Rodent-Proof Food Storage

[Cyrano]

A point no one has brought up That I've seen so far is rodent-proof food storage. Here's why I think we need to kick it around. An example follows.

My wife stored a lot of clothes "that will fit me in 5/10/15 pounds" in the storage shed I'd intended as a shop, which she preempted for general storage, in plastic sterilite boxes. When she dieted down (the better part of a year later) she went to get the clothes out to try them on. She was appalled to find mouse nests in some of the boxes.

One year we stored 100 pounds of cracked corn to feed the damned deer we can't shoot because it's a residential area with in an attempt to keep them from eating the shrubs in a big rubbermaid bin. The mice got into that, too. If there is something they're after, plastic won't stop them. They'll just nibble through it. We need to find something or some way that's affordable to keep the vermin out of food supplies.

Canned goods are bulky but rodent-proof. Thinking along these lines, a solution to keeping vermin out of your emergency food might be a new galvanized metal trash can with a tight-fitting metal lid to put unitized bags of staples in. The bags will keep mold and bugs out of the food, and the can will keep the mice and whatnot out of the bags.

Sportsman's Guide also has some big medical chests with six or eight latches on them that look like they'd take a couple of fifty-pound bags of rice or beans or flour. I think they are either gasketed, or could be made airtight by putting that liquid gasket material you can find at auto parts stores on them. They cost a bit, but they look like they are too heavy a gauge of steel for rats to eat through.

During World War II, some of the British kreigies who went into the bag at Dunkirk evolved a solution to their problem of keeping the rats out of their Red Cross parcels. They cut the ends off their cans and cut them so they could lay the metal into flat sheets. Using the solder from bully beef and condensed milk cans, they would sort of french-seam the flat sheets together and then solder them so they would stay together. When they had sheets of metal big enough, they lined the storeroom used for food parcel storage with them to keep the rodents out. You could do the same thing today. You can get metal sheets left over from fabricating air ducting and screw them together with an overlap to rodent-proof a storeroom. Just put duckboards or something like that down on the floor to walk on, and put up your shelving to store food on. It might be tedious to build, but it would keep the vermin out.

Humans have been trying to keep the mice and the rats out of our food for thousand of years. So far, the rats and the mice are ahead on points.

I did six months in a grainship once. We tried traps, warfarin baits, poison baits, lowering the hatch covers into the harbor with our cargo gear and letting them sit six feet under for 15 minutes to drown the rats living in them, sending the crew ashore and putting a tent over the deck and the superstructure and gassing the whole ship, and anything else we could think of. We never got them all. No one ever does. The best you can do is ratproof small spaces. It's a point to consider when talking storage of large quantities of survival food for bugging in or for long term storage at your bug-out destination.

[Rem 742 30-06]

galvanized bins are the way to go to keep mice and everything else out.

[Mooseman684]

Mice, rats, and squirrels can chew through plastic and fiberglass containers.
Metal garbage cans or 55 gallon Drums with resealable latching lids work the best for storage, and vacuum sealing portions to be packed inside works for long term freshness.

[mitch_mckee]

Originally Posted by Mooseman684

Mice, rats, and squirrels can chew through plastic and fiberglass containers.
Metal garbage cans or 55 gallon Drums with resealable latching lids work the best for storage, and vacuum sealing portions to be packed inside works for long term freshness.

+1

We have been storing dog food out on the porch in galvanized steel trash cans for years. No rodent problem. One ought to pass a bungie cord through the handle in the lid and hook it to the handles on the can to keep the lid on, though. Raccoons can figure out a trashcan lid.

[LarryO1970]

I've always been a fan of the larger ammo cans and quart-sized zip lock bags. The zip-lock bags keep the food fresh and I've yet to meet a rodent that can get into an ammo can.

[Big Dog]

We have a brand new "Tractor Supply" store on my side of town - I was a 'kid in a candy store' my first tour through there!

One thing I noticed was the wee galvanised metal 'trash cans' that are about big enough to put a five gallon bucket into. Perfect for food storage where a full-sized trashcan is too big.

Other options are old steel lockers, and the tool boxes that fit into pickup truck beds.

Another option is a good Jack Russell Terrier - they are Death on rodents!

[Cyrano]

We solved our house rodent problem with cats. When we moved into the place back in 1991, there was a serious mouse problem. The previous owners hah had a good for nothing stupid little miniature poodle. We adopted a cat, and in a month we didn't have a mouse problem anymore. Cleo must have killed sixty mice in less than a month, and she trained the kittens we brought in to keep her company, too.

I remember once coming home and hearing a "SQUEAK!" coming from under the couch. There was a cat on each side. Just sitting and waiting, with the patience of a cat on the hunt. Cleo and the others knew that sooner or later that mouse would have to come out from under there, and when it did it would be in range of somebody!

[mos19k]

When I lived on the farm we had a mouse problem until we got some Fox Terriers. After that the mouse population dwindled and even the opossums and raccoons stayed away. Every farm needs a few good mousers, either cats or dogs.

[ezearln]

Good mousers are an aid to rodent control but so is secure storage, the larger ammo cans and I don't mean the lil piddlin ones are good as are the large 55 gal steel drums with resealable lids for long term feed and food/supply storage.

[sniper1958]

I run into this a lot in my business (pest control) and have had similar issues in the shed since moving to Colorado. We use the heavy grade plastic storage bins and have a few mouse bait boxes in the shed. That worked well through the fall and winter. I've since placed a product called Stuff-It (Stuffit, Copper Stuf-fit, Copper mesh, copper wool) around the full perimeter of the shed. You objective should be to keep the critters out of the shed, not necessarily just out of your bins. You can put out 100# of bait every week, but as long as the bar is open, the patrons will keep coming back!

Exclusion should be your objective. The threat of hanta virus is very real in Colorado and other areas. Read Homepage | CDC Hantaviruses and look at the risks of exposure (inhalation and dermal) in a confined area (i.e. shed) and you'll see why I say total exclusion should be the objective, not selective exclusion.

[roundman]

Some places that has alot of heavy equitment has grease barrels about 1\2 the size as 55 gal. drums. The're plastic lined and when empty the liner slips out, you need to clean the lid though. My company smashes them to recycle or gives them away.

[benhinds2000]

You could try moth balls. I use them in my reloading room, in and under vehicles, and other places as well. Insects, rodents and about any other living thing don't stick around.
No, I do not put it inside any containers. Just back in corners and places like that so tne pets can't get to the stuff either.
Animals don't like the smell of formaldehyde.
benhinds2000

[Cyrano]

Regarding baits: here's what we learned on the grainships.

Because rats breed so quickly, mutations show up and are passed on rapidly. The company had decreed we use warfarin blood thinner baits against the rats. The idea was that the rats would eat the blood thinner, get bitten or cut, and bleed to death like a hemopheliac. Here is what really happened. The rats on our ship mutated so they had to have the warfarin in the baits to keep their blood thin eough to flow. Without bothering the home office, we shifted to poison bait. Between the new bait and the withdrawal of the warfarin the rats needed, we got a massive die-off; but as I noted, you never get them all.

We did find one thing that worked consistently. Mix equal parts of instant mashed potato powder and cement and put it out in pie pans someplace where it will stay dry, preferably in a low humidity area. Put another pie pan of water nearby. Rats cannot vomit. Once they ingest something, they must digest and pass it, or die. They would eat the potato powder-cement mixture and drink water; and in essence their guts turned to concrete and killed them. They couldn't develop an immunity to it because it wasn't a poison in the clinical sense. The mix cost next to nothing and was 100% reliable. As long as you don't have children or pets that could get into it, it works just fine.

[sniper1958]

Originally Posted by Cyrano

We did find one thing that worked consistently. Mix equal parts of instant mashed potato powder and cement and put it out in pie pans someplace where it will stay dry, preferably in a low humidity area. Put another pie pan of water nearby. Rats cannot vomit. Once they ingest something, they must digest and pass it, or die. They would eat the potato powder-cement mixture and drink water; and in essence their guts turned to concrete and killed them. They couldn't develop an immunity to it because it wasn't a poison in the clinical sense. The mix cost next to nothing and was 100% reliable. As long as you don't have children or pets that could get into it, it works just fine.

That's a great idea - thanks! Thankfully, we don't deal with rats nearly as much as we did in central Florida. Mice eat the blood thinner and just go and bleed out.

[oldjarhead]

BINGO< Larry, I was thinking the same thing. The large ammo cans are ideal for dry goods but I wnat to argue, but I won't, the use of zip-lock bags. They do not always seal tight so present a mold situation. A food-saver vacuum sealer is the best way. Not only will the items be air-locked but you can make up customized rations sizes. Storing large bags of dry goods in the original container/bag is ok until it is opened for use...that's when moisture sets in; the result: 49lbs of spoiled rice.

[LarryO1970]

Originally Posted by oldjarhead

BINGO< Larry, I was thinking the same thing. The large ammo cans are ideal for dry goods but I wnat to argue, but I won't, the use of zip-lock bags. They do not always seal tight so present a mold situation. A food-saver vacuum sealer is the best way. Not only will the items be air-locked but you can make up customized rations sizes. Storing large bags of dry goods in the original container/bag is ok until it is opened for use...that's when moisture sets in; the result: 49lbs of spoiled rice.

I have always used zip lock bags to keep my gear dry... especially while I was in Europe, but the vacuum seal would work better... I agree there. Food rations should be separated into consumable amounts to avoid waste. I am not sure I'd store rice at 50lbs. each... more like 2 or so depending on the size of the group utilizing the stored foods. It is all subjective... but serious consideration needs to be put into play when packaging the foods... not to mention, their very ability to be easily portable when necessary.

As for the storage devices... I love ammo cans. Some are even available with rubber seals to keep them water-tight... something I would suggest. There are probably better solutions out there... but ammo cans are very inexpensive and readily available. Kinda depends on how much you want to spend...

oldjarhead, thanks for the reply...

[josh55]

ammo cans are the best things out there. there even bear proof as i found out. you can get them in all sorts of sizes.

[andrew cochran]

Ammo cans will work!