Keeping mice out of supplements

[Djones]

@Brown Derby

We use an old heavy filing cabinet in the feed room.

Works great. No more giant rats with glossy coats and beautiful movement.

There is another one in the tack room for meds, cottons, wraps, etc.

Yep, was about to suggest the same thing.

[2DogsFarm]

I have 1 word for your BO: Hantavirus
Carried by rodents, spread in their urine & not a laughing matter for humans.
Mice eat your supplements, pee on the bag, someone handles the bag & gets the virus.
Horses have been found to have antibodies present, but no symptoms.

BO needs to make room for that old chest freezer to replace useless plastic bins.
OR make room in that nice new fridge.
ASAP, as with Winter approaching the problem is only going to get worse.
I know the type of pullout drawer storage you describe & that is no deterrent to a mouse.

FWIW: there are poisons that do not have the secondary poisoning effect, as they are anti-coagulants, causing mice that eat them to hemorrhage internally.
A mouse killed like that does not poison any animal that eats it.

[ayrabz]

yeah… 2Dogs is right----you’ve simply got a bigger problem than just protecting your supplements. I understand it all is connected, but I’m just saying if I paid money for my horse to board somewhere that Barn owner or manager took the " I just couldn’t kill the mice" I’d be leaving. If you’d rather protect the mice/rats/rodents…well, there you go. (and yes, I’d be gone)

[Simkie]

@2DogsFarm

FWIW: there are poisons that do not have the secondary poisoning effect, as they are anti-coagulants, causing mice that eat them to hemorrhage internally.
A mouse killed like that does not poison any animal that eats it.

Are you saying the anticoagulants carry no risk of secondary poisoning? Because that’s 100% not true. They carry massive risk of secondary poisoning.

The poisons with no/very low risk of secondary poisoning are cholecalcepherol (aka vitamin D3), found in Terad3, and bromethalin, which is a neuro toxin, and is found in several rodenticides, including the TomCat the OP mentioned earlier.

[Djones]

@jcc813

I like the filing cabinet idea. Or even something like an old library catalog cabinet but that might be harder to find these days. The boarders usually all chip in for a barn gift during the holidays. Last year someone suggested replacing the plastic bins with something else but we ended up getting a new fridge instead.

Unfortunately with the quantity of supplements we’re giving, daily plastic/glass containers would take up too much space. I’ll try to see if I can find a metal box as some have suggested or some other enclosed container that could slide into the frame. The mice aren’t chewing through the plastic drawers–just the bags I use–but the drawers aren’t always closed all the way and sometimes there are gaps between the pull out and the frame so it’s easy for them to get inside.

I agree they probably need to bring in an exterminator at this point. But the property is in a rural/farming area with a lot of ways for rodents to come in so I’m not sure how long they’d be able to keep them out without some kind of predator around to catch/deter them. I wish at least ONE of the cats they brought in stuck around. I think they tried a total of 6 or 7.

You do understand that they dribble urine all over the place, sorta all the time, right?

I feed out of a dead chest freezer and have the room to store supplements in that same freezer. However, I scored something like this

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2954413131499896

that I store my helmet, gloves, and snacks and such in. Sure, we have a mouse here and there, but you’re describing a seriously filthy situation.

[ASB_Stars]

My supplements all have lids on them, and that seems to keep out the wee beasties.

Several years ago, I had a gallon of neatsfoot in a bucket, and I didn’t cover that. When I went to use it, there were three dead mice in different stages of decomposition.

Just ewwwww…threw that stuff out…

[CHT]

Didn’t read all the replies, but have you tried the sound deterrent for mice? Seems to work for small spaces, and doesn’t affect our cats/horses/humans. A client had one in her locker last year when the mice were really plentiful, and it seemed to help her and the surrounding lockers.

[jcc813]

For those who are using chest freezers and file cabinets, how do you best organize supplements for ~30-40 horses that make it easy for them to reach in and grab the right ones when feeding? Would you just stack each horse’s AM/PM bins and lay them out side by side in rows?

Unfortunately I don’t think the reg fridge is an option as that’s kept in the viewing area which is separate from the feed room.

The BM told me recently one of the reasons why we started getting an infestation is one of the trainer’s dogs started eating the rat poison so they stopped putting them out for a time. While we were at a show this weekend, they put glue traps around my stall and caught 6 mice (there was another dead one I found in the water bucket :dead:).

@CHT - I’ve tried using the plug-in sound deterrents at our vacation cabin. It seemed to work for awhile then didn’t. I may try it anyway as it’s a small area and at least couldn’t hurt.

[CHT]

@jcc813 an alternative is to put Moth balls in a plastic container, and put holes in the container…mice will stay away…but then you have to deal with the smell of moth balls!

[Tarlo_Farm]

Three or four chest freezers for 30-40 horses. Sorry, but your barn sounds disgusting and potentially dangerous.

[splitrockfarmnc]

@Brown Derby

We use an old heavy filing cabinet in the feed room.

Works great. No more giant rats with glossy coats and beautiful movement.

There is another one in the tack room for meds, cottons, wraps, etc.

:lol: OMG bahaha! Didn’t come here expecting a laugh but THANK YOU. Turns out I needed that.

Sounds like you’ve gotten some good suggestions OP. I had mice in my tack room briefly… Then one day there was a big black snake in there instead. No more mice! We did politely relocate the snake.