Vittles Vault 50 lb Review: Airtight, Not Rat-Proof

What you get in the box

A molded container rated for up to 50 pounds of dry pet food, with a scoop in the box. The listing commits to food-grade HDPE, to 14 by 14 by 20.2 inches on the outside, to just under six pounds empty, and to what Gamma2 brands Gamma Seal Technology. Manufacturing is in the USA, which is unusual in a category dominated by imports.

The lid is the part worth paying for, and it's also where this listing goes quiet. Gamma Seal Technology is named and never explained here. The 20 pound listing in the same range describes it as a threaded locking system on double gaskets, so that's almost certainly what's on this tub too, but we're reading that across from a sibling listing rather than from this one. A lid that threads down seals evenly around the rim instead of leaning on corner catches that go slack, which is what makes an airtight claim stand up.

What this listing doesn't publish is the wall thickness, any UV rating, and, unlike the 20 pound version, whether the plastic is BPA-free. Thickness decides how long a rat needs. UV decides how the plastic ages in light. We couldn't verify any of the three from the page and haven't assumed them.

Does a 50 lb bag of feed actually fit?

Buyers ask this constantly, and the listing doesn't let you answer it. The 50 pound rating is for dry pet food, and Gamma2 qualifies it: capacity depends on the shape and density of the kibble, and the maker advises rounding up a size when in doubt. Layer pellets, crumble and scratch aren't kibble and don't pack the same way.

Worse for the arithmetic, the listing publishes outer dimensions only. There's no interior volume in gallons or cubic feet, so there's no way to divide a bag into a box and get an answer. Treat the 50 pound figure as the maker rating it is. One bag will be a full load rather than a comfortable one, so anyone buying two bags at a time should size up rather than hope this one swallows a bag and a half.

One more wrinkle from reading the family of listings side by side. This 50 pound container is described for indoor, covered outdoor or climate-controlled use, while the 20 pound one in the same range says it can be kept inside, in garages or outdoors. Same product family, different claims about weather, so we take the narrower one: keep this container under cover.

The rodent question, which is the whole reason most keepers buy a bin

Feed storage in a backyard flock is a rodent-control decision before it's a freshness decision. Rats and mice find feed, breed on it, and then bring the animals that eat rats. Our review of this container turns on whether it stops them, and it doesn't.

The seal helps, because a container that holds the smell in advertises less than an open sack does, and less advertising means fewer rodents investigating in the first place. But a rat that does investigate meets a plastic wall, and rats chew plastic. Gamma2 never says otherwise. PEST PROOF sits on the label next to AIRTIGHT and FOOD SAFE, which are both claims about the contents, and the bullet behind it keeps the word undefined.

So the sensible way to use this container is as a freshness and moisture tool that lives somewhere a rodent is unlikely to work uninterrupted: inside a shed, a garage, a feed room, a house. What it isn't is the thing you put beside the run and forget about. Metal is what does that job.

Storage is only half of the rodent problem in any case, because an open feeder inside the run feeds rats every night regardless of how the sack is stored. Our feeder buying guide covers the mechanisms that close at night, and the rodent-proof storage guide compares the container classes side by side.

Where damp beats rodents as the real risk

For keepers storing feed indoors, moisture is the failure that actually happens. Feed that sits damp grows mold, and moldy feed gets thrown away rather than fed out. An airtight container is a good answer to that, and a lid that seals all the way round beats a clip-lid tote.

The trap is that airtight cuts both ways. Sealing a container doesn't dry feed out, it locks in whatever moisture went in with it. Feed that got rained on, a scoop put away wet, a container washed and not dried: now the seal works against you. Put dry feed into a dry container and keep it off a concrete floor, where condensation collects underneath.

Value, and the comparison that hurts

This is the weakest axis and it should be. A galvanized steel can of roughly 31 gallons holds around three bags, costs less than this container, and can't be chewed open. Against that, the Vittles Vault costs more, holds less, and loses the one contest that matters most in a category defined by rodents.

What it wins on is the seal and the handling. Metal cans are friction-fit, they leak smell, they rust at the base if they sit on wet ground, and the lids blow off or get knocked askew. The Vittles Vault seals properly, it won't rust, and it's lighter to move and easier to scoop from. If your feed lives indoors and your problem is damp and smell rather than teeth, it earns its price. If your feed lives outdoors and your problem is rats, you're paying more for the wrong tool.

Who it's for

• Keepers storing feed inside a house, garage, shed or feed room, where rodent pressure on the container itself is low and damp is the real enemy.
• Small flocks going through a bag at a time, where 50 pounds is a sensible unit rather than a constraint.
• Anyone whose current storage is the paper sack, which loses on every axis at once.
• Keepers who want the feed smell contained, which is a genuine, if indirect, rodent measure.

Who should buy something else

• Anyone storing feed outdoors or beside the run. Buy galvanized steel and put a clip on the lid.
• Keepers with an established rat problem. A container the rats can chew isn't a control, and the fix is metal storage plus a feeder that closes.
• Anyone buying two or three bags at a time, where one 50 pound container becomes two purchases and a metal can holds the lot for less.
• Anyone who needs it to live in full sun and weather, since the listing for this size stops at covered outdoor use.

The verdict

Buy it for what it does, which is keep feed dry, keep the smell in and make scooping tidy, and keep it under a roof. Don't buy it as a rat barrier, because its own maker doesn't sell it as one. Where the feed lives outside or the rats have already arrived, a galvanized can and a feeder that shuts at dusk is the pairing that works, and our Grandpa's Feeders review and treadle feeder review cover the second half of that. Rodents are also a predator story, since what eats feed brings what eats chickens, which our predator-proof coop guide works through.