Animals are attracted to your compost for a variety of reasons. Rats enjoy it for the sustenance it provides and it is a warm place to rest. Skunks like it for the grubs that they can eat. Bears have an impeccable sense of smell and can find a compost pile from a mile away. The best way to avoid having animals invade your compost is to prevent it from happening at the beginning.

Choose an open, flat area where you can allow for ample air circulation. This will alleviate the clutter in the area and eliminate potential hiding places for critters. Next up is the process of selecting a hard sided bin with a strong lid. These can easily be purchased at Lowe’s and will help solve the issue quicker. You should place a sheet of 1/4 inch hardware cloth a few inches below the bottom opening of your compost bin. This will prevent rodents from tunneling in from underneath. Lastly, place this sheet on solid ground and be sure that the cloth’s edges extend beyond the bin so that nothing can sneak through.

A perfect compost pile includes carbon rich brown materials like dead leaves, dried grass clippings, wood chips, and sawdust. It also needs green materials such as plant trimmings, fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and crushed eggshells. No dog or cat waste nor should there be any cooked or raw meat/fish products. These things create foul odors and therefore attract animals. Anytime that you add food scraps, be sure to cover them with a layer of brown materials.

Be sure to constantly turn your compost pile so that it aerates and provides oxygen to all parts of the pile equally. Excess moisture will allow animals to sneak in and create a slimy mess on which flies will feast.