SHOPPERS in the county are still going crazy for the new "virtual" computer pets.

Demand for the cyber pets Digital Doggie and Compu Kittie, introduced months ago, is still as high as ever.

Mercers of Northgate, Blackburn, are still using a waiting list rota for customers desperate to buy the computer pets priced around £10.

Rose Fowler, toy buyer for Mercers, said: "We have about 90 people on our waiting list and it is growing all the time.

"I think this craze will last up until Christmas. It has been our most popular seller and now we have computer babies."

Val Riding tried desperately to get her hands on a cyber pet for her 10-year-old son Simon.

The 34-year-old from Blackburn said: "I rang one shop who said they had just had some delivered and by the time I got down there, they had gone.

"I was told they had sold out in the first half a hour!" Val eventually put her name down on a waiting list at Mercers and had to wait two weeks for her virtual pet.

She said: "Simon loves it. He never lets it out of his sight.

"As soon as he wakes up in the morning he starts to take care of it."

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