difficulty convincing myself. The problem i have, is that the compost filled up 8 buckets. It also looked like it had been tipped from above, as it was sitting on the items i store under this table. After i cleaned it all up, i found a tennis ball sized hole going through the wall, in to the heap, but the hole was at ground level which is much lower than all the soil.

I can not imagine how a few rats could shift 40 litres of soil and about 30 apples in a couple of weeks.

I have no food in this shed, it is however home made and has many holes and gaps.

I have cemented in a row of thermalite blocks today as a quick fix. But i am worried that they will be back soon.

I am posting this as i wanted opinions as to whether this could be rats. I cant see how they shifted all this soil through a 5 inch hole, then distributed it higher up than the hole??

Shed is solid concrete floor, asbestos wall (or similar) / marine ply in other parts.

I had disturbed the pile slightly before taking these pictures.


I was totaly freaked out!

hi,
very strange...........rats do live in compost heaps! but i am at a loss as to how all that compost got in your shed google" rats" yeeugh.

This could well be the result of rats at work; they like to move food to a safe place for consumption, and can shift surprising amounts of material at the same time, including compost. Look for droppings to see of you can confirm this.

The only thing you can do is to clear up and try to keep them out. Wood presents no obstacle to them if they can find an available edge to start gnawing on. Consider using poison; contact the local authority if there is a serious problem, and speak to your neighbours about it.

How about a suitably baited rat trap for starters. cv

Almost certainly rats. They'll shift that lot in no time at all. We had a load in our shed last year, they came up off the fields, along a water run-off pipe. If you do block off their entrance hole expect them to simply make another! as said wood is no problem for them to get through.

they've no doubt moved in to your shed to store the new food which has been delivered to them, mix up a batch of dry porridge mix and cement dust/plaster if you don't want to get poison in.

Rats can move as much earth for their nest as a badger. They like to go under a concrete floor for their nest. You need to get rid of them as soon as possible. They breed at an increbible rate. I keep a few chickens and ducks so its an ongoing battle with them. I have got a feral cat which lives in the shed and kills and eats a lot of them.

well if it wasnt you, .................Rats or squirils

Just wondering is there a hole higher up that it may have fallen through (hole made by rats)

get a local pest guy from the yellow pages. for waht they do they are very cheap, and will be able to deal with it a lot more effectivley than you can.

Thanks to all the posts. I am convinced that it is rats. I checked some of the apples and noticed that the uneaten ones have little fang marks where they were carried. I have to hand it to these rats, they are organised and hard working!

I will be contacting the council tomorrow. Its free for me as I have pre-school children. I have offered to help owner of compost heap pick up and remove this years apples, this will help reduce the amount of food that is availible for them. She told me that her cat had already bought one dead rat into her house. I think she is very nieve about gardening and rats etc. She is single mum and i felt a bit sorry for her. She has also decided to get the tree cut down, which for her would be the best thing (though in general im never happy about trees being cut down).

I will keep you all posted on what happens next.

PS

stuart45, i found it really funny that you have a feral cat in your shed. I have all sorts of images in my head of some wild animal foaming at the mouth!