My kids have several hamsters.

[stamosfan]

Actually, they have 14 hamsters. We try and segegrate them and they each have several Habitrails but we have a glut of hamsters - they like to breed. We give them away and they occasionally die but we seem to maintain anywhere between 10 and 20 hamsters at a time. My question may be considered strange. When they die, about once every other month, roughly six times a year, we bury them in the garden. We bury them loose in the garden, not in any sort of enclosure or crypt but dig a hole about 2 feet down and plop them in. It is very respectful but it happens quite often. I grow green beans, tomatoes, green peppers and turnips. Is there any risk to my food supply created by this burial method. I would say over the last 3 years, we have disposed of roughly 25-30 carcasses this way. My garden is very vibrant and I get a lot of compliments on my tomatoes ("Juiciest on the planet" says my neighbor). We haven't gotten sick or anything but I am wondering whether the ground will attain a critical mass at some point.

[Kisal]

It wouldn't take long for the body of a hamster to completely decompose. I doubt you'd find much of anything after 6 months to a year. At most, you might find a few bones or teeth if you very carefully excavated the area and sifted the soil.

[mrsgreenthumbs]

Hmmm interesting question, I would say rotate your burial sites with your growing sites and give each burial site a year just to be safe. Or dedicate one patch of ground as your hamster cemetery if your really worried.

[Alan in Vermont]

My word, doesn't anybody remember the early settlers method of burying a fish in each hill of corn?

[mrsgreenthumbs]

I personally have buried several Koi carcasses in my own garden (only where I'm not growing food) but my worry is that these are technically rodent's. And who know what kind of bacteria they have naturally in their dietary tract.