diff --git a/gnu/packages/databases.scm b/gnu/packages/databases.scm
index 0d3b4960a0..ab4d17479c 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/databases.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/databases.scm
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
   #:use-module (guix build-system ruby)
   #:use-module (guix build-system cmake)
   #:use-module (guix build-system r)
+  #:use-module ((guix build utils) #:hide (which))
   #:use-module (guix utils)
   #:use-module (srfi srfi-1)
   #:use-module (srfi srfi-26)
@@ -385,6 +386,15 @@ applications.")
               (file-name (string-append name "-" version ".tar.gz"))
               (sha256
                (base32 "0676lvkljj7a5hdhv78dbykqnqrj9lbn9799mi84b8vbnzsq961r"))
+              (modules '((guix build utils)))
+              (snippet
+               '(begin
+                  (for-each (lambda (dir)
+                              (delete-file-recursively
+                                (string-append "src/third_party/" dir)))
+                            '("pcre-8.41" "scons-2.5.0" "snappy-1.1.3"
+                              "valgrind-3.11.0" "wiredtiger"
+                              "yaml-cpp-0.5.3" "zlib-1.2.8"))))
               (patches
                (list
                 (search-patch "mongodb-support-unknown-linux-distributions.patch")))))
@@ -398,8 +408,7 @@ applications.")
             (_ `()))
        ("yaml-cpp" ,yaml-cpp)
        ("zlib" ,zlib)
-       ("snappy" ,snappy)
-       ("boost" ,boost)))
+       ("snappy" ,snappy)))
     (native-inputs
      `(("scons" ,scons)
        ("python" ,python-2)