The Hottest Toy of 2009

Chunk, Numnums, Pipsqueak and Mr. Squiggles. You may not know their names yet but if you have a pre-tween on your Christmas gift list you will soon. The Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters are the "must get" toy this year.

"They actually make noises and they're kind of like a real hamster," says Brooke Hockspiel. She started collecting them in October and even then they were hard to find.

The waiting list at Learning Express started last month. It's currently 120 people long and they get 40-50 calls a day asking about the Zhu Zhus. "Our phone battery has died today and yesterday," says Learning Express Manager Kelly Feher.

The store got a new shipment yesterday but those are already spoken for.

It's not just the Zhu Zhu Hamsters themselves that are the hottest toys. It's all the accessories that go along like this Hamster Mobile and Garage which was the first of many accessories to sell out. You can combine all of them they link together to form one big hamster city.

The hamsters are $12.99 each. The accessories range in price from $16.99 to $30 for the house.

You can guarantee a Zhu Zhu under the tree if you are willing to pay a hefty price on E-bay, but stores are expecting at least another shipment before Christmas so if you want one get on a waiting list or get in line.