We used to have rats (pet ones!) but didn't ever put their manure where food crops would be planted ... apparently there are pathogens which can transmit, but I don't know if I was just being over-precautious!

Dog and cat manure are also not recommended according to what I have read. I wonder what the difference would be with guinea pigs? I certainly don't need an excuse to get more pets, and I had thought about guinea pigs as well! Thanks for the hint, I'm off to do some research on them.

One difference between dog or cat manure and guinea pigs is that guinea pigs do not eat meat. They eat what chooks eat: grain, grass, fruit and vegetables and hay. I don't see why it would be any different. Their digestive system works fairly quickly but I don't know if that would make it differ. I don't know about rat poo.
Also, I have no problems with using it on the vegetable garden as I use cow manure there too. But I'm no expert.

As far as I can see they have one great benefit and one terrible problem...
The problem is that they eat the garden

The benefit is that they taste great...they are a staple part of many South American peoples diet
cheers
Peter

They would only eat the garden if you let them out of their pen (mine have a yard that's big enough for them to run around and explore, but they can't escape. Nor do they want to. I have left the gate open to see what they'd do and they hurried back away from it).
As for eating them, it's not necessary here to raise them for food so it would be cruel to do so.
Why can't blokes just like keeping pets for the sake of their presence?

HeeHee, you reminded me that we had a cute guinea pig when we were kids, a long haired one named Herbie. It got out one day and our dog decided to 'play' with it and Herbie ended up hairless. My Mum covered the poor little thing in Mecurochrome, which was the antiseptic product of choice in those days where I lived, and for the next few weeks we had this bright red little critter darting around, an hilarious sight. Needless to say we mended his cage and kept the dog well away from then on!

Thanks for bringing back memories of Herbie!,
cheers, mudlark

Hi Doona
I do not keep pets because I feel that treating other organisms as trained pets is demeaning to their souls...I love my freedom and do not want other organisms to feel unfree despite how well I might think I treat them...if you own slaves and treat them well you are still a slave owner...maybe a better slave owner than your neighbour but a slave owner just the same
On the other hand I am quite happy about people who hunt and eat other organisms for food...providing it is done humanely...so I see no problem with eating them (the cavies) but to keep them for "enjoyment" seems unnatural (to me)...each to his (or her)own
By the way I am a vegetarian and have been for the last 19years
I think if you look at my posting I never made any judgement on your behaviour at all ... but you did so to me...and then broadened it to include men as a whole...or so it seems to me....no offence taken though
Why did you mention only men ( "blokes" )....I do not understand your comment at all here...it does seem to my reading that your comment could be called sexist
I hope that explains my position
In gentleness and good cheer
Peter

Hi all. Another wonderful alternative to chook poo is alpaca poo. It appears to be fairly neutral in the ph department and can be used straight away. Its also easy to collect as alpacas have poo piles they all visit so its all in the one place. Just ask a breeder if you can collect the poo, I'm sure they won't mind. 'Pacas are also from South America and are also eaten over there. I wonder if there's a connection lol.

Regards, Jules

Peter, I am sorry for offending you. I also want to defend myself and others who keep pets. It is not demeaning to the animals (not merely organisms...they are complex mammals) if they are kept in a large pen where they have adequate food and shelter and get enough exercise. They are also safe from predators. If they were set "free" they would live for maybe a year if they are lucky (it's the same with rabbits... a proven fact).
I have also separated them from the males so they are not reproductive machines. They are happy in their pen which is big enough to house many more, and the housing and tunnels etc are changed around regulary to give the guinea pigs something new to explore. They do not want to get out (as I said previously).
My original posting was to help others, not to trigger a great debate. My tongue-in-cheek comment on "blokes" was from my experience, having a family of males of my own and brothers who were insensitive to animals.
Of course it was a general comment and I am sorry to offend those males who are more caring.

I've just discovered that the guinea pigs don't like strawberries or brahmi - so they are regularly moved ont the strawberry patch and the ever increasing brahmi patch to get rid of a terrible invasive weed we have up here - a round leafed thing with sticky seed pods that tries to spread every where.

The three girls are wonderful and selective weeders for me .

saves my back. :-)

My Mum always used the straw from our guinea pig cages on the garden so I can vouch for its fertilising qualities.

It's an interesting point about pathogens in poo. I may be wrong but I would have thought all poo would be full of them to varying extents. I certainly wouldn't handle raw chook poo without gloves. Whether from a cow or a rat, so long as it's properly composted, I would have thought most manure would be good stuff.

Do you really reckon meat in the diet would be a factor? Chooks eat heaps of meat. If you set them free in your garden they will gorge on invertebrates and hardly nibble at the brassica leaves that they would normally wolf down. When I had chooks I used them to keep down the slater numbers - extremely effective. They much prefer animal protein if given the choice. I have even seen a pack of chooks chase, attack, kill and eat mice!! No kidding.

As Bill Mollison points out, there are very few real vegetarians in nature. Pretty much every "herbivore" from sheep to dugongs eat animal protein in some form or other (usually invertebrates in their other foods) and arguably couldn't survive without it.

So anyway I reckon guinea pig poo would be safe and if you have them in a natural breeding environment you will get young on a regular basis which, when killed humanely, make an excellent cavie curry. Sorry couldn't resist ;-)