too much diversity?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by darrenhatina, Mar 30, 2004.

  1. darrenhatina

    darrenhatina Junior Member

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    Hello,
    I've been composting garden wastes and kitchen scrapes for the past year and everytime I turn over the pile I'm amazed to see something new crawling around inside. From little bugs, ants, beetles, cockroaches, worms, lizards.. it's becoming an impressive host for the web of life. Lately though I'm worried the web might be getting too big. As I pulled back the cover today three furry little rodents made a dash to the fenceline and I'm starting to feel that instead of being responsible with my wastes I might be creating a health hazard. Should I be worried about these critters or excited? If it is a problem what could I do to keep unwanted visitors out?
    Many Thanks,
    Darren
     
  2. Chook Nut

    Chook Nut Junior Member

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    Hi Darren,

    Welcome to the forum....

    Rodents and other unwanted visitors like flies and maggots will be attracted to certain types of food stuffs, these being breads/dairy and meat stuff. Try not to use these if you want to keep them out. Chooks are a great way to clean up old bread, and if the furry little rodents get into their pen, then the chooks will take care of the rodents :D

    Rodents can then attract snakes, and not many ppl want to add them to their web of life if they can avoid it.

    Cheers... Dave
     
  3. darrenhatina

    darrenhatina Junior Member

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    Thanks for your response,

    I learned pretty quickly about the maggots...they stink.

    I live smack dab in the middle of the gold coast so I'm not sure about chooks but I'd love to try. How does one find out if they're allowed in an urban environment?

    The rodents are probably a sign that it's time to start using my compost for purposes other than habitat. I've been banking it for the last year in preparation for all the raised beds I was going to build(but haven't yet) I've started sheet mulching the existing gardens which has made a huge difference in weed control, growth, and healthy appearance. I think I'll try to bury kitchen waste under the newspaper as I continue. I might also try getting an old blender to grind it up and drop into the worm tub. We'll see how it goes.

    Now that the mice are here is there any way to put them to work? (haw haw...kinda)

    Regards,
    Darren
     
  4. Chook Nut

    Chook Nut Junior Member

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    Hi again,

    Yes, you should be able to keep chooks on the Gold Coast. (my friend does)They are more strict in their regulations regarding housing of them, size of you block determines how many you can keep and distance from neighbours house etc. If you call the council you can get all the specifics from them!

    The blender idea is great for your scraps.... the worms will consume it a lot quicker.

    Cheers... Dave
     
  5. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    My worm farm instructions say not to feed dairy or meat, onions or citrus.

    I give that sort of stuff to my chooks too although a lot of books will advise against this practice. Unfortunatly, a lot of chook owners keep their chook bucket under the sink for a couple of days until it's full. If meat and dairy are to be fed, it should be fed fresh and not stored with the other scraps in the chook bucket.

    Don't forget the trusty family dog for disposing meat scraps. Providing any bones are removed, it's fine. And of course the doggy doo can quite satisfactorily be disposed of in the worm farm (but not the compost!!!). Which leads me to my next question about the withholding period on dog wormers which I'll submit as a separate post.

    I'd definitely go the chook option. A couple of silkies wouldn't hurt anyone. I wouldn't even bother checking with the council but if you were to, you'd probably find that there's a 4 chook limit and a ban on roosters which is fair enough.

    Good luck and let's know what you decide to do.
    Tam
     
  6. Mont

    Mont Junior Member

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    We're in the same boat Darren, at least one big rat and several mice sheltering between the lattice and the colourbond fence against which we have our plastic compost bin. We blame them for taking 3/4 of last season's passionfruits (we found the empty shells in a little cache). We're still battling with the solution. Not being on a rural property we can't wait for the carpet snakes to sort them out so we have to be their predator. We've put down traps - no luck yet - and ratsak (reluctantly) which got one rat. We're also sealing the lid better and trying to layer the compost ingredients better, as we think we had too many vege scraps - but we don't put meat, dairy or bread in there. If we have better luck or come up with something more effective I'll let you know!
     
  7. Gardening Rob

    Gardening Rob Junior Member

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    Mice and rats will go after the seeds in the vegetable scraps, like pumpkin, rockmelon etc. I have had some success with putting a trap inside the bin baited with peanut butter. If the rats take the bait without setting off the trap, make up a little bit of toffee mixture and mix a little peanut butter into it then drip it onto the bait holder - the rats will have to gnaw it off, and they only do that once... :;):

    We start setting mouse traps outside in late summer/ early autumn. (Peanut butter bait). We probably get 6 mice a year, and this stops them building up in number and coming inside the house (inside the walls and in the roof-space). As the days get colder they will start to look for a nice warm, dry place to move to, like our houses...

    Rob
     
  8. darrenhatina

    darrenhatina Junior Member

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    Thanks for the replies thusfar peoples,

    It's interesting to note that up until two months ago there was a top level predator in the backyard but it kept pooing on our stove. The cat is no longer coming back the very next day and nature has responded in kind. It's funny that by trying to exclude an animal from our habitat others can become a nuissance.

    Maybe the other neighborhood cats will pick up where ours left off.

    Darren
     
  9. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    Yes, exactly Darrenhatina. We moved house last September but our old house developed a real rat problem in the roof and walls when our poor old cat of 15 years, died. (Yes, I know there's a lot of folks out there who hate cats, and we were in an environmentally sensitive area, but we are also responsible pet owners and never let our moggy out after dark)

    Anyway, our poor old puss had renal failure and was blind in both eyes, having suffered retinal haemoraging due to the high blood pressure. She lived like that for a few years until subsequent attacks not only took her hearing, but her quality of life and she was subsequently put down.

    All of a sudden the rats moved into the house and started breeding. Even though the cat was unable to hunt due to her disabilities, the mere presence of her in the house kept the vermin away. Hubby and I would sit in the lounge watching tv in the evening and hear the scurrying in the roof.

    We tried bait, traps and spent $250 on extermination but they kept coming back.

    The best method I found was using one of the humane traps available at the local produce store. It's a little cage with a spring loaded catch that sets off a trap door. I would use peanut butter mixed with honey and would set the trap just inside the manhole. For a few weeks, we caught a rat (yes, big ones) almost every day.

    How you decide to dispose of the rat is up to you but I chose to drown them. I've heard of people who release them a distance away which is not only ignorant but highly irresponsible.

    After about 8 - 10 rats, the activity would subside for a few months then it was on again. We just had to go through the process over and over again. I don't think you'd ever win, but you could certainly put up a good fight.

    The problem with our old place was the chicken coup and compost area were too close to the house. When at one point we didn't have any chickens, the rats living in the coup, moved into the house.

    Be careful when using some brands of bait as they can cause secondary poisoning to dogs and other preditors which may eat the carcase. That would mean the carpet snakes too. I live in Victoria so we don't have carpet snakes. It usually states on the packet if there's a risk.

    Jack Russells are great ratters too!
     

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