Posted on 01/18/2006 10:03:24 AM PST by freepatriot32
TOKYO - Gohan and Aochan make strange bedfellows: one's a 3.5-inch dwarf hamster; the other is a 120 yard-long 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.
Wait til the snake gets bigger...
I had a ball python for 4 years & only once did he refuse food, but that refusal went on for almost 3 months. Finally, I figured out that her eyecaps had remained on after one or two sheds & the she couldn't see. I would put the 2 mice in the tub with her & she allowed them to run up on her as she couldn't see them. They would run right up to her mouth and she would recoil. If I had let those mice stay in her cage, it would "look" like they were friends.....until the next shed.
LOL! CUTE...but, Is the rifle loaded? <;D
the lioness adopted the baby antelope , protecting it from other predators, including a leopard.
What kind of hamster? We have dwarf hamsters. Our cat and very large dog were both terrified of a hedgehog I used to have.
The hamster was a big brown Teddy Bear hamster. The cat is a black/white tuxedo tabby. She would sometimes sleep on top of the hamster cage and the hamster never seemed to care.
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Perfect! LOL!
Still off by a factor of 3, my friend. :-)
OOPs, I ment 4 feet...
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