Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo

[MotherOfGizmo]

TOKYO - Gohan and Aochan make strange bedfellows: one's a 3.5-inch dwarf hamster; the other is a yard-long rat snake.

Zookeepers at Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo presented the hamster — whose name is a tasty rice dish in Japanese — to Aochan as a snack in October, after the snake refused to eat frozen mice.

But instead of indulging, Aochan decided to make friends with the furry rodent, according to keeper Kazuya Yamamoto. The pair have shared a cage since.

The rest of the story and a pic!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10903211/from/ET/

[biogeek]

Re: Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo

That's just unbelievable!! May the snake is saving the hamster for a "rainy day" snack?

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo

Yikes! I hope not!

[acarter1966]

Re: Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo

Just a bit of useless trivia... That snake was getting ready to shed when they took that picture - you can tell by his milky looking eyes...

[killerbombshell]

Re: Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo

Ugh, that snake looks evil from those milky eyes! Snakes weird me out!! But anyway, I had heard that they do make friends sometimes with the first mouse/little critter you put in there and will refuse to eat it. Apparently it can be a real pain for the keeper.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo

My old roommates snake was afraid of anything live. In fact the one time my roomy put a live mouse in with it the mouse attacked the snake and drew blood! That snake would only eat frozen baby mice...ewww.