Sounds like a watermelon rat. Dont see too many of them Stateside. Consider yourself a bit lucky that it flew off like that. They have been known to defend food and family scholastically. Did you get a look at any markings in the inner jaw? That will tell you whether it was nesting nearby or not. Hopefully, for your sake, it wasnt.

Toto - did he look like the pic in the link?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1337783}}

Yikes! That would have made my hair stand on end!

What kind of bin do you have? Rubbermaid? If so, poke some holes in the top and keep the lid on. If something else, can you put a board or something over it?

You don't want your box attracting rodents at all. They can be damaging to your home, nesting under it, in the eaves, etc. You don't want them, and they can be hard to get rid of. If they have a source of food, they will stay.

It is possible for the rodent to spread disease, Your bin should be rodent resistant. The other thing that is probably happening is that the rodent is eating your worm population.

Im sure that the worms can go through the bin and clean up after the rodent making its poop inert, but there does need to be worms to do that.

Rodents can easily eat through plastic and wood. Wrapping your bin in hardware cloth should provide enough resistance to deter them in the future. For the immediate time you should find where it entered the bin and block it off.

There is no telling what attracte the rodent, however, the constant source of food found in a bin would be very desirable to any and all pests.

Bryan

Ok, Pamela, I want you to sit back, take three deep, slow breaths and relax. Believe it or not all is well and nothing abnormal or unhealthy is going on with your worm bin. Rodents often pass through healthy worm bins, but rarely do they set up housekeeping in them, nor are healthy bins going to attract vermin not already present on or near your property. The overgrown landscapes on the adjoining properties almost certainly support many small rodents who will visit the bin, but the presence of the bin is not going to increase their numbers, nor will it bring more of the rodents to your property than would normally pass through. Rest assured that the worm bin is not creating an unhealthy environment near your home.

A worm bin is only considered a rodent attractant of it is anaerobic and smelly. The mercaptans produced through anearobic decomposition becomes a clarion call that can bring them in large numbers but 1) ONLY if there are already large numbers in your local 2) ONLY if the bin is stinky enough that you are able to smell it. Few rodents will find the food scraps in the bin sufficient to warrant regular visits and the worms are not a significant food source for mice or rats. A healthhy worm bin is NOT a vermin attraction.

I hear folks often speak of rodent-proofing their bins, but this is no easy task and is of questionable value when one keeps in mind that the bin is not a vermin nesting site or typical feeding ground.

It is always alarming when something unexpected jumps from the bin, but know that this is a rare occurance that, alone, does not indicate problems in the system or suggest that the bin poses a health risk to your, your family or your pets.

Make sense?

Kelly S

Thanks for all the responses. I did end up moving the bin to the far side of our backyard - as far from the house as I can manage. It won't be in complete shade all the time, so I'll need to check to make sure the worms don't roast.

The bin is a plastic one I bought from the city of LA. I did set a couple of large rocks on top of it also. The rodent was probably 5-6" long and grey - sounds like a rat huh? We have a cat who used to hunt the squirrels in our old neighborhood. He is always watching these rats which is how I noticed them in the neighbors yard. So far he hasn't gone after one himself, maybe I need to put him on a diet so he'll get a little hungrier?