I have been using a two scoop system to remove the feces since the pellets are too large too sift out with a scoop. A regular litter scoop placed as a receiver and a large spoon to guide stool into the receiver in order not to remove any more of the pine pellets than necessary. The urine breaks the pellets down, so I move the scoop through the material to mix it at least once a day. At first, our cats were using a dump and run method, but, now, they bury on occasion. We had a bit of difficulty during the switch over since both cats are fifteen years old and a bit set in their ways. To make the change, we set out two boxes. One with pellets while the other had an increasing amount of pellets scattered on top of the clumping litter until we ran out of that variety, and then I switched over. Even though both boxes, now, have the pine, they prefer the box that once had the clay for some reason. Terran

witeowl Be careful with the worms, there is a difference between composting and vermiculture, which is using worms. The red wigglers, which are the composting worms, eat through stuff very well, but shouldn't be released into the environment in mass. If you buy those, it is best to use a vermiculture system instead of a standard compost system like a bin or trash can. It is very annoying in a compost system to keep dig through all the finished compost trying to find your worms so you don't have to buy more. Plus, with traditional compost the worms aren't really necessary, but worms out of the garden added when it is just about finished causes the population to flourish in the bin and then continue to flourish in the garden. They are more there to get a good aerating worm population growing than anything to do with the actually compost. The worms from the garden are not good composters usually, they are most likely nightcrawlers as opposed to the reg wigglers for composting. The worms will show up when you add your compost to the soil, but why not add them directly when you add the compost. Oh, and if you do this, near seedlings, protect them in some way. Robins will show up in droves to start grabbing the worms and I have had them tear apart some seedling trying to dig up worms. The pretty much do that where ever I add compost even if it had worms in it or not as worms are really attracted to compost. Also, red wigglers I have found don't tolerate heat or freezing as they do not bury themselves as deep as "native" nightcrawlers do since they are surface feeders.

I tried a lot of composter ideas including the rolling kind once you start filling them with dirt and other materials they get very heavy and when all the wight is settled in the bottom it takes super human streingth to get it rolling. I tried wooden 4 Ft sq bins with chicken wire on the sides but this type of pile needs to be turned and as i am wheelchair boud its very difficult. What i have settled on is a pre made i got from Lowes (40.00) it has 4 openings at the bottom. As made it not much good really not much different thad a plastic barrel. But on each side there are evenly spaced holes. I placed rods through these holes at the lowest level in the front hole out the back then i laid hardware cloth cut to size ove the the rods. now as i add the various layers of dirt, leaves ect. the pile remains on the hardware cloth until it has rotted enough to pass through the cloth. By this time it is well composted and ready to use. There is no bottom to the composter so the compost has contact with the ground and worms will probably invade the pile. Adding coffee to the pile will attract worms but to jump start the vermaculture i went to a bait store and bought some worms and introduced them to the pile. incidentally the addition of any kind of nitrogen is helpful for compost if you do not want to buy it simply pee on the pile as urine is high in nitrogen. Good Luck PS I am thinking of adding perforated PVC into the pile to increase decomposition (The more air the better)

Ok, what is the difference between the worm castings and vermicompost? All I know is that I do have worms in the bin that are giving worm casting. My last harvest was about 4 months and I just feed them kitchen scraps (veg peels, rotting veg/fruits) and I follow the method of burrying the scraps in one corner of the bin and alternate the corners everytime I feed them. And yes my big problem here is if I wanted to dry my finished compost, it would shrivel, clump and dry up. Now my other question here would be, if I were to dry the finished product to get a nice easy harvest, wouldn't that kill my worms since they need a moist place to live? Here is a link that might be useful: