A furry and cute electronic toy hamster, which is fun to play with and easy on the pocket, has become the "hot toy" of the current holiday season. The electronic hamsters, marketed as Zhu Zhu Pets, are available at all leading retail stores and can be taken home for a modest price $8 to $10.

A product from the house of a closely held US toy-maker, Cepia, Zhu Zhu Pets are sold out in all stores and everyone is demanding more shipment, and real fast. This is something that Cepia's founder and CEO Russell Hornsbuy was not expecting, who shared that trying to sell these robotic hamsters to retailers was like "gambling millions in blackjack".

“This is a Christmas where a lot of people didn’t want to take big risks. You’re gambling because you’re selling to kids. That’s a pretty fickle group", he said.

The effort is, however, definitely paying off. Giant British and American retailer like Wal-Mart Stores, Target Corp, Toys “R” Us and Tesco are finding it hard to keep Zhu Zhu Pets in stock.

There is, however, one little glitch. Retailers are running out of Zhu Zhu Pets real fast, and people are forced to resort to online re-sellers like Amazon who have priced these toys atleast twice of what retail marts have. It seems that Cepia will have to make sure that these popular toys reach retailers in more numbers, or their popularity might be threatened.