[Yana]

I no longer line my rabbits litter tray with newspaper and instead use the pre-formed pellets (a bit like cat litter). I had always added the newspaper and droppings to the compost bin but having changed to pellets in the litter tray wondered if I could add this to a bean trench?

[mumofstig]

can't think of a reason not to 

[Trillium]

I always did. Rabbit poo is the only safe poo to add fresh to plants. Feed pellets are mostly vegetable matter and will quickly break down as well.

[wbmkk]

I am no expert ... far from it, but I always thought it was OK to use poo from herbivorous pets, such as rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils etc as well as bigger herbivores, such as horses and cattle.

It's only poo from cats  and dogs which we can't use ... funny though, I remember one of the zoos selling lion dung a while ago (aren't lions just big cats)

[Trillium]

Gerbils and hamster poo is safe for immediate use as well as rabbit, but other animal poo must decompose first or its strength will kill plants close to it. If you're simply preparing a trench for next year, then you can do it since you're not planting right now. But if you want to plant now, you can't use fresh horse, cattle or pig poo.

Zoo poo, as it was called, was rotted before selling, otherwise the stench from the sacks would have been unbearable.

Dog, cat and human poo contain dangerous pathogens that can be taken up by plants, hence using them is not done.

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Yes, rabbit litter will be fine, we use ours on the garden.

[Yana]

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts, but I've gone and done it again  I don't explain things very clearly sorry.

I've been composting rabbit droppings for several years and along with it the urine soaked newspaper that lines the litter tray. What I really wanted to know is whether the pellets that I now use in the litter tray that soak up the rabbit urine (not pelleted food) can go into the compost or do I have to separate the droppings from the urine soaked pellets and compost only the droppings?
 

[mumofstig]

my reply is still the same

can't think of a reason not to 

By planting time the urine will have been well diluted by rain

[bravemurphy]

depends on what the pellets are made from I suppose.

What does it say on the bag/box?

[mumofstig]

They're usually compressed paper or sawdust..........

[suedenim]

I have pet rats and use the same pellets in the litter tray. If you are using Biocatlet or Yesterdays News, it's just recycled paper in pellet form. I put the the poo and the pellets in the compost bin and it breaks down very quickly.

As an experiment this year, I tipped the contents of the litter tray directly into one half of the salad bed before digging it in and planting the CCA salad a week later. The treated half didn't produce any noticeably bigger plants, but the yield was much better as they were cropping for several more weeks.

I think I will add the pellets to the soil as and when I feel like it and certainly into the bean trench. Another benefit I have noticed is that the wild rats now stay away from the compost bin. They can obviously smell my rats and assume that it is their territory, so a scattering around the plot will do no harm.

[goodtogrow]

It's inconceivable to me that a product intended for pets would be harmful to anything, and if it were, it would say so on the label.

It makes sense to always appy a mixture of waste for growing in, with no one element dominating, so as to provide balanced nutrition, so mixing the rabbit stuff with green waste seems, to me, the way forward.

Tom

[Yana]

A resounding yes then.
Thanks everyone. 

[8doubles]

Yes, rabbit litter will be fine, we use ours on the garden.

One laid back bunny,

and one that tangled with Medusa ?

[Kirpi]

I hope so because I take a weekly 4 or 5 bin bags of rabbit and guinea pig poo and litter from a lady who keeps 100 of the little beasties and the manure goes straight on top of the soil for worms to drag down. The soil is black and peaty and full of worms where before it was poor and sandy.