I have a couple of hedgehogs who use recycled newspaper litter for their
bedding. It's pretty much shredded up and soft "poofy" little
pieces.........

Would something like this compost well? Should I put it in another
seperate compost pile as it may possible take longer then plant and
vegetable matter?

Any info is appreciated. It has all of their droppings in it as well, so
I would think that it may speed things up, but at the same time, they
are little animals with pretty small droppings........

Thank you tons......

=will=

"will" wrote in message
...
: I have a couple of hedgehogs who use recycled newspaper litter for their
: bedding. It's pretty much shredded up and soft "poofy" little
: pieces.........
:
: Would something like this compost well? Should I put it in another
: seperate compost pile as it may possible take longer then plant and
: vegetable matter?
:
: Any info is appreciated. It has all of their droppings in it as well, so
: I would think that it may speed things up, but at the same time, they
: are little animals with pretty small droppings........
:
: Thank you tons......
:
: =will=
:

I think it would be a great addition to a compost pile. Paper will need
extra nitrogen to decompose, but the hedgehogs' 'contribution' should help
there. The only question I would have it whether to use the resulting
compost on vegetable beds or only ornamentals.

Well,

At the moment, I don't plan on growing any kind of vegetable beds yet. I
am still working on cleaning my backyard up way before I will have an
area designated for vegetables.........

In the event that the hedgehogs don't contribute enough nitrogen, is
there a cheap and easy way to boost that up?

=will=

Alfalfa meal
Cotton seed meal
A bag of Milorganite (10 dollars)
any source of nitrogen will quicken your compost. You should also keep it moist
as a damp sponge. Turn the pile weekly or more and that will also hasten the
process.


On Sun, 6 Apr 2003 23:00:08 -0500 (CDT), (will) wrote:

Well,

At the moment, I don't plan on growing any kind of vegetable beds yet. I
am still working on cleaning my backyard up way before I will have an
area designated for vegetables.........

In the event that the hedgehogs don't contribute enough nitrogen, is
there a cheap and easy way to boost that up?

=will=

If you have a mower with a bag, cut your grass and add one or two bags of
grass clippings. The nitrogen in the grass will cause the pile to heat up. I
did this about three weeks ago, several days before a cold spell. I walked
out one morning when the temp was around 40 and stuck my rake in the pile to
turn it. The heat from the pile hit the cold air causing it to condense so
much that I thought the durn thing was on fire. I cut my grass Sunday and
did the same thing. I checked on it awhile ago and it was heating nicely. No
need for any other means of combustion.

I also read a tip in the paper some time ago that said you could add small
pieces of paper. It occurred to me that I could add the bills I shred to the
pile. I'm going to start doing that as well. (Not for combust the pile,
though.) I don't know about colored paper so I'll probably just use white
paper that doesn't have a lot of colored ink in it. My compost does not go
on vegetables so it shouldn't matter.

The earlier poster (animaux?) was right about keeping it wet. The grass has
really helped break up the cantas that I had put in there some months ago.

You could start a worm bin. They need shredded newspaper for their bedding
and it has to be supplemented often depending on how well they're doing.
Then you could compost all your non-dairy or meat food scraps at the same
time :-). My worms "eat" a Chronicle a week along with all food scraps I
make, and I make a bunch because I'm vegetarian (lots of vegetable and fruit
scraps).

FYI - alfalfa and cottonseed meal is SOO much cheaper if you buy it in a big
bag at the feedstore, rather than in fussy little bags at the garden store.
I bought a 40 lb. sack of cottonseed meal at Buck Moore Feed for less than
ten dollars, enough to feed your garden and supplement your compost pile for
a couple of years.

"GATR" wrote in message
...

If you have a mower with a bag, cut your grass and add one or two bags of
grass clippings. The nitrogen in the grass will cause the pile to heat up.
I
did this about three weeks ago, several days before a cold spell. I walked
out one morning when the temp was around 40 and stuck my rake in the pile
to
turn it. The heat from the pile hit the cold air causing it to condense so
much that I thought the durn thing was on fire. I cut my grass Sunday and
did the same thing. I checked on it awhile ago and it was heating nicely.
No
need for any other means of combustion.

I also read a tip in the paper some time ago that said you could add small
pieces of paper. It occurred to me that I could add the bills I shred to
the
pile. I'm going to start doing that as well. (Not for combust the pile,
though.) I don't know about colored paper so I'll probably just use white
paper that doesn't have a lot of colored ink in it. My compost does not go
on vegetables so it shouldn't matter.

The earlier poster (animaux?) was right about keeping it wet. The grass
has
really helped break up the cantas that I had put in there some months ago.

My new secret is a 5 lb. /$2.50 bag of rabbit food from Callahan's. I
fill the bag with water to soak and sprinkle in the mush. I've never had my
compost get so hot. I inverted a plastic kiddie pool on top to capture the
steam.
Now, I can mulch mow and not have to empty the bag.

"Betsy" wrote in message
...
snip
FYI - alfalfa and cottonseed meal is SOO much cheaper if you buy it in a
big
bag at the feedstore, rather than in fussy little bags at the garden
store.
I bought a 40 lb. sack of cottonseed meal at Buck Moore Feed for less than
ten dollars, enough to feed your garden and supplement your compost pile
for
a couple of years.

"GATR" wrote in message
...

If you have a mower with a bag, cut your grass and add one or two bags
of
grass clippings. The nitrogen in the grass will cause the pile to heat
up.
I
did this about three weeks ago, several days before a cold spell. I
walked
out one morning when the temp was around 40 and stuck my rake in the
pile
to
turn it. The heat from the pile hit the cold air causing it to condense
so
much that I thought the durn thing was on fire. I cut my grass Sunday
and
did the same thing. I checked on it awhile ago and it was heating
nicely.
No
need for any other means of combustion.

I also read a tip in the paper some time ago that said you could add
small
pieces of paper. It occurred to me that I could add the bills I shred to
the
pile. I'm going to start doing that as well. (Not for combust the pile,
though.) I don't know about colored paper so I'll probably just use
white
paper that doesn't have a lot of colored ink in it. My compost does not
go
on vegetables so it shouldn't matter.

The earlier poster (animaux?) was right about keeping it wet. The grass
has
really helped break up the cantas that I had put in there some months
ago.