Composting?

Rats go in, rats come out. When that happens, you gotta do something with them! I've only got the two girls right now, but as the snakes increase in number, so will the poop! I'm a gardener in my spare time, and we're really into composting our yard waste and kitchen scraps in our house, so the idea of making a new pile for the for the snake waste is really appealing. How do you handle your collections... gifts, and has anyone on here tried composting it?

Good idea!

This doesn't answer your question, but sort of falls in a similar line. One of my dogs will dig big holes here and there in the back yard. When I do substrate change outs I dump it in one of the holes and cover it up.

Thats also how I've disposed of dead rats that I've pre-killed and were refused or the snake killed and would not eat.

I could see using all of that for compost as well.

Carnivore so I would say negative, just as your dog poo isn't recommended either.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Carnivore so I would say negative, just as your dog poo isn't recommended either.

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This, snake excrement is going to be pretty "hot" stuff. Remember they digest bones, so their stomach acid is a lot stronger than what you'd get from an herbivore.

I do throw the soiled cypress mulch from my BRB's onto my veggie garden plot and under my raspberry bushes when I do a full clean-out every month, but the poop to mulch ratio is pretty low because I constantly spot-clean it. Cypress mulch is so expensive I can't bear to just throw it away if I can reuse it.

I have been tinkering with this idea for a while and have some thoughts and things I found.

Check your local laws, in my area it is illegal to dispose of exotic wastes or bodies for that matter outside.

I agree carnivore poop is nasty. I might have a solution however. If you keep a lizards as well this is a truly elegant solution, or possibly a offset for feeder prices.

I was looking at black soldier fly vermicomposting. The black soldier fly is native all over the place and if you can set up a colony the grubs will eat poop one of the few that does. The grubs are used in reptile keeping and are caller phenix worms or calci worms. They have a lot of calcium and are a stellar food source for insectivores. It might be work a look there are BSF composers on the market and that might be the one answer.

Keep us (me) posted I have not as of yet as our climate is not great for them nor do I currently have the room inside for a system.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking of putting it in the same compost as the garden pile. More like starting a separate pile and saving that for ornamentals, stuff people won't be putting into their mouths, lol. BSF composting would be a ton of extra work since I live in a northern climate. I would probably need insulated bins to retain the heat they need for reproduction through the winter, or else let the colony die out and restart it seasonally. Filling up dog holes might be an idea though, haha.