French hotel lets guests live like hamsters for a night

France has all the ingredients for a romantic getaway. The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the smell of fresh baguettes and wine ... Hamsters. 

Treat your special someone to a night of amour at the Hamster Villa in Nantes, France.

Guests dress up in rodent costumes and spend the night roaming the people-sized re-creation of a cozy hamster cage.  Amenities include a human-sized hamster wheel, readily available grain for snacking, floor space for hamster dancing, and a hay bed for sleeping and, if all goes well, breeding.

Check out the Reuters video for a slightly disturbing walk-through of the hotel.

-- Mark Milian (Follow on Twitter @markmilian)

Photo: Stephane Mahe / Reuters

Free 'In Case of Fire' pet safety decals offer from Protection One

As pet owners, it's hard not to worry about our animal friends when they're left home alone.  Are we right, or are we right?  (We think we're right.)  After all, what would happen if, heaven forbid, there were a fire, earthquake or other disaster when we weren't home to evacuate our little guys? 

We shudder to think about it.

Fortunately, a nationwide security company called Protection One is stepping in to make pets a little safer and help owners feel a little more secure.  It's offering the handy decals at left free of charge on its website; owners simply have to order online, then affix the decals to a window or door to alert firefighters that pets are inside the home.  (All you need to do is write the number of each type of pet in the home, peel and stick.)

No official tallies are kept on the number of pets killed in fires every year, but estimates range from the thousands all the way up to the hundreds of thousands. 

Of course, "In Case of Fire" decals like these (versions of which are available at a low price from a number of organizations -- although it's hard to argue with free) are just one part of a fire-safety plan for pets. Beyond the decals, owners should make sure to include their pets in a detailed fire evacuation plan, taking extra precautions for pets that are left in a crate or pen while home alone.  (According to the American Kennel Club, the No. 1 cause of dogs' deaths during fire is that they were unable to escape a crate or pen.) 

No way! Man caught smuggling pythons and lizards taped to his body in Norway

Imagine the surprise of Norwegian customs official Helge Breilid when he randomly searched the luggage of a young man arriving from Denmark and found a tarantula. The creepy discoveries didn't stop there. Breilid then began searching the 22-year-old Norwegian and found 10 albino leopard geckos and 14 baby royal pythons.

According to the Associated Press, the creatures were individually housed in small bags that were taped to the legs and chest of the alleged smuggler.

The unusual apprehension happened Sunday during a routine customs check of passengers who had just arrived via ferry into Kristiansand.

Your morning adorable: Guinea pigs battle over a cucumber

For the three guinea pig pets of YouTube user Gerald56, a cucumber treat is well worth the effort it takes to steal it from your compatriots. We find the resulting video oddly hypnotic, rather like watching guinea pigs eat watermelon. Why do we find these little guys' eating habits so fascinating? We're not sure, but if loving to watch guinea pigs eat is wrong, we don't want to be right.

While experts in pocket-pet health say that the majority of a guinea pig's diet should come from grass hay and commercially available pellet food, many pet owners give them extra treats in the form of fruits and vegetables. Provided these treats are free from potentially harmful seeds, many fruits and vegetables are actually good for guinea pigs -- which, like humans, can't synthesize vitamin C. To make sure they get plenty of this nutrient, treats like an orange wedge or a bit of kale are an especially good choice.

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Your morning adorable: Chinchilla eats -- nay, savors -- a raisin
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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: Gerald56 via YouTube

Sweden's furry, alternative fuel source: Burning bunnies

The scientific community and political realm have kicked around the possibilities of solar, wind, wave, nuclear and a smattering of other abundant resources as alternatives to fossil fuels.

But here's one that must have slipped their minds: bunnies.

Sweden was ahead of the game, though. Thousands of rabbit bodies have been shipped from Stockholm to a plant in central Sweden. There the carcasses are burned as fuel to provide heat for homes.

Stockholm authorities say rabbit overpopulation is a rampant problem, according to a report by Sweden's The Local, which we found courtesy of Live Science. Contributing to that problem is pet owners' releasing their domesticated rabbits.

Stockholm Traffic Office spokesman Tommy Tuvunger told Sweden's Vart Kungsholmen newspaper that owners looking to be free of the troubles of rabbit ownership simply "put the animals outside. They think: 'there they can play with the other rabbits'." 

Florida man charged with animal cruelty over pet rat

DELAND, Fla. -- Authorities say a DeLand man who strangled a pet rat after accusing his wife of taking the last cigarette has been charged with animal cruelty.

The new charge for 22-year-old Darren Daniels was added Thursday. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office reports that Daniels grabbed his wife during a confrontation last week, which led to the 20-year-old woman running away and hiding outside.

Before that, Daniels reportedly grabbed a white rat from a tank in their apartment, smashed its head and then strangled it.

Authorities say Daniels drove away recklessly and refused to pull over for deputies.

Daniels was previously charged with battery and fleeing and eluding. He was still being held on $3,000 bail for those charges.

The new charge carries an additional $5,000 bail.

-- Associated Press

Your morning adorable: Angora rabbit is a furry soccer phenom

We're certainly familiar with animals that like to chase balls and Frisbees, but usually, those animals are dogs. Every so often, though, we run across a champion soccer player of a different species entirely. We've seen a soccer-playing lamb and even a horse that plays what we'll call a modified version of the sport.

But a rabbit? Now that's new to us. Meet Momo, an English Angora rabbit whose stylish markings are rivaled only by his stylish soccer moves. 

In other words, the David Beckham of the pocket-pet set.

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: esheep1012 via YouTube

Your morning adorable: Chinchilla eats -- nay, savors -- a raisin

We are big fans of chinchillas (animals, not coats),  but we can't decide what we like best about the little rodents. Is it their ultra-soft fur, their penchant for dust-bathing or their tendency to perform acrobatic maneuvers? We suspect it might be none of the above, because we also love the delicate way they handle food with their tiny, humanlike hands.

Little Stringbean, the lucky chinchilla above, has just gotten his (tiny, humanlike) hands on his very favorite treat: a raisin. We can't believe it takes him more than a minute to eat it, and further, we can't believe we wanted to watch it all over again as soon as he was done!

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: sinclaircm via YouTube

Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster toys are poised to take over the holiday market (and could save some real hamsters from grabby kids while they're at it)

We've seen countless animal-themed toys come and go -- remember the Tamagotchi "digital pet"? My Little Pony, anyone? Furby? Our personal favorite, Pound Puppies? Well, there's a new faux animal in town and, partly due to its modest price, it's expected to be one of the most-purchased toys this holiday season. Oh, and did we mention it's a battery-powered hamster?

The pocket-pet toys, called Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters, retail for $8 to $10, with a number of accessories available for an extra $10 and up. They squeak and move around like real hamsters, but unlike real hamsters, they require no unpleasant cleanup and -- though we're not sure why -- drive around in tiny cars. Zhu Zhu Pets figure prominently on several lists viewed as predictors for success on the holiday market; both Toys R Us' 2009 Hot Holiday Toy List and TimeToPlayMag.com's Most Wanted List give accolades, with the latter describing the little guys as "creative, engaging and appealing" and surprisingly high-tech.

And, the Associated Press reports, they're being snapped up at stores like Toys R Us and Wal-Mart faster than they can be restocked. "As soon as we're getting them in, they're literally selling from boxes," said Laura Phillips, Wal-Mart vice president of toys. "It's hard to get them on shelves."

Sure, Zhu Zhu hamsters aren't as high-tech as, say, a patented Japanese robotic therapy seal, but they're also about 500 times less expensive, and that's a trade-off we're willing to make. Bonus for animal lovers: Their popularity is sure to keep real, fragile pocket pets out of the hands of overzealous kids while indulging a healthy love of animals. Video (warning: with annoying, easy-to-get-stuck-in-your-head theme song) after the jump!

Your morning adorable: Guinea pigs eat watermelon

Though pocket-pet experts say that grass hay and commercially available pellet food should make up the majority of a guinea pig's diet, many owners supplement the little guys' diets with fresh fruits and vegetables. A special favorite of the guinea pigs shown here: watermelon!  (The Humane Society of the United States cautions that the seeds should be removed from watermelon, apples and other fruits before feeding them to guinea pigs.)

Unlike most other mammals, guinea pigs' bodies can't synthesize vitamin C. (Humans, of course, are another species that can't.) So, like humans, they need to consume food that contains this nutrient -- a small amount of orange or kale, for example, will do the trick. If they don't get enough vitamin C, guinea pigs can even contract scurvy (perhaps the only trait these little creatures share with pirates).

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: mooz2008 via YouTube