Little Live Pets Mama Surprise Guinea Pigs Review

Reviewed by Jo Tebbs

As much as I would love to get my animal obsessed daughter a real life pet, unfortunately, those things cost money, time and energy. Sometimes, like in our personal situation, having a pet is just not practical. It’s not only another mouth to feed but when Mother Nature runs her course, we all know how heart breaking it can be loosing a loved member of the family (no matter how small!). A great alternative though, and in my opinion the next best thing, is a toy which offers all the fun and exciting elements of owning a pet, but without some of the chores or negatives that can be involved with the real deal.

I’m not entirely sure who was more excited about the impending arrival of the new ‘addition’ to our family, myself or my young daughter. We were eagerly awaiting receipt of some extremely cute, furry new friends, otherwise known as ‘Little Live Pets – Mama Surprise Guinea Pigs.’

Although I had seen various other Little Live Pets for sale on supermarket shelves and in toy shops, I had never had the opportunity to actually hold/ play with these toys, nor had my daughter, so it was going to be a new experience for the both of us.

The DHL courier delivered the neatly packaged parcel to our front door and we hurriedly opened the plastic wrapped and cardboard boxed shipment. We certainly weren’t disappointed with what we found contained within the box! Inside was the cutest little plastic guinea pig cage, with an adorable little fluffy face peering out! My little girl squealed with delight when she realised she now had her very own (toy!) guinea pig to look after and play with.

The cage and contents were very realistic looking and the guinea pig had a very sweet little face. There is a helpful carry handle on top of the cage which neatly folds down to make the cage more compact when it’s not being required to get lifted or for manoeuvring the hutch around. The hutch also comes with some nesting paper, a hair brush (after all, she and the babies are long haired piggies, so their fur needs to be brushed and kept tamed!) and some pretend celery food. My daughter was unaware that this is actually an interactive toy, so more excitement was to shortly follow!

Underneath the mummy piggy is an ‘on and off’ switch with a screw section. Once opened, 3 x AAA batteries are required to be inserted. Once turned on, mummy pig springs to life and makes the most adorable little guinea pig sounds!! If you press her pink little tongue, she makes crunching and munching sounds, and if you do it multiple times, she then burps. She has various little squeaks of joy and happiness when you play with her or cuddle and stroke her. Once placed back in her hutch, she makes little snoring noises as though she has gone to sleep. I have to admit, this Little Live Pets Mama Surprise Guinea Pigs is a super sweet toy and my daughter is so attentive and thrives on making her little piggy happy. She also loves being rewarded by the piggy sounds!!

Underneath the handle of the hutch, is a lift section that has a ‘lock / unlock’ switch. To the right of this is another screw section whereby a further 3 x AAA batteries need to be inserted in order to make the hutch element interactive.
Once you turn the button to ‘unlock,’ the whole top of the hutch lifts up, and underneath is where you find the 3 baby guinea pigs and their care packages. Each baby sits in a little section (like an automatic cat feeding timed machine) ready to get released via a ‘trap door’ into the main cage at the appropriate time.

At the back of the hutch is another switch that can be located to ‘off, normal or fast.’ I’m assuming this is in relation to the timing for the baby guinea pigs to get released.

As with all pets, you need to look after them and this toy helps to teach children some of the responsibilities involved with having a real life pet. For example, you need to feed the animal and take care of the fur by brushing it. With this Little Live Pets – Mama Surprise Guinea Pigs toy, by giving the mummy piggy all the love and attention that it needs, the chest area of the guinea pig starts to glow pink and she sings a little melody of contentment. I’m assume the glow is meant to represent a heart and that the little piggy is happy because she’s being cared for and looked after so nicely by your child! Once the guinea is placed back into the interactive cage with the door shut, I noticed a pink heart shaped light appear above the cage door and about 10 minutes later, a baby little guinea appeared inside of the cage alongside the mummy guinea pig. A package/present box was also found with the baby and it contained a birth certificate, a couple of hair bands and a couple of accessories.

Depending on the guinea pig born, will depend on accessories you receive in the care package. The 3 new born guinea styles are; a princess (comes with a little bow hair clip and a tiara), a school preppy look (glasses and another bow hair clip) and the ‘rock star’ guinea pig (sunglasses and a lightening bolt shaped hair clip). These accessories are rather small so can be a little fiddly to be played with and may get lost easily. Like with real life little guinea pigs, each of the babies also have their own fur colours to make them unique and individual!

I really like the fact that you can keep replacing the baby guinea pigs inside the timer section at the top of the hutch so your little one can enjoy the surprise of finding a baby guinea arrive into the cage, over and over again! Just staying on that topic, one thing I found, is that the baby guinea pigs need to get placed with the care packages in a particular position in each of the drop sections in order for a ‘smooth’ delivery into the hutch. If placed in the wrong way/direction, then the piggy might not get released, which means you may have to reset the release mechanism, or the care package can get left inside the release container.

The packaging says the toy is for children aged 4+. My little one isn’t quite that age yet and she still LOVES this toy. Even as an adult, I have to admit, I’ve become quite fond of the little squeaks that ring out, although bear in mind it’s all quite novel still so it might wear a little thin over time!

Christmas is fast approaching and I think you could make a little person’s Christmas day extremely special with the gift of a Little Live Pets Mama Surprise Guinea Pigs present! My daughter is over the moon with her new furry friends!

Please note that you will need 6 x AAA batteries (these are not included) in order for the interactive elements to work.

Rating: I would rate this product 4/5

RRP: The RRP for this item is £64.99

You can buy the Little Live Pets Mama Surprise Guinea Pigs toy from the Smyths Toys website here.