# reptile waste as fertilizer?



## K-TRAIN (Feb 4, 2011)

i was cleaning the gecko tanks today (african fat tails, leopard geckos, crested geckos, and golden geckos) and a friend mentioned fertilizer for my plants (i raise bonsai plants and tomatoes) and we got into a discussion about if reptile/ other small animal waste could be safely used as a fertilizer for plants (im not sure because exotic pets can harbor parasites, etc. and im not sure if that would affect the plants or consumption of a plant).

but it sounds like a interesting experiment to see the affects of it as a fertilizer. 

would it be safe to use though? i dont know much about using home made fertilizers, other then my meal worm colony frass is good for fertilizer. any one have experience growing plants with there pets waste as fertilizer? im just curious if it might be a good use for it instead of throwing it out.


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## skippy (Feb 4, 2011)

My understanding was that predator waste made poor fertilizer. 

OTOH chicken poo makes excellent fertilizer and chickens are partly insectivorous so... Try it on something you're not super fond of maybe?


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## BQC123 (Feb 4, 2011)

Try some plants with, and some identical ones without. Worth a try for sure.

I do use old (the dirtier, the better) aquarium water to water plants. I have also used rabbit waste on my plants at times. I cannot see where it would hurt.


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## zonbonzovi (Feb 4, 2011)

Hmmm...that's a brain tickler.  I make bat guano tea from seasonal bats that live in my breezeway.  It's done wonders for a few orchids and has been a useful supplement to the plants in my pygmy chameleon tank.  I know that feces from birds is used the world over for fertilizer, but haven't really come across any mention of reptile poo for that purpose.  In some gardening books they speak of guano in generalities, even though diets of say, gulls and bats are very different.  I do recall my granny raising holy hell whenever she found a cat or dog doing their business in her veggie garden.  She said that it can burn the roots?  I'm not even sure what that means in relation to mammal feces.  I'm with skippy on this one...maybe worth an experiment on something that isn't dear to you?

Edit: we have used rabbit duke to good effect as well, but not on anything we intend to eat


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## K-TRAIN (Feb 4, 2011)

thanks for the input. 

im thinking about just planting a few extra seeds and using them as a experiment to test it.


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## tiger cowboy (Feb 9, 2011)

Check out The Art of Keeping Snakes by Vosjoli. He talks about a bioactive substrate that he started with geckos and uses with snakes. I've had set-ups using it for about a year now and have had plants thriving with no fertilizer.


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## ZergFront (Feb 11, 2011)

I don't know about retile poo but cricket poo or even dead crickets make excellant fertilizer. One of my indoor pots is a T grave as well.  I also put a used tea bag or coffee grounds on top of my indoor plant pots that need it more acidic.


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## Lucas339 (Feb 11, 2011)

tort peole use tort poo as fertilizer.  then again these people have 100 pound plus monsters!!


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## Spyral (Mar 2, 2011)

If you have room for an outdoor compost pile, you could try composting the poo and soiled paper towels. I would probably advise you to not use it on food plants juuuust in case.


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## Rue (Mar 2, 2011)

I think it's fine.  But don't use any fresh manure...it has to be composted, or aged...

Fresh manure (at least cow and horse manure) = nitrogen burn.


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## TomM (Mar 2, 2011)

zonbonzovi said:


> I make bat guano tea from seasonal bats that live in my breezeway.  It's done wonders for a few orchids and has been a useful supplement to the plants in my pygmy chameleon tank.


Yeah, but how does it taste?:}


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## zonbonzovi (Mar 2, 2011)

^^^
Piquant.


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## TomM (Mar 2, 2011)

zonbonzovi said:


> ^^^
> Piquant.


Hahahahaha...good answer.


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