Making My Pets Useful

Indoor Growing Organics
#1

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What do we have here? Two little poop machines! I think I have a spare knocking around too, so that’s three total.

I’d love to utilize the debris they make for something other than weighting down trash bags. They leave behind the normal pee and poop, but they also leave a lot of uneaten hay. So there is a mixture of uncertain quantities of these things and not much else. I thought this would make quite good soil; but I have nowhere near enough knowledge to begin thinking on how.

So probably a worm bin, budget ideas? I was thinking on those big Rubbermaid containers? Maybe insulate around the outside and add… an immersion heater? I have a lot to read about worms, sounds like, where to start?

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#2

If in doubt let the worms have it to sort it out, depends where you are to using a heater. It gets down to a foot of frost in the ground here in winter, and my worms survive outside ok.

I think they may be similar to rabbits crap which is great.

Check out this thread it will give you lotrs of tips and tricks :wink:

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#3

I like the smart pots better IMO for air a little more watering but worth it ! A good 20-25 gallon is what I use .

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#4

Dude, why is it every time I have grow questions the answer is always LITFA, lol. I don’t know why, I just love to overthink.

Definitely cruised that thread a bit, have to get back some day here, only have a few hundred unread.

Heat is the issue… I planned to keep it in the basement where it’s usually around 65*F. I would choose there only because it’s indoors and near my pots. If I can keep them alive through Midwest winters outside that would be ideal. Right outside the kitchen.

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#5

I have a single guinea pig and a medium sized bird, a peach fronted conure. I’ve been adding both of their litter into the compost barrel I started this summer. But guinea pig poop, like rabbit poop, can be used directly without composting, and won’t burn.

I should of read the whole thing better lol. Yes I tried making a worm bin, started too small and too few worms, between drying out too quickly or food piling up and molding, I can def see why bigger and more worms is better lol. What are you using for bedding material? I use aspen shavings, which doubles as mulch, but the hay has a few seed heads so some stuff do start sprouting.

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#6

We use fleece for bedding, it just gets washed instead of thrown away. We used to use recycled newspaper stuff but with the size of their cage now a weekly cleaning was too much garbage to throw out.

And they are spoiled, I only just recently learned I’ve always gotten them nearly the best hay- I thought everyone was! So it’s largely populated with seed heads, they usually eat them first though so it may just be a few by the time it sees soil. That is something to consider though.

Something I just thought of thats kinda important: access in the winter! I’m not going out in the snow to get any kind of compost. We have an attached garage fortunately but it’ll be easier to sell compost in the basement. Upside is it’s climate controlled.

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#7

Well I learned alot today :grin: gonna have to talk to a few people I know cuz would have access to both rabbit and guinea pig poop lol. Been trying to utilize our turtle scoot as well(tried some of it with outdoor this year but didn’t really get to check for results)

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#8

Glad you clarified. Was thinking whips, wagons, & peanut butter. :scream_cat:

:rofl:

:evergreen_tree:

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#9

I’ve been getting third cut hay, its almost all soft grass as it’s all he will eat. Anything stem like and he tosses it or won’t eat it. It doesn’t usually have the seeds, but some do get mixed in from time to time. That or my birds seeds fall in :roll_eyes:.
I did notice when I was keeping the worms, they LOVE the poop pellets. I sprinkle in other foods, but the poop always disappear first.

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#10

I had a feeling they’d prefer anything already decomposed. We’ve always gotten second cut, that’s what everyone recommended. The ungrateful little guys don’t eat the stems either, they just leave it all over.

What would need to be done to add it into the soil? I intend a living soil at some point, when I feel confident I can keep it and my plants alive, so this is all kind of a learning experience but right on track with my plans.

I happen to have a lot- it’s been stored for composting but I never bothered doing it right so now I have… a shit ton? Lol. It’s absolutely dreadful and it needs to go or be used. I mean like 5 kitchen size bags 1/2 full bursting at the seems from the weight. So if containers are cheap I’m even down to experiment with a couple solutions here.

Mom- “Why don’t you just use a trash can?”
Well, I don’t know, why not? I do have a 35 gallon galvanized steel can in the garage that use to store birdseed.

#11

I was too busy not thinking of poop jokes to think of that!

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#12

You can actually just too dress with it, and gently work it in. it’s considered cold manure and doesn’t need to be composted first. Works better if you have living soil, but even just having beneficial bacteria and fungi will work. It doesn’t need to be broken down much. I’ve read you can actually make a tea and use it as liquid fert. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/manures/guinea-pig-manure.htm
On one site, they say rabbit poop is 2.4-1.4-0.6 NPK, and guinea pig is supposed to be very similar. At those rates, grind it up and use liberally lol.
But for the worms, not enough experience with that, but I would sprinkle it on top to feed them with it. too much in there at a time may cause some problems.

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#13

Well, I’ll be making some awful smells this weekend. Going to dump it all in a Rubbermaid, add water at a 2:1 by volume, steep for a few days. Long term I probably will set up a worm bin though, the DIY stacking design, but I have just so much manure right now tea is more practical. Anyone have ideas on filtering/refining the tea? Maybe that’s a step farther than it needs to go, lol, Im just imagining spraying a fine sludge. I plan to use cheese cloth to filter, I think coffee filters would clog much too fast if you use them first pass.

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#14

Put the manure in a fine mesh net bag, to allow it to soak, and then you can remove it when done, and put what’s left in it, in the worm bin or on the garden. I have one that came out of an old laundry basket.

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#15

That’s way better than my plan of pulverizing it in the water until it disintegrates! We actually have a laundry bag their bedding goes in, and it already smells like pee so why not.

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#16

Well, I have some dark liquid that has a smell that I think made me sterile. The issue is this… I filled a Rubbermaid with manure and then realized… I did not leave nearly enough room for water. So this was done at maybe a 2:1 to 3:1 manure to water. I let it sit a few days outside (covered well) and siphoned it into bottles today.

Forgive me if I’m stupid- can I just use this now as nutrients? I would think it needs dilution. What about filtration? I used a laundry bag, and the liquid is fairly clear, but there is a grit to it I could maybe filter out with coffee filters.

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#17

Your not stupid, you are just lacking experience. A high concentration could be used like nutes and added to water to reduce strength. If it smells really bad though, it may be over run with anaerobic bacteria, which is not good. I would do some with a much higher water ratio. For my EWC and compost teas, I use a cup full of each in the laundry bag and hang it in 5 gals of water and have an air line in the water with the bubbles going through the bag, to promote aerobic bacteria. Leaving it too long in water can also create this problem even with air.

I would give it all to the worms and do some more, and save your olfactory senses from burning out lol.

#18

That’s tempting, the smell of this is… Damp manure highly saturated in ammonia smell. I expect it to smell like this, if it makes sense, it reminds me of my grandparents old compost bin, if someone pissed in it every day for a year.

One thing to note- I use city tap water still. So the water that was in there was chlorinated (I don’t know why I only recently learned this).

But yeah man, I can be outright stupid… little too much medicine. A few people have had lengthy conversations with me trying to sort out a problem just because I had this logical flaw I couldn’t get past. Actually though, I blame my info. I learn from sketchy, unreliable sources and have to shift through wtf is actually true. This site is pretty much my most trusted source but most of the information I get I don’t understand at this point lol. All I can say is I kinda wish I started 10 years ago.

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#19

Ok, that’s not bad, bad is when it smells like 2 week old road kill and you want to throw up getting closer than 6 ft lol. It may start to go that way though.

The main problem is creating more than you can use within a couple of days, as the bacteria increase and die off, and can cause a bad smell. I use these teas mainly for producing bacteria and not feeding the plants. So for long term usage and storage for feeding the plants, running it through the worm bin, helps convert it into something that is not offensive to the nostrils :wink:

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#20

The ammonia has lost some sharpness, and you only smell it if you’re fairly close. Or it’s just been applied. I have two of my plants that are in need a boost anyways (and if they do die I have plenty more). I gave them a misting on the top layer of soil of the liquid I collected mixed with ten parts water (had been sitting long enough to hopefully dechlorinate). Will continue unless they take a downward turn. I feel like I did effectively make compost tea, but I do doubt it’ll keep. The rest of the manure will be for the worms. I think I’ll mix in some other things… I have an ash bucket from the grill, 3gal of natural charcoal/ash (maybe some cigarette butts). How picky are they? I’m to understand they eat what they want and leave the rest but can you over feed?

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