A pet hamster has left his owners homeless after he sparked a blaze and caused $36,000 (£20,000) of damage to their home.

Pebbles the hamster also died in the fire which also killed the two family dogs and a pet chinchilla.

Owners Tracey Hill and her son Kae managed escape the fire after it broke out in the early hours of the morning on Oct 30.

Tracey had related the rodent into her kitchen as Pebbles made a racket on his wheel and it stopped her sleeping.

She placed Pebbles on top of the electric cooker to keep him away their three dogs, but his in-cage activities meant the cage inched towards the knobs on the cooker, and managed to turn on one of the rings.

The cage caught fire, killing Pebbles, dogs Twiggy and Poppy and a chinchilla.

Tracey and Kae were alerted by their smoke alarm and fled as their home filled with smoke. They were treated for smoke inhalation.

Around £20,000 of damage was caused to the semi-detatched home in Bletchley, England, and the family are in temporary accommodation.