what do you do with your adult sulcata poop?

[moswen]

currently i'm flushing their little poopies down the toilet, but what do i do with their poop when it gets too big to flush? since it could be carrying salmonella and all, composting it is out of the question, right?

 

[Yvonne G]

Because I have so much of it, I put it in the garbage. We have three garbage barrels, one for green waste (tortoise poop), one for actual garbage and the third for recylables. I've often wondered what the guys out at the garbage dump think when they dump my greenwaste. These huge bullets of grass! Ha!

 

[DAC8671]

I thought someone here put it in the composter???? Can't remember who.

 

[Yvonne G]

Maggie has a nice worm-filled compost pile where she puts Bob's poops. She feeds those worms to her turtles. It's natural, folks.

 

[Shelly]

You are not supposed to compost the feces of any MEAT eating animal. Tortoise poop is fine to compost.

 

[moswen]

ok, but does the salmonella in the feces not seep into the ground and get into your water and stuff? i have no evidence to back this statement up, but that is just what i thought. can i compost it and put it in my gardens then? what happens to the salmonella, does it break down as part of the composting process?

---

haha yvonne, i would love to see your trash men's faces if they ever figured out what your "green waste" is.

 

[chadk]

Keep in mind an adult needs a large yard - not just a small outdoor pen, but a full yard with plenty of room to roam, weeds and grass to eat, etc. My tort yard isn't giant, but big enough that I hardly have to deal with the poo accumulating. It just breaks down into the soil naturally. Now in the spring with the grass and weeds are so thick and the torts are put out much more bigger, greener, wetter poo, then I shovel it right over the fence into the sticker bushes

 

[Kristina]

I think you are operating on the assumption that every tortoise carries toxic salmonella, and that is the only way you are going to get it, and that isn't the case. Most birds, reptiles, cats, dogs, and rodents actually carry SOME form of salmonella. It is also present in the digestive tracts of humans. There are over 2500 distinctive types of salmonella bacteria. So your soil is as likely to get infected if some random bird, dog, or cat poops on it as it is from your tort.

The chances that you are going to infect your yard and garden with salmonella from composting tortoise poop is almost nil.

Kristina

 

[moswen]

ok, thank you so much!

 

[Kristina]

Not a problem The whole turtle/tortoise/salmonella issue is similar to the bats/rabies issue - yes, bats CAN have rabies, but not EVERY bat has rabies and you are just as likely to get bit by a rabid dog, squirrel, raccoon, etc. as you are a rabid bat

Kristina

 

[matt41gb]

Except that you'll never find a rabid squirrel. ;O) My big sulcata poops in the same corner of the back yard almost every time, it's really strange. I actually think it's helping the grass to grow better. My dogs eat the rest of it, ha!

-Matt

 

[Kristina]

Squirrels have never been known to cause rabies in a human in the US, that is true, but ANY mammal can become infected with rabies. Squirrels are no exception

Back to tortoise poops! I always threw mine away, flushed them or threw them in my redworm bin, lol.

Kristina

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have 3 smaller tortoises in an enclosure in the house and all 3 poop in the same corner every time. I have never seen any tort do that...

I have a compost pile that I put Bob's poop in and it grows the biggest night crawlers I have ever seen. I feed those night crawlers to both my water turtles and my box turtles. I also shovel it around my flowering bushes and they really kick ***...
I gave a big night crawler to one of my box turtles and she took a bite and the worm rolled up around the turtles face and the turtle sucked herself back inside her shell so quick and she stayed there, she didn't want any part of a big worm like that...

 

[Laura]

Compost it,, just like horse or other grass eating critter poop.
Rabbits dont get rabies either.. or opossums.. Body temp too low.. not sure whay rabbits and sqrls dont..

 

[Tom]

I chuck it in the dumpster or over the wall. Good mulch/fertilizer.

 

[GBtortoises]

I don't have Sulcata poo, because I don't have Sulcatas, duh, right?

But I have alot of Hermann's, Ibera, Marginated and Russian poo, along with a litte Pancake, Redfoot and Burmese Brown poo which all adds up to alot of poo in general. It all goes into either a compost pile or mixed into the soil of our houseplants when we re-pot them. I also keep the substrate that is "used" from indoor enclosures for re-potting plants and for tilling into the garden.

Now that I think about it, what would I do without poo!

Poo is good, poo is great! Long live poo!

Okay, I'm just having way too much fun saying "poo". I feel like I'm 10 years old again (and it's fun)!