Topic: RATS!

[paranoid mandroid]

today i decided to move my compost heap nearer the garden shed, polytunnel etc. i looked in this afternoon just before de-constructing it and to my horror there were a few rat droppings.
i took the rat droppings and the material they were sitting on and buried it all. there has never been rat droppings in/on it before because i check rigorously and there are no tracks anywhere within the heap or around it.
now a few questions;
1. i'm out in the coutry, i've heard that country rats aren't as disease ridden as their urban cousins - is this true?
2. i have moved the structure and have most of the compost moved. but is there any point in me keeping the compost that is left - is it safe to use?
3. what if they have urinated on it?

hopefully you can help me as i am in a mild state of panic.

[tim]

Don't know - but, every year, our heaps become the home of itinerant families, which just move on when they feel inclined!

Never occurred to me that they might do a mischief. = Tim

[Jesse]

I've never had rats so can't speak from experience but found this which was very informative, have a read

http://www.hdra.org.uk/factsheets/gg1.htm

[Palustris]

We too get uninvited rat visitors to various parts of the garden. They are not sewer rats as you find in the towns and cities, rather field rats looking for a place to spend the Winter. Even so they are not the nicest of animals, they do urinate every where, but then so do dogs and cats and ants. There is as much chance of picking up a disease from your compost from the rats as there is of picking one up from any of the other animals which have used it. ie very little. After all think where cow muck or horse muck or chicken pellets come from!
Oh dear that sounds very dismissive of your worries, it was not meant to be. Rats I am afraid are a fact  of country living.

[Mrs Ava]

We have rats move in and out of our compost heap, and mice, and hedgehogs, and they all pee and poo to their hearts content.  I have never worried about the compost, and I have kids running around the garden.  I do make sure I wear gloves and the kids don't handle the compost, and I use it towards the back of the beds and rake it about after rain, in the garden anyhow....on the allotment I throw it around with gay abandon.  If they aren't in your compost heap, they are probably running around everywhere else anyhow, along with foxes, mice, birds, hedgehogs, voles, moles so on and so on......  :D

[Wicker]

I agree rats are a fact of life on allotment sites too - even tho we don't always see them.  Every so often someone finds traces/sees a rat and we are visited by the vermin control man who very rigorously checks sightings and traces and he usually points out holes by which they can gain acess to sheds as well.  He then leaves various "boxes" containing poison blocks which are designed so that birds, cats dogs etc don't come to harm.  We are always surprised at the amount he catches!!

Agre with EJ about the compost/gloves and think it's important to wash your hands before eating etc if possible - we are lucky to have running water on site.

[ina]

O.K. if we are on the health issue, may I post this reminder: When was your last tetanus vaccination?

[Jesse]

I had one years ago, are you meant to get a booster and how often I wonder?

[ina]

Good for 15 years but if you get a serious wound, especially a puncture type wound, you may be wise to get a booster.

[Mrs Ava]

Oh Ina you harbinger of doom......last year when we all chatted about tetnus I prmised I would go have a booster as it has been .....oh my..... nearly 20 years since I last had a jab...and when I asked at my doctors they said they wouldn't give me a booster unless I suffered an injury....so with my needle phobia, I smiled sweetly and left the surgery.  Then in the summer when I started suffering from burns from the saps from the seeded parsnips, docks and nettles I asked again if I could have a tetnus jab (very brave for me to ask you understand) and I was told I could no longer have that done at the quacks and would have to telephone our local hossie and see if they would give me a booster!  You know.........I might give them a call tomorrow to see what they say......

[Kerry]

after reading about it on here last year i went to the gp's-they gave me the shot with no qualms when i told them i gardened a lot.

however.............they don't give it singly any more, it is a combined vaccination now- tetanus and diptheria together!

[ina]

I wrote 15 years, some of you may say 10 years and it used to be 10 years here but now they say 15, so take your pick.

One thing I want to stress, vaccination is no guarantee! Wound hygiene is most important. Have an anti-septic at your lottie and don't ignore that little thorn puncture in your finger. Just because it doesn't bleed or hurt doesn't mean nasties didn't get in there. You don't need a manure fork going through your foot to be at risk to get tetanus, the slightest wound and the right conditions are just as risky.

Ha EJ, just as I was writing this I saw your post. Yes there is controversy about tetanus boosters and I'm no doctor but I'd rather minimize my chances. I don't really understand this booster stuff only after an injury. How often don't we get a scratch or little puncture on our hands while rooting around in the soill? Go for a booster everytime? I think not.

[ina]

after reading about it on here last year i went to the gp's-they gave me the shot with no qualms when i told them i gardened a lot.

however.............they don't give it singly any more, it is a combined vaccination now- tetanus and diptheria together!

Nonsense! If you want only tetanus, you should ask for it. I know for a fact you can get just tetanus and if they don't have it they can order it for you.

[Roy Bham UK]

Glad I read this as I think my tetanus jab was well over 10 years ago and I remember the nurse who applied it saying "you wont want tetanus as it is probably the most painful death" and went into detail of some of the symptoms that I will leave out of this thread.

But here's a link if interested...
http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/tetanus.html

Yours Doctor Gloom. :'(

[Kerry]

oh the joys of the NHS.
in one area you may be able to get X medication or treatment, but not in another. depending on your postcode. they may have ample stock of x vaccine from a certain supplier, and that is what you get. take it or leave it!
anyway it's 2 for the price of 1!

[Lady Cosmos]

It is the same in Belgian.
They have MIXED vaccinations for a couple of years.
If TETANUS is needed you have a choice from 3:
The most common combination in this case is TETANUS+DIFTERIE. Thats CORRECT.
(TEDIVAX pro adults) (GSK).

[ina]

Tetavax in Holland, just tetanus.

[Val]

 ;D You can get weills disease from rats. town or country doesn't matter but I don't think tetanus shots would cover it. OH had to carry a card when working for BT, they loved the cables apparently. Probably best to wear gloves if they are known to be about.

[ina]

There must be a score of diseases one could get from rats, especially when bitten but it seems also from breathing in their dried urine and faeces. Personally I don't really worry about this too much.

Sorry if I caused us to get off the original subject by mentioning tetanus, inadvertently suggesting that tetanus vaccinations would protect us from rodent borne diseases. This is of course not the case.

It was the talk about health and gardening that made me think of tetanus vaccinations, I probably should have started another thread.

[Wicker]

Sure there's no need to apologise, Ina.  Simply did us a service to remind us of the dangers lying in wait while gardening and especially lottie working  - what with breaking up/sawing and building with rough pallet wood, working with manure and  chemicals (some people), sharp and/or pointy tools - then there are the bees/wasps and the rats!!  then of course there's the dangers of back strain, pulled muscles, cuts etc etc etc....

We really shouldn't forget basic precautions such as gloves, washing hands and probably getting protection where possible - but we do forget don't we ?? Wowee talk about living life on the edge!!