Cerbiesmom
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Iguana poo/bedding?

So I know you're not supposed to use cat or dog poo in the compost, but what about iguana poo? Iguanas are herbivores, if that helps. My iguana has a litter box, the bedding in it is eco earth, which is coconut fiber. So could I just start dumping her box in the compost pile?

a0c8c
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What do you feed your iguana? Live crickets and fruit? It all depends on what you feed it. Some places dust "vitamin" mixtures on their crickets and you'd be surprised what's in it. Stuff you wouldn't want to eat, and stuff I definately wouldn't feed my own lizard. When I had my Chinese Water Dragon, I had to find a specialty store and pay twice as much per cricket to ensure they got just plain crickets without random "stuff" sprinkled on them. I wouldn't trust Petsmart or Petco as they'll lie and say they don't dust them when they really do. They also get their lizards and amphibians, as well as fish and some birds from the animals equivalent of a puppy mill which makes them kinda shady. Too bad their one of the few places to get quality dog food.....


If you're sure your iguana is eating good natural food, and your using natural bedding, then I'm sure it's fine. Only thing is, coconut fiber doesn't break down very well, which is why it's a great material for natural pots. I could be wrong about this though.

Cerbiesmom
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Location: Sugar Land, Tx

Igs are strict herbivores. No bugs for her. She's been getting organic greens from my garden for a while now. Currently her bedding is the coconut fiber, but I can easily change that to newspaper or wood shavings/sawdust. So if that doesn't break down, I can change it.

I worked at a petsmart, and we didn't dust the crickets unless the customer asked for them to be. But the crickets were fed the cricket diet, which I'm not a fan of. I gut load my crickets for my leopard geckoes, the crickets get organic stuff if it's going to be fed to my lizards.

Logan
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a0c8c wrote:I wouldn't trust Petsmart or Petco as they'll lie and say they don't dust them when they really do... Too bad their one of the few places to get quality dog food.....
.
OT but I wouldn't feed my animals from there, either. Processed pet food is made of junk that isn't fit for human food, and the majority of it is grain based. Cats and dogs are carnivores. I know it's not always practical, but please check out other options:

https://www.bornfreeusa.org/facts.php?more=1&p=359

Natural diet info:
https://www.rawmeatybones.com/

Don't accidentally feed your plants better than your pets. Both should be living natural.

cynthia_h
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I'm not familiar with reptile pets, but I do know that there have been warnings in past years about salmonella carried by reptile pets. Is this a result of the normal junk diet fed to them, or is there some inherent characteristic of their biology that makes them carriers?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

24 peaceful (busy, but peaceful) hours w/Vergil...waiting for another shoe to drop, esp. after what this week was like...hope he's beginning to stabilize...poor fella...at least he's on grain-free diet and mostly meat and raw bones! :D

Logan
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Location: El Cerrito, CA

Poor guy. Hope he is feeling better soon!

I'm not sure about the exact whys of the herp salmonella thing. I'm pretty sure that it is equally prevalent in wild and domestic animals, so I don't think it can be entirely related to crappy quality food. Also, there are thousands of Salmonella strains, so I am sure they must have some reason that they carry the strains they carry.

Cerbiesmom
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Location: Sugar Land, Tx

cynthia_h wrote:I'm not familiar with reptile pets, but I do know that there have been warnings in past years about salmonella carried by reptile pets. Is this a result of the normal junk diet fed to them, or is there some inherent characteristic of their biology that makes them carriers?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

24 peaceful (busy, but peaceful) hours w/Vergil...waiting for another shoe to drop, esp. after what this week was like...hope he's beginning to stabilize...poor fella...at least he's on grain-free diet and mostly meat and raw bones! :D
I feel you. I had to crate rest my mini dachshund for 2 months due to her slipping a disc. It was awful, and now I'm scared to let her do anything now.

I've never had a problem with salmonella, but I don't know why they carry it, either. I'm pretty sure there's salmonella in dog/cat poo too. I was thinking the high temps in the compost pile would kill that?

a0c8c
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Location: Austin, TX

Logan wrote:
a0c8c wrote:I wouldn't trust Petsmart or Petco as they'll lie and say they don't dust them when they really do... Too bad their one of the few places to get quality dog food.....
.
OT but I wouldn't feed my animals from there, either. Processed pet food is made of junk that isn't fit for human food, and the majority of it is grain based. Cats and dogs are carnivores. I know it's not always practical, but please check out other options:
Just because they carry brands that are grain based, and aren't meat based, doesn't mean they don't carry quality food. Take Blue Buffalo for example, which all start out with Meat as their first ingrediant(just like humand food, the first ingrediant is what there's the most of) and has nothing a dog won't use(such as grains like corn and wheat). They even have Organic dog food, and food designed for "wild" dogs, aka outdoor semi wild dogs. Don't lump all foods at Petsmart as the same stuff, they actually care some high quality food. It may be "processed" in the sense that it comes as dry kibble and in cans of wet food, but it's nothing like processed foods humans eat. I'd consider Blue Buffalo 1000x better than 98% of the food humans eat.

I can pull out a bunch of lies in the first article you post as well, and it's not surprising considering they're entire goal is to convince you to feed your dog/cat their food or the food from the company that sponsors the article(even sites that claim they're not sponsored, are actually sponsored. "Responsible" food comapnies are just as dishonest as the "bad" companioes in this aspect) . Every article like this has a sponsor that convinces them to spread lies and decietful information about other manufacturers. It's all marketing, just marketing geared towards the "eco friendly" and "responsible" pet owners. My father inlaw has fed his dogs Pedigree for the last 25 years, and not only has every dog been perfectly healthy, they've all lived long healthy lives. Every dog has lived atleast 16 years, which is considered long by dog standards(thats over a 100 years in human years). If Pedigree was anywhere near as bad as sites like this says, they all should've died long before that. But then again, companies and sites like that use fear to motivate you to buy better food. They trick people into buying overly expensive foods, like the ones you find in refrigerators, that aren't really any better than other foods.

You can ask my uncle who's a vet, most of the natural ultra healthy foods you find at local places, contain more harmful lacteria than the cheap brands.

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Kisal
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I don't know a thing about iguanas or their excreta, but chickens are well known carriers of salmonella. I doubt many people would think twice about tossing chicken litter on the compost pile. :)

Joyfirst
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If the manure is from your herbivourous pet, I don't see any problem. I even use guinee pig and bunny manure with bedding as mulch directly on my garden. Even if the diseases would be there-not very likely with a home pet-they would decompose soon without carrier.



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