Unauthorized pets and compost

[poppycat]

One of my dear children (who shall remain nameless) decided it would be a good idea to ride her bike to the pet store and buy a pair of mice, a male and a female. So now we have pet mice. Of course I know it would have been better parenting to march her butt right back to the pet store and return the mice, but for various reasons (one of which is that my DH is the biggest sucker for animals that I have ever met) that didn't happen.

My question is: Is there any good reason not to compost the litter from their cage as opposed to throwing it in the garbage? I'd much rather compost it... but they are filthy rodents.

Also are there any good uses for baby mice? For some reason my family found it objectionable when I suggested feeding them to the chickens

Edited for punctuation

 

[DrakeMaiden]

You can compost any animal droppings, even your own. However I would not do it in with your regular compost. I would do it separately and only use the resultant compost on ornamentals, not any food crops.

Aren't baby mice/rats used to feed reptiles? Also I think wildlife shelters need them to feed their birds of prey. You might ask, if there is one in your area.

 

[Beekissed]

I think the food you buy is largely grains and such, I would go ahead and compost. Tiny little turds shouldn't be a huge health risk in a compost pile! Sort of like rabbit droppings!

 

[aee96]

Unless you really want a lot of baby mice you better keep them seperated or get the boy fixed (if that's possible).

When I was younger I had hamsters and they sure can reproduce. My mother took a whole batch to the pet store once and told them they better buy them from her or she was releasing them on the floor. She said they shouldn't have sold hamsters to an 8 yr old without a parent present.

I also went to a fleamarket once and bought 8 (yes 8 - each one a different color) parakeets. My mother threatened to take me to the fleamarket and leave me there if I didn't stop buying animals.

I had a very large "collection" when I was younger (hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, parakeets, finches, lovebirds, fish tanks, rabbits, dogs and cats). I took great care of everything but my mother was not a pet lover and didn't like buying all the food and litter for the cages. She also didn't appreciate when one would escape and it would take me a few days to find/catch it.


aee96