At the cottage I have an old glass jar with metallic lid, and different galvanized and old enameled kitchen containers with lids that go on pretty tight. We discovered mice had been eating the vegetable based fertilizers made from legumes and similar. For a while I had the cardboard container with the tastiest fertilzier hanging from a hook in the roof, it worked too.

Old, full-line hardware stores often sell galvanized trashcans in varying sizes, too. A snug fitting lid on a metal or glass container should solve the problem. Kim

On a related note, the raccoons got into a leftover plastic jug of fish emulsion over the winter. We couldn't figure out what that awful odor was until we found the shredded container in the smokehouse. Further evidence that raccoons will eat anything!

I keep an eye out for deals on those tall tins of popcorn or potato chips-- hungry volunteers eat up the junk food and then I happily take the container home for small fertilizer items.
Big stuff goes in the galvanized metal cans. Everything I use in the garden seems to attract critters-- bonemeal, bloodmeal, and alfalfa pellets. NOT to mention the sunflower seed for the birds!

And whatever containers you get, get some rat traps too.

Thanks for the ideas! I've got a popcorn container already and will keep my eye out for more, as well as anything else critter proof.

I just got back from hearing a local rosarian talk and she recommended putting boxes of fertilizer into the plastic boxes with lids. She said rats don't chew through plastic.

I will set the traps very very soon.

Thanks again,

Ginny

Of course raccoons eat fish emulsion! They will clean out your fish pond in a matter of minutes. To them, fish emulsion is pudding!

I've thrown away several Rubbermaid totes where the rats have chewed into them to get to the contents. Metal and glass are your best bets, preferably metal. Glass shatters when knocked off a shelf on to a cement floor. Kim

What do you think about putting all these fertilizers inside a wooden cabinet? I have a shelf unit that I could get someone to make a door for it and keep it locked.

Since they eat through so much, I guess in a matter of time they would eat through the wood door enough to get the contents?

Ginny

I haven't noticed anything here in the city, but at the cottage we never really know what the mice have been up to. Especially in late auntum they tend to move indoors and we don't spend much time there until easter the earliest. Some years they have been gnawing on stuff rather randomly. If they smell something edible they will gnaw through anything to get to it. Why plastic works is probably because the don't smell anything through it. In summer time we hardly see them at all.

I had this problem with my bird seed. If you have one of those popcorn tins those have worked well for me. I also have a galvanized trash can too but you have to find some way to secure the lid. They can get it off! I tried plastic containers and they ate right through them for me. I've found the only ting that keeps out any type of rodent is sealed glass or metal.

"I just got back from hearing a local rosarian talk and she recommended putting boxes of fertilizer into the plastic boxes with lids. She said rats don't chew through plastic. "
If she said that, she clearly has no idea what she's talking about. They will chew through anything, including metal if it's thin enough. If you have rats and not mice, the plastic boxes will just slow them down for a bit. They will assuredly chew through any plastic garbage container I've seen if the enticement is strong enough. Those plastic boxes by Rubbermaid or whomever are not meant to keep rats out. They chew through plastic covered cable under the streets in NYC, they chew through any kind of plastic garbage can, and they'll chew through metal sheathing and screens if those are too thin. Squirrels too - they tore through the neighbor's screen and ate the birthday cake she baked for her 6 year old and they tore through mine and ate some biscuits we had on the kitchen table.

Home Depot and Lowes and hardware stores sell galvanized garbage containers and those are probably OK - you can even buy small five gallon versions if you look. Alternatively a large glass jar would probably work. Good luck!

As a retired health inspector that did some work with rat control, I will say rosesinny advice is excellent & right on. If you are getting rats in your garden shed, it means you or someone in your immediate area is attracting them & here are some things that you should look for:

feeding the birds---birds spill a large amount of the seed on the ground & rats are good climbers, so they can get into bird feeders. This is a very common attraction for rats, also feeding other pets & wild animals outside can be an attraction.

bad garbage storage---garbage needs to be stored in metal containers with TIGHT fitting covers if it is stored outside or in an unrodent proofed building

compost piles---no meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, gravys, sauces, bones, etc in a compost pile. If you see any rat activity in your compost pile, turn it or spread it in your garden.

junk, brush & litter stored outside or accumulating inside unrodent proofed buildins gives them a place to hide & live--clean it up

if you have fruit trees & veggie garden, clean up & dispose of extra fruit & veggies that goes unused/falls to the ground, also flowers that set large seed amounts, (ie sunflowers)

if you find rat burrows, you will want to bait these areas with rat poison---read & follow the instruction to use safely

I store my fertilizer and other garden supplies in a chest designed for holding patio cushions, etc. It's in the shade and I place a big container of marigolds on top. Has worked for several years. It's very convenient and the flowers add another dimension to the garden. BTW, it's on cement blocks to keep it high enough to get into without having to reach down. Saves my back!!!

We are still battling a rat problem, their numbers are tiny compared to what we used to have, but they are there!

We have chickens and chicken feed, we keep it in galv cans from Home Depot. They are about 5 gallon pot sized and the lid fits very snugly. They can not get in to those cans and they are pretty cheap and do not rust if damp or outside.

Bird feeders are horrible for attracting rats! The neighbors put out peanuts for the woodpeckers and doves, we find peanut shells all over. We do have a bird feeder, but I keep it on the chicken side of the fence so the chickens can clean up the spilled seed. And I add bird seed to the rat traps, since they look for it outside, they can look for it on our traps too