Zhu Zhu Pets- for Son-turning 6? Good Idea or No? Seeking Advice/experiences

My kids beggggged for them last Xmas. I got them each one with the house/track thing. They lost interest in about 2 days. I dont suggest the house thing. It does not stay together well. They are cute and easier to clean up after than a real hamster. I wish I would have bought the hamster ball instead of the house. As far as noise goes, i dont think they are any more annoying than any other noisy toy.

My 5yr old girl has them and loves them. We have 3 and bought the fun house. we keep them on the tile so their wheels will always run good. She doesn't play with them all the time, but when she does, they keep her attention awhile. I don't notice the noise at all! They don't seem to loud or anything to me. I'd get him one and see if he likes it and then get another if he does. You can always say no more to them if you don't like them.

I hate them. They make awful noises and they are dangerous. If the wheels are spinning then they can get caught in hair. Yours or theirs. Awful! All I can say is I hope he gets over it for your sake.

We love them. The kids are really enjoying the ones we have...we don't have any accessories yet but will buy some eventually. We have a house rule: Toys in the living room go into time out for being out of the play area. The kids keep the noisy toys out of my space and I don't have to hear them at all.

I think they are worth the $9 and we buy one every other month or so.

I am really sure that I heard that those toys had a recall. I would google it and check it out online.

Take care.

My son received 1 for Christmas last year he was 6 he opened looked at here & asked what is this he never played with it his 3 yr old sis played with it a few times but after her hair got got up in the wheels there it sits in the play bins with toys they actually use & play with.
I did buy 1 for each of my nephews they are 5 & 3 their mom said they do play with them..
They aren't on my shopping list this year....

My 4 year old has one. She loves it but I don't! Too noisy!!!!

Ugh! What a waste of money THOSE things were. My girls NEEDED them last year for Christmas (and I really was skeptical that they were anything special). I went ahead and got them, with a few of the accessories. They're lame WITH the super expensive accessories, and without them, they're downright boring. We got one each for my two girls and one for my niece. The one for my niece didn't run, so I had to take it apart (I'm pretty good with stuff like that) and found that two wires that were connected with tape, yep, that's right, sticky tape, had come loose. So I re-taped them and that did the trick. Had I not known to take that thing apart I would have been left with a stupid, non-running, annoying sound making useless toy. So my opinion is that they're not worth the money, poorly made, annoying and best left on the store shelves. It's too bad that the kids are so brainwashed by them...

I would advise against them. once you start a collection like that , you end up having to get the rest of the pieces and the pieces to the habitats are rather large. we have two of them and a couple of habitat pieces they don't play with them much. I'd suggest Legos or action figures. Or the " real construction " sets.

It's not a big deal...my daughter plays with them. She has 2 of them and they work just fine. You said your husband already bought him one anyway, so you've already bought into them.. lol
And as far as you basing your decision on the "obnoxiousness" factor, then you may as well forget about buying lots of other toys in the future. Many things are more annoying than a chattering fake hamster.

oh, my son was 6 when we got him one and a friend got him another for his birthday. He really likes them, We don't use them on the carpet and my son knows not to put them on his head so we have never had an issue with the hair getting caught. and we didn't by accessories he just builds them little houses from blocks etc.
I don't find the noise annoying at all, He has far far worse toys as far as noise is concerned, and i am one to get tense at the sounds of legos being rooted around in their bin. These little guys make cute noises and you can turn them upside down or push some spot on their head or something and they stop.
for the price i think they are cute.

We have two. They get played with here and there, but at $10, if he really wants one, just get one. At his age, I wouldn't be as worried about the hair thing, but just the other day, my 3 year old got her hair very wrapped up in the wheels and I had to break her hair to get her out of it. So, if you have younger ones, I'd keep them away from them.

All 3 of our kids have several of them. We don't really have any of the accessories. Our son's bday party was saturday and we bought him 3 of the Kung Zhu's with the armor. So he's been having fun with them. Don't feel like you have to get all crazy buying the extra stuff. Good luck!

I do empathize with complaints about the noise factor. But here was our situatuation: Our 7 yr old son began collecting Zhu Zhus when he was six. This was about the time he wanted a dog, and I was not ready to take on the responsibility (caregiving for my mom with cancer at the time) and this toy really fullfilled his need to nurture something. And I didn't have to worry about cleaning up poop :-)

My son is gifted, so his interests tend to lean towards more complex, imaginary play. He's also very sensitive and nurturing. He was more interested in the unique noises each Zhu Zhu makes - their own personal language, is how he thought of it - rather than any movement they make. He took a great deal of pride in 'nurturing' each pet, and still likes to take one with him on playdates or for show and tell at school. He also liked their unique looks. He was far less interested in the accessories that came with the pets, except some of the outfits. So, personally, I wouldn't bother with accessories until the child shows more interest in what the pet can DO than the pet itself.

Some kids particularly like the hamster wheel that connects to the tunnel, because each pet makes it's own noise when traveling the hamster wheel.

As for cost, my son 'earned' his pets via chores he did at home or while at his grandmother's. We found most of them for around $6 at CVS or Walgreens. When they first came out they were selling for around $20+ each. :-S

There is an off-brand version off Zhu-Zhu pets in Target (I forget the name) and they are cheaper, and less noisy. My son started collecting some of those too, but I don't think he likes them as much.

Hope this helps :-)

My MIL bought everything, all the Zhu Zhu pets, their homes, cars, wheels, etc., for our daughter for her fourth birthday in March. She (and our other three children) played with the entire set one time. Now, there are pieces of the sets all over the house, we find them at random. We occasionally see them play with the pets themselves. They run well on hardwood floors. But, really, none of my kids found them to live up to the hype.

Maybe buy him one pet and the little ball it can run around in, even I have to admit, that is kind of cute.

My 3 year old has 2... She plays with them sporadically, but loves them like they were actual pets. Buy one and see how long it takes before the new wears off...