Snake 'befriends' snack hamster
Author: Source: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4627950.stm
DO NOT TRY THIS WITH YOUR HAMSTER, IT WILL BE DANGEROUS
A rodent-eating snake and a
hamster have developed an unusual bond at a zoo in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the
hamster to the snake as a meal.
The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage, and the
hamster sometimes falls asleep sitting on top of his natural foe.
"I have never seen anything like it," a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo told the Associated Press News agency.
The
hamster was initially offered to Aochan, the two-year-old rat snake, because it was refusing to eat frozen mice.
"I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much," said zookeeper Kazuya Yamamoto.
The apparent friendship between the snake and
hamster is one of many reported bonds spanning the divide between predator and prey. Never try to introduce a snake and a
hamster, because the snake will eat the
hamster.
by Albert Saliba