What's in your compost bin?

[~T~]

I decided to get a council subsidised compost bin(an extremely swanky Komp 320) in early summer so I could do my bit for recycling and also make some handy compost for my garden. I was not exprcting the amount of creatures that would colonise it These days it's like that old claymation kids tv the Trap Door when you ope the thing In it's infancy a large group of ants moved in. Any fruit added was soon covered in them. After a few months where more and more stuff went in I stopped seeing them but they were replaced by dozens of woodlice, ground beetles, small snails then bigger ones (of a kind I have not even seen in my garden strangely. I also placed in it a large garden snail(the big grey/brown kind) that I found in the middle of the road one evening as I got off the bus home. It's having a ball in there always munching on something, I have named it Brian. There are also a load of brandling worms that were surplus to fishing needs and have multiplied like crazy. There are butterfly pupae all over the underside of the lid too as one of the cabbages from my garden that ended up in there must have had caterpillars living on it. It's amazing just how quickly stuff gets broken down too. I was almost full a few weeks ago and now it's back down to just over 2 thirds.

So what's in everyone elses compost bin?

Anyways if anyone currently doesnt have one then I highly recommend them. The one I got came with a little kitchen caddy too. It quickly fills up with tea bags

[nightshade]

Same sorts as you but the star is a Leopard Slug, a huge beast, which feeds on other slugs as well as the vegetable matter. The last time we emptied it there was a fieldmouse nest and a couple of small Toads.

[Moonmoth]

A Rats nest ! the rat looked so sweet I just left him hopefully all the cats and owls and foxes eat them for supper sometimes .

[faz]

same as yours T my star though is a sloeworm

[Littlesparrow]

Mostly worms, although I did see a rat once when I lifted the lid, I screamed so loud it hasn't been seen since.

[~T~]

Very cool I would love to have slow worms or toads in mine but alas I live where slow worms don't inhabit and toads would have a hard time surviving.

[leokiss]

This year i've found a field mouse,ants nest,bumble bees nest (which i think my wife destroyed when filling it with grass while i was at work ),loads of of woodlice,little black fly,spiders,snails,slugs and loads of alien looking slimey egg sacks probably from snails or slugs. Every time i go in garden i cant resist having a peek always something happening