Selfsufficientish.com

its me who's got pet rats...2 of them.

I'd like to point out that my little babies are fancy rats and in no way affiliated with the ugly black things that live in the wild...they just happen to share an ancient heritage (much like the domestic dog, the wolf and the fox). The victorians decided that cute rodents in cages would make good pets, and so, much like many other animals, they bred the wild rats over and over again to make a smaller, more diverse, more attractive, more friendly domestic version.

Pet rats are a completely different kettle of fish to the wild ones, and, although i understand the natural hatred of the wild things (i had half an aviary decimated by the things, and will send my dog to kill them given half a chance!) i'd prefer it if the pet variety were more understood!

Well, I offer my apologies for dissing your pets. I like dogs, but definately dont care for foxes! I guess it is the same thing.

I dont have a rat problem but I do have a green cone & this thread popped up when I did a search!

We installed ours back in the Autumn,meat carcass goes in there plus when I did pheasants & partridge I threw the heads & feathers & guts in there gruesome mix

Anyhow...our problem is...it stinks truly smells dreadful,Its in full sun & in fairness we installed the greencone in Autumn so its started off so to speak in the cooler period of the year.
I just looked on the website & theres a pic of the blue mould on the food that yup ours looks like so thats a good sign I dont use the accelerator on the caddy every time put summit in there but often shook it over the top before emptied it.I just bought some more accelerator too & in desperation emptied 2 sachets over the gack in the cone,we are not going to add anything in there until I can see the level dropping a bit either

We do have a soil on the clay side,but the hole that was dug for the cone was well mixed up with gravel to ensure as draining as possible.

I just wanted some reassurance that the awful smell will go its making being in the kitchen garden a little sick inducing sometimes

Green cones must be made rat-proof. An alternative is the Bokashi bin. It is indoors, sealed to prevent odours, gives of a liquid similar to the cone which is a fertiliser and breaks down all waste fish/meat/fat/bone/veg/fruit/bread (no teabags). It is more expensive due to bran but ishers could develop their own type. Better still is council waste food collection which reduces bin waste to mostly packaging.