Real deal in toyland: Faux hamsters

Who's laughing now, Elmo?

The hottest toy this holiday season is not a ticklish red monster. It's a fake hamster.

Known as Zhu Zhu Pets, the artificial rodents have some advantages over the real things. They don't stink, chew on electric wiring or run around their cages making noise at night. In fact, they don't need cages.

Children are delighted at how the fuzzy toys coo and scoot about unpredictably. Parents are delighted not to have to clean up after them. And, at $7.99 each, the hamsters are recession-friendly.

The trouble is, Zhu Zhu Pets are so popular that stores can't keep them in stock. The critters are routinely sold out at the likes of Toys "R" Us, Wal-Mart and Target stores, though more will hit the shelves the day after Thanksgiving, when deal-seekers wake up early to shop for bargains.

In the meantime, the hamster toys are being sold at a premium on the Internet.

"Beware of the price-gouging on Amazon and eBay, which we don't condone," said Natalie Hornsby, director of marketing for Cepia, the St. Louis company that created Zhu Zhu Pets.

The five battery-operated hamster models -- Chunk, PipSqueak, Mr. Squiggles, Num Nums and Patches -- are mainly coveted by girls, who also own the majority of live hamsters.

Boys, it appears, are wild this year for Bakugan Battle Brawlers, a game that uses cards and action figures hidden inside small spheres. The goal is to be the first player to capture three of your opponent's cards, known as Gate cards. (The name comes from the Japanese words baku, meaning "to explode," and gan, meaning "sphere.")

But it is the hamsters that are upstaging that game and everything else in toyland this season.

"It clearly is the hottest phenomenon of the year," said Gerald Storch, chairman and chief executive of Toys "R" Us.

Tracey Henry of Safety Harbor, Fla., decided to buy one of the Zhu Zhu toys for her 6-year-old daughter, even though the girl wanted a real hamster for her birthday. So Henry went to Toys "R" Us.

"The shelves were empty," she said.

Henry returned home and began calling local toy stores and scouring websites with no luck. In the end, she bought a Zhu Zhu Pet on Amazon, marked up to $34.99.

"We got the yellow one," Henry said. "We should rename it 'greenback.'"

NEW YORK TIMES