Hamster and snake share a cage!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-13-2006
Hamster and snake share a cage!
3
Mon, 02-20-2006 - 12:47pm
I thought this was cute, and thought I should share it with you guys!








Gohan and Aochan make strange bedfellows: one's a nine centimetre dwarf hamster, the other is a 1.2-metre rat snake.



Zookeepers at Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo presented the hamster ? whose name means meal in Japanese ? to Aochan as a tasty morsel 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.



"I've never seen anything like it. Gohan sometimes even climbs onto Aochan to take a nap on his back," Yamamoto said.



Aochan, a 2-year-old male Japanese rat snake, eventually developed an appetite for frozen rodents but has so far shown no signs of gobbling up Gohan ? despite her name.



"We named her Gohan as a joke," Yamamoto chuckled. "But I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much."



The Tokyo zoo also keeps a range of mostly livestock animals, and promotes "cross-breed interaction," according to Yamamoto.



But Gohan and Aochan's case was "was a complete accident," Yamamoto said.







iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2005
Mon, 02-20-2006 - 2:34pm
That is just sooo awesome!!! My cat loved my rodents before!! He actually got depressed when they had to be given away.. =( Him and the ferret slept together on the futton alot

Image hosting by Photobucket

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-13-2006
Mon, 02-20-2006 - 6:15pm
Aww I can't believe your cat got along with your ferret! Why did you have to get rid of him?
My cat likes to torment my rabbits. He likes to sit on top of their cage and hit them when he has the chance.







iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2005
Mon, 02-20-2006 - 6:42pm

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting