Unexpected friends from composting?

brilynn79

We have some mice in our garage and one came into the house.

 The only thing that has been different in the past is adding a compost pile beside the garage.  Has anyone else had issues with this?

 Needless to say, I will not be doing this anymore. 

Boomkiss

In composting you need to make sure you do not put any cooked foods (except coffee grounds and used tea bags, they are ok).. no kind of animal waste, bones, grease.... . no bird seed.  just kitchen scraps, grass, stale crackers, cereal is fine.. no egg shells unless rinsed.  We have had ours for years and the only thing we have had in  it has been lots of good insects and worms.  Perhaps they are coming in from the cold, we always got a couple when it got cold outside.

Boomkiss

And make sure you turn it regularly..

CDMay2006

Sometimes we get opossums in our yard; i'm not sure if it's from the compost, or just where they like to be.  I haven't seen any evidence of rodents (though i'm not sure it would be obvious either way).  Our bins are in the corner of the yard, far from our house.  Is this an option for you?  The "nothing cooked" rule is a good one (though i'd be fine putting steamed vegetables w/o any broth, oils, etc. in).  Also no dressings, etc.

Mamasaurus

I have a brush pile in one part of my yard for the birds, and it sort of naturally creates some compost. I notice mouse activity in the area on occasion. It's pretty far from the house, so they haven't come in, but we did get one in the garage (which doesn't bother me so long as they stay the fsck out of the car).

If you put up an owl nest box, maybe some owls will move in and take care of your mouse problem!