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makk2

Anyone use rabbit or guinea pig manure with success?

makk2
15 years ago

I have two rabbits and a guinea pig (house pets) which produce a lot of waste. I am a new composter and am wary of using the litter box waste, as rabbit urine has A LOT of ammonia in it. From reading on this site, it appears that ammonia is fine in compost.

Anyone use rabbit or guinea pig waste with success? If so, do I need to make adjustments, or just consider the waste to be a "green" addition?

In the litter is hay, newspaper, and cedar chips, in addition to the manure/urine.

Comments (21)

  • the_virginian
    15 years ago

    Yes, use it in your compost pile and it will heat it up nicely adding a decent amount of nitrogen in the process. Treat it as a green and the litter too since it sounds like it is saturated.

  • jmsimpson9
    15 years ago

    Oh my, thanks for the laugh. The visual of someone stealing turds struck me as funny!

  • makk2
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Fantastic. I'm going to give it a try as a green. The litter is saturated-- rabbit urine is quite pungent.

    Joeypyeweed-- I have a feeling I won't be having a "turd war" with my husband (though I smile at the thought). He'll be thrilled that I'll be cleaning out the litter boxes (normally we split the smelly task).

  • joepyeweed
    15 years ago

    IME, the rabbit poo wasn't that strong of a green, not as smelly or strong as other manure, relatively speaking.

    Though my BIL always claimed the rabbits excreted more than they were fed. Which of course would defy the law of physics, but he would swear to it.

  • makk2
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Joepyeweed-- it may just seem strong and green to me because I haven't dealt with other manures (like chicken). What I may do as an experiment is see how it does without adding anything else. The cedar chips, hay, newspaper may offset the ammonia from the urine. I'll give it a shot and see.

    My rabbits (and the guinea pig) produce A LOT of waste. One of our rabbits is 15 pounds, I think his litter box alone will keep my garden happy.

  • joepyeweed
    15 years ago

    I agree if it smells strongly of ammonia, then you definitely should add some extra carbon sources...its better to be conservative and err on the side of too much carbon, rather than too much nitrogen....

  • careyj
    15 years ago

    I use it all the time. But I rarely compost it. I like to spread it out in the gardens. I even put it in the planting holes when I plant my annuals. Impatiens love it.

    Carey

  • kayhh
    15 years ago

    If there is a lot of fresh urine in it you can just let it dry out before you use it. I never bothered. Plop it right into the garden and the urine amonia is gone in a day or so. It is pretty low in N and composting it will just make you lose more of it. My plants have always been very appreciative of fresh rabbit turds. kay.

  • jer213
    15 years ago

    Rabbits usually have to eat their poo to get all of the nutrient out of their food (according to my veterinarian wife). That could account for the varying "greeness" one observes with rabbit poo.

    The great news is that even "first run" poo is great because rabbits generally eat alfalfa, a wonderful green anyway. Second run poo is probably closer to "typical poo," also good!

    Go crazy!

    -Jeremy

  • girlndocs
    15 years ago

    If you don't have a rabbit (or your BIL steals their turds) you can see a lot of the same befits using alfalfa pellets the exact same way.

    Kristin

  • lily_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    if you try the gini pig poop it is great! trust me i have a gini pig and i grow so many plants

  • saralock_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    if you dont have a gini pig use a rabbit there good to and they make great stuf for yore plants but i recur mend thre gini pigs there the best injoy yore poo

    yore going to go crazy og how good the gini pigs poo is fo plants enjoy!!

    lily

  • pshoe
    11 years ago

    We use soft wood chips in our piggy cage and add our vacuumed poops and used bedding to the compost pile weekly. I tun ample amounts of the compost into my beds in the spring along with espoma plant tone to help offset the N needed to breakdown the lignin in the chips. My garden has never been more bountiful! Nigh & day differences between where I use it and not usd it, I only hope a top dressing will make up for not digging in in my new beds.

  • peppertim
    11 years ago

    Hi new to the forums... I see that you guys use guinea pig waste in your gardens. Does anyone use critter care bedding? if so do you put that in your garden also? That's what I use and it seems to be a waste to throw it away.

  • groomie2
    11 years ago

    When we had guinea pigs I used to line the bottom of the cage with newspaper, then used shredded paper as bedding. Every other day I would roll up the newspaper and shredded paper, then lay it out in the garden. It was great as a layer of mulch, and broke down pretty quickly.

  • nancyjane_gardener
    11 years ago

    I think the year I had unlimited rabbit poo/cedar chips added to my compost was my best garden ever! (could have been the weather and other things too, but....)
    I'm going to hit up the pound and see if I can get a steady supply.
    The rabbit poo can go directly into the garden. It's not hot like chicken/cow/horse poo. Same with goat/llama/sheep pretty much any pellet type. Nancy

  • compogardenermn
    11 years ago

    We have a guinea pig and I add the litter to the pile everytime- works quite nicely. We use a base layer of newspaper then we use this paper pulp bedding, it all gets composted.

  • Laurel Zito
    11 years ago

    It would work, but I would mix with a lot of bagged browns. I buy wooden mulch that is finely ground up and use it balance my bins. If you don't mix it, it would kind of smelly and annoying to deal with.

  • terrene
    11 years ago

    Joepyeweed, your turd war post was very funny!

    Groomie, same here, when my son had a guinea pig I also used shredded office paper as bedding. The guinea pig was fine with it, SO easy to clean the cage. Once it's soiled, the shredded paper comes out in a big lump, straight onto the compost pile!

  • lomodor
    11 years ago

    i started using rabbit poo several yrs ago..
    now i have contacts that save it bagged up for me
    i pick up every couple weeks..
    i use in in my composting,and just spading in the vegy
    garden in fall with shredded leaves..it breaks down
    by spring
    i find in my compost to make a slurry (fill buckets 1/2 full
    with poo and top off with water) let stand for couple days..
    softens up the poo..then mix into my compost..
    i do add some rock phosphate.. rabbit poo is a semi hot
    manure..so i find less ammonia given off ..the phosphate helps stabilize the nitrogen..
    its a super manure for gardening..
    i also make a rabbit manure tea.. fill 40 gal plastic
    garbage can with 5 gal of poo..fill up the container..
    let sit for a couple weeks.. then use 1/2 strength on everything in my gardens.. veggies,tropicals..even my lawn