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Post by LilyandDaisy on Mar 22, 2024 17:09:01 GMT -8
Hamster Mail is a monthly subscription service that sends you a mystery box of toys and treats for hamsters (but is fine for other small rodents too). Despite the slightly high price, I thought it would be fun to give it a 3-month trial. This worked out as £16 per box. I've received one box already, and I'm going to update this thread with each new box. The February box contained: - A forage mix containing dried parsley, cucumber, parsnip, and banana - Some loofah "sandals" - Some leaf chews - these are made with glycerin, similar to the Whimzee chews that lots of people give to small rodents - A willow spiral  I was rather underwhelmed as this didn't seem like much for £16. I'm sure everything would have cost less bought individually. That said, I had never seen any of the products apart from the willow spiral, and the element of surprise is fun, so perhaps the novelty is worth something. The gerbils were also underwhelmed. They weren't really interested in the leaf chews. They liked the dried banana in the herb mix but that was it. Predictably they enjoyed destroying the loofah sandals and willow twist, but then again, they enjoy cardboard boxes just as much. The gerbils' favourite part of the box by far was the yellow tissue paper the contents were wrapped in. Who knew tissue paper could be so exciting? The gerbils now have very pretty yellow nests. I'm not sure the cost of the box was quite worth it for some tissue paper though. So far I'm disappointed, but there are two more boxes to come and maybe they'll be better. |
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Mar 28, 2024 15:36:27 GMT -8
Box 2 Box 2 contained some apple and strawberry treats, a grassy carrot, a hanging chew/decoration, and a really nice forage mix.  I really like the forage mix. It has grass, dandelion leaves, dried carrot, and several types of dried flowers. The gerbils were really excited by it, especially Twiglet, and by extension Peanut (who is very easily influenced and will always be excited by anything that excites Twiglet). Astra isn't supposed to be eating too many unusual foods at the moment due to her stomach issues, but I let her have a dandelion leaf and a rosehip, and Luna liked some of the dried flowers. I gave each of the hamsters a handful of the forage mix and then left the tray in Twiglet and Peanut's cage, since they liked it so much. The video below shows them digging through the mix. I've never seen a gerbil wink so much, so either Twiglet really liked what she was eating, or she got something in her eye while foraging. That rattling noise in the background is Astra running on the wheel. The colourful hanging chew went in one of the hamster cages and the grassy carrot will probably be given to two of the gerbils at some point for them to destroy. The apple and strawberry treats didn't seem to be anything special. The gerbils ate them but didn't seem that excited by them. Overall, the box is okay. The forage mix is great, and I'd buy that again on its own, but the rest of the contents were nothing special. I still don't feel like I'm getting £16 worth. Next month I will get my final box and then I can come up with a final verdict on whether they were worthwhile. |
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Post by Markpd on Mar 29, 2024 4:34:47 GMT -8
Well the forage mix looks particularly interesting at least  (Btw, do you remember I asked what people thought the brief shake-twist meant in gerbils? Astra did it in your video at 1:20 just after she tasted and dropped a flower head (I think that's what it is anyway), so perhaps a dis-satisfaction reaction??) |
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Post by conniew on Mar 29, 2024 8:41:07 GMT -8
Those boxes look interesting. I used to do the same thing for my dogs from BarkBox. It was $35 a month for one box a month. It had toys and treats for dogs in it. After a few months we had so many toys I had to stop it and it was not really worth it to me. But I like what you are getting in those boxes and that video is sooooo cute!!
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Post by betty on Mar 29, 2024 9:28:49 GMT -8
I love that video of the forage box - it really lived up to its name! Did you leave it in or just give them a taster of it and remove until next time?
I suppose most gerbil toys/treats are about £2:50/£3 each now, give or take, so 4/5 things and postage sounds about £16ish. I love the idea of the very expensive tissue paper though. My jirds would most likely LOVE a colorful nest! (*buying some online right now).
It certainly wouldn't be worth it for me and my huge crew - but I certainly still enjoy the fun of getting new things - so that surely is worth a bit of the subscription cost like you say.
Can't wait to see the next one - love the idea of it for sure.
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Mar 29, 2024 12:03:26 GMT -8
I love that video of the forage box - it really lived up to its name! Did you leave it in or just give them a taster of it and remove until next time? I suppose most gerbil toys/treats are about £2:50/£3 each now, give or take, so 4/5 things and postage sounds about £16ish. I love the idea of the very expensive tissue paper though. My jirds would most likely LOVE a colorful nest! (*buying some online right now). It certainly wouldn't be worth it for me and my huge crew - but I certainly still enjoy the fun of getting new things - so that surely is worth a bit of the subscription cost like you say. Can't wait to see the next one - love the idea of it for sure. After giving a handful of the forage to each of my hamsters, I left the rest of the box in Twiglet and Peanut's cage since they seemed to like it the most. £16 is actually excluding postage, which is £2.99. If you subscribe for 6 months at a time, the boxes are a little bit cheaper. The other day my local Tesco Express had loads of packets of pink tissue paper reduced to 10p each (strange because I don't think they even sell it normally). Each packet has 5 very large sheets so it was great value chewing material, and I bought about 20 packets. The gerbils will have pink nests for months to come. They also like the pre-shredded tissue paper that you get in Easter baskets, which is quite cheap even full price. |
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Post by betty on Apr 2, 2024 9:59:27 GMT -8
Oh. Excluding postage is a bit of a stretch - but I suppose personal satisfaction is what most home delivery things are about - ease of doing. I still like the idea of the suprise, the variety and the 'no need to go shopping all the time' part of it.
Now - I can't believe what a find your pink tissue paper was!!! Maybe a trip to my own TESCO one evening this week might be worth it after all...
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Post by conniew on Apr 2, 2024 20:14:46 GMT -8
I had white tissue paper and I threw a half sheet into the cage the other morning and all day I watched as it slowly was pulled down one of their craters. LOL!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Apr 27, 2024 11:49:51 GMT -8
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.  The macaron hanger is very pretty, and I like that the layers of loofah are sandwiched in between wooden blocks, so the gerbils will have to work a bit harder to destroy them. The rattan balls provided the gerbils with 5 minutes of fun, but were nothing special. The herb mix looks nice but I haven't tried it yet. And the popcorn went down really well - even Luna liked that and she can be quite picky.     Overall thoughtsOverall, I'm glad to decide to subscribe to Hamster Mail as I got some nice things and the element of surprise was fun, but I definitely don't think the value for money was quite there. I would consider subscribing again for just 3 months here and there when I feel like treating myself/the gerbils, but it's not something I would consider subscribing to on an ongoing basis. The gerbils certainly enjoyed some of the chew toys (not forgetting the lovely tissue paper), but they get just as much enjoyment out of household cardboard and other cheap things. I would like it if the boxes perhaps focused more on natural, unprocessed/whole treats like seed sprays. I'm fine with giving my gerbils the odd processed treat like the apple and strawberry bunnies, but I do like them to be less frequent parts of their diet. I actually ended up throwing away the apple and strawberry bunnies because the gerbils just didn't like them enough to justify feeding them, when there are other things they like more. That's another reason for not subscribing every month - I simply couldn't get through that many treats. The popcorn went down well but will last me at least a couple of months. I also noticed that a lot of the best products are from the Healthy 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. Would I recommend Hamster MailMaybe, but don't expect too much! If you like being surprised or getting surprise gifts (and don't mind paying a bit extra for the surprise element), you might enjoy a Hamster Mail subscription. Incidentally, despite being called Hamster Mail, I feel that most of the items I got were actually more suitable for gerbils than for hamsters, and the gerbils definitely got more out of my subscription than the hamsters. The boxes include a lot of destructible chew toys which most hamsters aren't that interested in. The boxes would also be suitable for rats and mice. |
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Post by betty on Apr 28, 2024 12:54:03 GMT -8
I totally love this review - and your pictures and most importantly - your gerbils enjoying them!
You are right about the products looking more gerbil than hamster and also how long things will last. I have plenty of gerbils and sometimes I can't even get through bags or boxes of treats quickly as I don't like to overdo things - and of course I like variety - so they have many different treats not just the same one month in month out.
Thank you so much for sharing - and this could certainly be something to sign up for over the winter when you don't fancy going out in the colder months. Having little seasonal gifts delivered could be quite fun too when it is dark outside...
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Apr 29, 2024 9:38:34 GMT -8
I totally love this review - and your pictures and most importantly - your gerbils enjoying them! You are right about the products looking more gerbil than hamster and also how long things will last. I have plenty of gerbils and sometimes I can't even get through bags or boxes of treats quickly as I don't like to overdo things - and of course I like variety - so they have many different treats not just the same one month in month out. Thank you so much for sharing - and this could certainly be something to sign up for over the winter when you don't fancy going out in the colder months. Having little seasonal gifts delivered could be quite fun too when it is dark outside... They also offer the option to send a gift box to someone else, which might be a nice gift idea for a rodent-keeping friend. |
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Post by betty on Apr 30, 2024 22:55:59 GMT -8
Absolutely - I think that 3 months trial would be a great gift for gerbil/hamster keeper!
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Post by tanzanyte on May 5, 2024 4:03:37 GMT -8
I love the pics. They do look like they're enjoying it all and it would make a great gift for someone. Sometimes it's the thrill of things turning up and not knowing what you're getting that make these things special. Plus it certainly saves doing the pet shop run when you realise how low you are on enrichment.
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