franz_see
Active Member
Has anybody tried using tortoise poop for vermicasting? What are your experiences? How long do you age the tortoise poop? Do you mix anything else? Is the output any good?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Tortoise poop for vermicasting
- Thread starter franz_see
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Joe's output isn't that huge. It gets chucked on the compost heap with the rest of the garden waste and seems to rot down just fine. I always have worms in my compost heap.
Large sulcata poops are pretty firm. I have a manure pile (because I used to have horses) that's about maybe 100' long and 8 or 10' wide, along the street side of my house. There are trees and shrubs planted in front of it so it doesn't offend the neighbors. I learned that horse manure (fecal balls) breaks down in a couple months, but sulcata poop stays looking like sulcata poop forever. If you want it to break down, you have to break it apart - too much work for me. So I toss it in the green waste garbage barrel.
About once a year I scrape away the top layer of the manure pile and dig out the good dirt underneath. It is really good planting soil and I use it a lot in my gardens and tortoise yards. And since tortoises basically eat the same things that horses eat, I see no reason why tortoise poop wouldn't be good for composting. But you have to give it a head start by breaking it up.
About once a year I scrape away the top layer of the manure pile and dig out the good dirt underneath. It is really good planting soil and I use it a lot in my gardens and tortoise yards. And since tortoises basically eat the same things that horses eat, I see no reason why tortoise poop wouldn't be good for composting. But you have to give it a head start by breaking it up.
franz_see
Active Member
Chop it up with the shovel?
franz_see
Active Member
franz_see
Active Member
Curious, wont an african night crawler be able to eat it (without manually breaking it down)?
You can certainly give it a try. All I can say is I have clearly identifiable Sulcata poop sitting in my manure pile and I haven't put any out there for over a year.
franz_see
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@Yvonne G , i am really newbie in this. can't really understand it. but i am curious.
If i collected my sulcata poop and his left over food (leaves and grasses) and put it all together for like 6 months without adding any thing at all. i can use it as a soil then?
If i collected my sulcata poop and his left over food (leaves and grasses) and put it all together for like 6 months without adding any thing at all. i can use it as a soil then?
Hmmm...i used to throw my Russian, and my baby sulcata' s poopie into my vermicasting pile. I never had any issue with anything NOT breaking down....
But I was always taking the time to shred everything I tossed in there, and regularly tilled the soil.
But I was always taking the time to shred everything I tossed in there, and regularly tilled the soil.
Any kind of manure that's mostly plant matter is good for composting. You put it in a pile and water and turn it occasionally and it breaks down. What' you're left with is rich planting soil.
There's quite a bit a difference between a Russian's little tortoise poop and a Sulcata's big log. The sulcata poops are compressed so hard that they don't break down easily.
I haven't had to deal with sulcata poo in some time, and when I did, I would just toss it in the green bin, given that it would never break down. Oak leaves would break down before the sully poo. I wonder if soaking the poo would be an easier way to break the stuff down. I know that when my margies bathe and poo, their poo tends to break apart after a soak. But they aren't consuming the enormous amount of grasses that typically composes the sully diet, so maybe not.
T.G.
T.G.
franz_see
Active Member
That's interesting @Beasty_Artemis . How big was your sulcata and what's their main diet? My sullies right now are about 8" and 12" right now (and combined weight of about 15kg). Their poop (after a few hours of drying up) looks like hay.
Do you have the same poop when you put it in your vermicasting pile? Also, from your experience, how long does your sulcata poop gets converted into black gold?
Lastly, how do you shred your sulcata's poop? Do you put them in a blender or...?
franz_see
Active Member
Curious, like how much longer would sully poop break down after oak leaves? Just so that I have an idea for comparison
For me, oak leaves would break down in my compost in about six months time, so long as I was turning the stuff regularly. Sully poo, with it's matted grassy consistency, generally wouldn't break down in that time unless it was already shredded. I would have some of the stuff linger for a year or more, if I remember correctly.
T.G.
T.G.
franz_see
Active Member
Update : Looks like it's working
