Zhu Zhu Pets

RATING

Kids - 5!!!!
Moms - 5!

A few months ago, my children started seeing Go Go Pets advertisements on the television. They would stop whatever they were doing and become mesmorized by the toy on the screen and as soon as the ad was over, they would both start begging me to buy them! Recently, we had the great opportunity to host several friends and give the recently renamed Zhu Zhu Pets a try! I must say this mom is very impressed!

Hamster Roll Call
There are four different Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters. Each hamster has its own unique personality and fun sounds: Mr. Squiggles (Tan) / Num Nums (Gray) / Chunk (White) / Pipsqueak (Yellow)

The have 4 different modes:
Loving Mode: Pet them, love them, hear them squeak and chatter
Explore Mode: Let them scoot, scamper, bump & boogie across the floor or through their Hamster Habitat
Off: I strongly encourage you to have your children to turn off their hamsters and put them up and away from dogs. I can imagine certain family pets might want to do harm to these cute little guys when no one is looking!

Right out-of-the-box you can hear it "chatter" and make its own silly noises when you press its nose...If your Hamster is already "exploring" and running around, when it bumps it's nose it will make a startled noise, and back-up out of the way, and then run off to explore some more! All of the kids loved the sounds the hamsters make! There is quite a variety.

When you want to cuddle with or "reward" your hamster, pet it on the head (right behind the ears... they like that a lot) Your hamster will chirp and purr and coo contentedly. These little furballs love it when you pet them... and they'll keep "talking" until they get bored and go to sleep.

To let your hamster know it's OK to run around and explore its environment, press it on its back and watch them go! Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters love to run around and explore. If you want to calm them down, you can pat it on the head button to cuddle (and it will stop running) or you can press it on its back and you will hear your Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster yawn and then go to sleep

Zhu Zhu Pets Accessories

Hamster Funhouse

The hamsters will move in and out of the Funhouse through the designated tunnels. It is neat to watch as they know how to reverse and go right through the tunnels opening.

Hamster Wheel

This is one cute part of the toy! My children as well as the other 9 kids testing out the Pets were so impressed how their Zhu Zhu Pets would head down the tunnel and get himself in the wheel. The hamster walks in the wheel for a few seconds, stops and then knows exactly how to get itself out of the wheel and proceed back down the tunnel. This is a must if you get the add on's!

Hamster Car/Garage

This is another add on that is a lot of fun! There is a tunnel that leads to the garage. In the garage, there is a Zhu Zhu car waiting for the hamsters. The Pet drives right into the car and out the garage door. This was a huge hit with the kids, as well as the Mom's. I will say though, that after I put together the garage portion of the toy. The top and doors of the garage does not stay on very well! That was a little disappointing but of this entire toy set, this was the only piece that didn't snap together all that well and was the only section that kept falling a part. I finally gave up. I hope the manufacturer works to fix this problem area out because it's a super cute part of the toy.

Hamster Spiral Slide

What child doesn't love a good spiral slide? And hamsters love them too of course! All of the kids had a great time watching their Zhu Zhu Pets slide down the spiral slide. Once the pieces are put together, the entire slide stays together nice and tight. I was impressed that this didn't fall a part at all! It is made solid!

Hamster Adventure Ball

I didn't get a chance to review the Adventure Ball. I received the box, but inside was an extra sleep dome. But it looked like it worked much like a real life hamster ball. When this product hits the market, I will most definitely pick this piece up because it looks like a lot of fun.

Hamster Surfboard/Hut

Watch as your Pets surf across your floor in this fancy pet sized surfboard! We just snapped the pets in place and we watched the go!

Hamster Skateboard/U-Turn

Just like the surfboard, the Skateboard with the U-Turn ramps were a lot of fun!

Sleepdome

When it's nighty night time for your Pet, he will head to his sleep dome and turn off for a little siesta! But have no fear, if your kids are still in the mood, he wakes right up for more fun!

Instructions/Installation/Assembly
I first must stress the importance of reading the directions! I am a self-proclaimed non-direction reader and I learned the hardway. These little hamsters move and as I was leaning over putting together one of the tracks, with the help of my daughter, one of the little hamsters moved right up my back and into my hair. Rather quickly I learned that they keep moving even if there is a lot of hair getting tightly wound up. When you unwrap your Zhu Zhu Pet, please learn how to turn it off, because that took us a few minutes! But after a lesson from my son, we were able to get the hamster turned off and my husband had to spend a few minutes unwinding my hair. He eventually had to cut a small amout off, but had I READ the directions, I would have known to be careful around hair and would have instructed my daughter to keep the pets away from her hair and other people's hair. Lesson learned! Don't be like me and make sure you read the instructions!

After my own little mishap, the installation was rather easy. Once we figured out how to snap the coordinating U-shape pieces in, the assembly was a snap. If I can figure out how to install it, you know it's easy because as I mentioned earlier, I don't like to read directions! The hamsters are ready to roll the minute they come out of the box! This is a nice treat. I can't tell you how often I open up a box after a birthday or Christmas and don't have the right batteries or enough! Thank you Zhu Zhu Pets for including batteries! Each hamster takes 3 AAA batteries for future replacements.

On the Zhu Zhu Pets Blog there are several fun games for your children to play. If they love their Zhu Zhu pets, they'll love the interactive games online!

Overall, this is one very cool toy that will give your children many hours of fun! The kids had fun watching their hamsters move all over the place and all of the mom's were pretty amazed at just how smart these little guys are! They know how to back up and position themselves perfectly! They are really cute and so much better than the alternative as a real life, stinky hamster! ;-) Every child that attended the party loved Zhu Zhu Pets and many moms wee so impressed they were making big plans to pick up the various Zhu Zhu accessories because their children had so much fun playing! Zhu Zhu pets will be available for sale on September 1st at Toys R Us, Walmart and Amazon.