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Hamster Mail

Daisy

Daisy

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I was just wondering if anyone here has tried the Hamster Mail subscription service? Did you like it or not? What kind of stuff do you get?

I'm thinking of signing up, at least for a couple of months.
 
I haven't but I think some people have :)
 
I decided to try it for 3 months.

It looks like it will come in box that says Hamster Mail. We have a very chatty postman who is going to find it hilarious. Especially if it also has Leo's name on the box! (I was only able to enter one hamster's name).
 
That sounds fun! Yes I've had queries from the postman before when boxes come from Germany with hamster info on the side! He was curious to know what it was. There's a whole hamster world that people don't know about!
 
Their products look good. How much does a subscription cost for three months?
 
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Socks Mum said:
Their products look good. How much does a subscription cost for three months?
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It's £16 per box plus £2.99 postage, paid upfront for the full 3 months so about £57. If you pay for 1 month only, the box is £17, or if you pay for 6 months, £15 each. I hope I get enough to justify price, but I'll see! The boxes go out on the 21st of each month so I should get mine soon.
 
It looks really good - a toy and treats every month. I noticed a hyacinth tunnel was in it one month and they cost about £10 on their own.
 
Daisy said:
It's £16 per box plus £2.99 postage, paid upfront for the full 3 months so about £57. If you pay for 1 month only, the box is £17, or if you pay for 6 months, £15 each. I hope I get enough to justify price, but I'll see! The boxes go out on the 21st of each month so I should get mine soon.
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Thank you, it looks like a nice way of shopping for your hamster!
 
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My first box has arrived.

I got some whimzee-type things shaped like leaves, some dried herbs, a willow twist, and loofah sandals.

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It all looks nice but I'm not convinced it's worth £16.
 
It looks great! The loofah sandals are fun. I know what you mean about not sure it’s worth £16 - although it would probably cost that if you bought all those things separately.

It does sort of look like there should be one or two more things.
 
Oooh great to see this as after I read through this thread over the weekend I looked into it and it does seem like a cute idea! I'm thinking about doing it in maybe a month or two as I've been too hamster-shop-happy before and since I brought Rory home. He already has soo many treats and chews/toys to last him probably the next quarter at least 🤦‍♀️ I really like that you don't know you're getting though! I do see what you mean about it not feeling quite worth the £16 (even though yes probably would cost more if all bought individually as Maz said!) but I guess it'll vary month by month and some will be more exciting than others
 
HamsterMumMo said:
Oooh great to see this as after I read through this thread over the weekend I looked into it and it does seem like a cute idea! I'm thinking about doing it in maybe a month or two as I've been too hamster-shop-happy before and since I brought Rory home. He already has soo many treats and chews/toys to last him probably the next quarter at least 🤦‍♀️ I really like that you don't know you're getting though! I do see what you mean about it not feeling quite worth the £16 (even though yes probably would cost more if all bought individually as Maz said!) but I guess it'll vary month by month and some will be more exciting than others
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I agree that the element of surprise is worth paying a little bit extra for. My local pet shop rarely has anything so new so it's nice to have some variety. I had never seen any of these products before, apart from the willow twist.
 
Well the gerbils weren't very interested in their leaf chews, but Leo likes his.
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Leo also likes the dried cucumber in the herb mix. The gerbils didn't like the cucumber but they did like the banana (which is just as well, since Leo and Toby can't eat that).

Toby isn't up yet.
 
Aw that's really nice they are all enjoying something from it :) I wonder what Toby will like. I can see it's handy to make sure you don't run out of treats and extras - which I sometimes do and then have to start planning and ordering. It could make life easier having things delivered regularly.
 
The second box has arrived.

This one had some apple and strawberry treats, a grassy carrot, a hanging chew/decoration, and a really nice forage mix.

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This forage mix went down really well. It has a great mix of various flowers, plus dandelion leaves, dried grass, and dried carrot. And it comes in a handy cardboard tray that you can leave in the cage for the hamster to forage. I'd definitely buy this again.

The "salsa" hanging chew is reasonably pretty and I put it in Toby's cage. I wouldn't think he'll take much notice of it, but it looks nice.

I expect I will give the grassy carrot to two of the gerbils at some point for them to destroy in 5 minutes.

The apple and strawberry treats aren't really suitable for Leo and Toby as they have fruit in them. The gerbils will eat them, but they don't seem that excited over them. They're just okay I suppose.

Overall, the box is okay. The forage mix is great, and the rest of the contents just average.

Every box comes with the contents wrapped in tissue paper, which the gerbils love. It's their favourite part of the entire box!

Next month I will get my final box and then I can come up with a final verdict on whether they were worthwhile.
 
It all looks very nice. I would have expected a bit more maybe? It's great the gerbils love the tissue paper.
 
Maz said:
It all looks very nice. I would have expected a bit more maybe? It's great the gerbils love the tissue paper.
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Yes, I still don't feel like I'm getting £16 worth in each box, even though some of the products are nice.

The tissue paper has made the gerbils' nests look very pretty!
 
I got my final box today. It has an afternoon tea theme and it contained some rattan balls with tissue paper in them, a macaron hanger, "strawberries & cream" popcorn, and a herb mix.

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I really love that macaron hanger and might see if I can get some more of those to hang in all my cages. I gave the rattan balls to the gerbils and they had 5 minutes of fun destroying them. The popcorn unfortunately isn't suitable for my hamsters (who are Chinese and Russian dwarf so diabetes-prone) but the gerbils adored it. I haven't tried the herb mix yet but it looks nice. It has apple in it, but I can pick that out for the hamsters.

Overall, I'm glad to decide to subscribe to Hamster Mail as I got some nice things and the element of surprise was fun. I feel like my gerbils actually got more out of it than the hamsters did. A lot of the toys were chew toy type things which my hamsters aren't really into (I used a couple to decorate cages but that's more for me than the hamsters), but the gerbils enjoyed destroying them.

A lot of the treats and edible things contained fruit which makes them not ideal for my hamsters, and I ended up giving these to the gerbils too. If I had to give any feedback to the company it's that I think they should focus on treats that don't contain fruit where possible because lots of people do have diabetes-prone species.

I also noticed that a lot of the best products are from the Happy Hoppers brand which seems to exclusively supply Hamster Mail (and its siblings like Happy Bunny Club), which means you can't buy these products yourself. Members can buy some things directly from the Hamster Mail website, but you have to be a subscriber.

I'm a little disappointed that I don't think I got as much for the cost of each box as I expected. It's not something I would consider subscribing to on an ongoing basis partly because of the cost, and partly because, as mentioned above, not everything I got was that useful for hamsters specifically (and while the gerbils did like some of the chew toys, they honestly get just as much enjoyment out of a Pringles tube at significantly less cost). I would consider subscribing for another 3 months now and then.

As to whether I would recommend it to others, if you only have diabetes-prone species (Chinese and Russian dwarfs), probably not, because so many of the treats won't be suitable. If you have Syrians or Robos, maybe, but don't expect too much. If you have one of those Syrians who loves shredding and chewing things, I can see the boxes being quite good due to the focus on chew toys. Of course, despite being called Hamster Mail, these boxes are also suitable for some other rodents like gerbils, rats, and mice. I found the boxes actually quite good for gerbils, and if I were to subscribe again, it would be more for the gerbils than the hamsters.
 
Thank you for that update! I'm fascinated by the macaron hanger! What is it made of? Wood and loofah or something? It looks fun.

It's also really useful to know where you can buy some of these things. I think I would agree that I would expect just a bit more in each box. The cardboard boxes might be fun for some hamsters though! But most of us have plenty of free cardboard anyway.

Disappointing that it's sold for hamsters and so many things have fruit or sugar? in. They should have species specific boxes.
 
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