My yard is in a neighborhood near woods. I had yard mice previous to any compost pile, and the addition of my compost pile certainly hasn't run them off. Since getting a compost pile I have noticed that the neighbor's cat(s) spend more time in my yard. I never see mice, but I'm sure they are there (years ago I set up my infrared camera overnight to record/verify their presence, they are there!). Also, yesterday I restacked a pile and during the process I saw many roaches. Not an infestation by any means, but maybe 7 or so during the two hour process.

I think what you compost as well as how you do it makes a difference. I have gotten lazy and throw my kitchen scraps out onto the pile without covering them up. I used to keep leaves handy to cover up any new kitchen scraps(vegetable scrap and coffee grounds). A compost pile will create its own little food chain. From microbes to bugs to lizards to cats in my backyard.
I think most compost pile owners will agree that any bugs present are nothing to worry about.

If you want to compost to reduce what you send to a landfill, maybe you should consider a purchased compost tumbler. If it's compost for the garden you are after, stick to composting leaves and such and avoid the food scraps. An open pile with lots of food will have the most bugs I would think.

Good luck.

There will be some bugs (I'm not sure about roaches since they don't live around me) but they're really nothing to worry about. I do have mice in my compost during winter, but once I start actively composting again in spring they leave the pile. I turn my piles every week during the summer so the mice find someplace quieter to stay. During winter they dig into my piles to avoid the cold, but I'd much rather have them there than in my garage so I don't mind.

"An open pile with lots of food will have the most bugs I would think." We have open piles with LOTS of food (we compost leftovers from a nearby produce stand) and we don't have that many insects. We have a lot of birds hanging around the compost, snagging grapes and so on, they probably eat the bugs.

I live in a suburban/country area in WI so no roaches around here. Plenty of mice, but I have never seen them around the compost. We do get neighbors' cats hanging around, I think they like to sit on the pile in the winter because it is warm. Anyway, haven't had any trouble with insects and mice, certainly the mice would try as hard to avoid you as you would to avoid them. I don't know what you are worried about exactly, but it would help to know if you are in the city or what.

Marcia

Is it possible that it would draw mosquitoes away from the rest of the yard?

This is my first year composting and I have loads of insects in the pile. I assume that they all have a job to do, even just breaking down larger pieces for the littler guys, and I've been excited to see them move in. They seem to like it there and I've not had any problems with strays.

I've also noticed that we don't seem to have any mosquitoes yet whereas my neighbor was complaining about them recently. My husband's theory is that the CO2 from the pile is drawing them away from us. We also have a lot of birds so its possible that they're helping as well.

Is it possible that the pile is helping?

Insects, mice, rats- possibly. My piles are next to the woods. I don't have a mouse/rat/roach problem. We really don't have rats here unless you go to a farm. I have wild mice living in both my sheds- they don't bug me, and I only occasionally bug them (they disagree with my use of power tools).

I occasionally see wild varieties of roaches out there, but they don't take up residence in your house (at least here) anyway. Saw a fair number of them in one of my woodpiles last week- they creep me out.