r/composting • u/johndough167 • 2d ago
Beginner Collateral damage victim
Found this guy this morning :(
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u/Jeronimo-XX 2d ago
add him to the pile, compost it
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u/johndough167 2d ago
I was going to but it being dead right outside the pile made me think it could’ve been rat poison from somewhere
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u/HolyBonerOfMin 2d ago
Not a big deal if you're composting it. It breaks down.
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2d ago edited 2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HolyBonerOfMin 2d ago
Also the redditcares suicide report is a dick move because you disagree with a comment.
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u/perenniallandscapist 2d ago
Lol no you. A basic google search confirms that rat poison loses potency over time and does break down. So considering the time frame of a compost pile with animals in it, at least 1 year of composting, it should be absolutely fine, especially if its hot and managed.
I'm not seeing anything that says rat poison is persistent either, so......if I was OP I'd be composting that bad boy.
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u/HolyBonerOfMin 2d ago
So toss the mouse in the garbage.
The biggest risk is that it gets eaten and poisons your cat.
Anticoagulant rodenticides don't persist for very long and it'll be diluted to hell anyway. The amount that could be eaten by a mouse, then diluted in a pile and further diluted in the soil after distribution, and further diluted by watering before a fraction of that diluted material is absorbed by roots and a fraction of that could possibly end up in your produce, is so infinitesimally small we're talking homeopathic medicine levels of nothing. Anticoagulants are dose dependent, too. Tiny amounts do absolutely nothing to you.
Dead rodents of unknown cause get composted all the time and nobody is getting sick from the produce the next year. You'd get 1000x the effect from taking an aspirin.
If someone were considering dumping a box of rat poison in compost that would be a different story, but It's not enough mass to make a difference to the compost beneficially or harmfully, so who cares.
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u/ExtremelyOkay8980 2d ago
There are more kinds of rat poison widely available now. Anticoagulant is not the only one.
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u/Stankleigh 2d ago
I hate flipping the compost after ignoring it for months bc there are always rat nests and I hate to run the risk of impaling a youngster with the pitchfork :(
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u/perenniallandscapist 2d ago
My dogs love to help by catching them. I just keep adding what they catch as I turn. It's rare for my food compost to get rodents, but my landclipping and debris compost pile definitely does. I don't turn it as often and it doesn't get very hot.
Edit: idk what landclippings are. I meant yard clippings, but I'm keeping it since it sounds cool. I imagine people along the coast that can get seaweed and shells might start calling that stuff seaclippings.
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u/Stankleigh 2d ago
I usually leave the uncovered nests alone for a bit. The crows help out if the parents don’t remove the babies promptly.
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u/5UnderConstruction7 2d ago
Well, I guess I should say thank you for this post. I want to start composting and honestly had no idea they housed critters.
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u/SnootchieBootichies 2d ago
I have open piles in a wooded area and other than having raccoons scavenge, I haven't found anything living in them. Where I blow my excess leaves and dump grass once I start spot spraying for weeds does get mice living in them. As do my firewood stacks. Not sure why the compost pile doesn't aside from it gets turned every few weeks.
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u/5UnderConstruction7 2d ago
And another question just answered for me! I was going to ask on here if it was safe to have a compost pile in the woods. It would be under pine trees, so tons of pine straw around. I always worry about it getting hot and catching fire.
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u/SnootchieBootichies 2d ago
Unless you're adding fertilizer/manure it's very unlikely to catch fire. I dont measure temp on mine, but it doesn't get crazy hot. Mostly kitchen scraps/coffee grounds, grass clippings, weeds, shredded leaves. Definitely gets warm as evidenced by snow melting off of it, but its never been overly noticeable when I'm turning it.
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u/5UnderConstruction7 2d ago
Our town has free 'mulch'. Not great, not really usable around plants. But, I'd love to get a load and just let it sit for a year. Unfortunately, HOA, I would have to hide it in the trees. But if it won't catch on fire, I think I'll be doing this!
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u/johndough167 2d ago
I turn it about once a week. I’ve had it for 2 months and just added a shit ton of wild mushrooms from my yard. I think that started my pile turning a little rotten which drew in the mouse. Not sure why it died tho.
Turned it after I got rid of mouse and nothing but insect life inside6
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u/Initial-Addendum-167 2d ago
Yes. Have composted for years. You can modify composting to have less critters for sure, but every compost pile I had brought some risk of infestation.
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u/scarabic 2d ago
Yes. I used to do a lot of food scraps in an Aerobin-like setup similar to OPs. I noticed rats and set out snap traps. I used the wrong kind and had to finish off multiple rats that were horrifically maimed but not dead. I stopped trapping. They infiltrated our house. $14k in mitigation work later, we are rat free. And I now only do food scraps in sealed containers: vermiculture, bokashi, and tumblers. Once the food is sufficiently broken down I add it to my main pile, which is in an Aerobin like OPs, where I add all my yard waste and shredded cardboard.
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u/johndough167 2d ago
Was the pile close to your house?
Mine is about 100ft from house and I add veg/fruit scraps but my fiancé throws in full pieces of fruit. Seems like it would be more attractive for rodents but I def don’t want an infestation3
u/scarabic 2d ago
Mine was closer than that but not right next to it, and the infestation went throughout the property, so they do travel. I would suggest at least that you bury food scraps when you add them. Don’t just pile on top, don’t just cover with a few leaves.
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u/johndough167 2d ago
I usually cover with quite a bit of browns but I’ll really bury them now. Appreciate the insight
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u/scarabic 2d ago
I will say that I have even had them nest in browns when there’s no food around. They tunnel into leaves and shredded cardboard and make themselves a nice little nest. The pile may be warm, which they also like. So yeah think of a little browns on top as just making the food MORE attractive because it’s basically habitat on top of food.
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u/DegreePrize4722 2d ago
I've added table scraps to my pile and always buried em. It seems to work for me, as well.
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u/its_pixiie 2d ago
Why would you post this?
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u/johndough167 2d ago
Because it’s part of composting 💡
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u/its_pixiie 2d ago
Indeed. I compost full animal carcass' and clean their bones for oddities, so I'm no stranger; but I wouldn't post a random photo of their carcass on reddit because there's literally no reason for it. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/ReclinerSpud 2d ago
INTO THE PILE... INTO THE PILE...