Corn or dry soybeansare going to be the most forgiving thing for moisture you can put in one. The pelleted deer feed will be worse, I guarantee. Sounds like you have a leak in your feeder if it got enough moisture in there for it to sprout. Try a On Time Fatboy ( I saw them on a site on sale for about $50, just Google). The 9 AA batteries are suppose to last a year. Make sure the moisture problem is fixed first. Welcome to the board.