|
Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 18,033 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| Quote 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,.
As a joke, the zookeeper said they named the hamster Gohan - the Japanese word for meal.
"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. Source: BBC News Online
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, after many years of searching, we now have a non-rabbit counterpart for Oolong the dorayaki bunny (RIP ) - no disrespect to Yuebing intended. |
|
| |
|
H/PC Elder Posts: | 2,156 |
Location: | Barrie, Ontario | Status: | |
| Ah, I love these stories. They prove we have very little understanding of animals intelligence and socialization skills. |
|
| |
|
Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,673 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| They also prove that love and hate aren't opposites. (Of course, some divorced folks can already tell you that. )  |
|
| |
|
H/PC Elder Posts: | 2,156 |
Location: | Barrie, Ontario | Status: | |
| Lol, so true. I have some experience with that.
My ex's kid had hamsters and gerbils. She mixed and matched them in cages when they were young. The hammies adopted gerbil habits (constantly grooming each other) and the male gerbies tried mating with the female hammies.
To top it off, my maine coon cat became a surrogate mother for the whole bunch. If a hammie/gerbie escaped she would take me to their hiding place. Once she carefully brought a hammie to me like she was carrying a kitten. Hammie didn't mind, he'd been missing a couple days and was hungry/thirsty.
My cat's never viewed them as food or cool toys, only as smaller family members. |
|
| |
|
Subscribers H/PC Guru Posts: | 5,773 |
Location: | United States | Status: | |
| A Snake and a Hamster befriending each other; That is very hard to believe.... |
|
| |
|
Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,673 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| But this is very easy to believe:
wallythacker - 2006-01-24 12:38 PM
the male gerbies tried mating with the female hammies.
I see that all us male mammals are the same (. . . anything that moves . . . )  |
|
| |
|
Factorite (Junior) Posts: | 38 |
Location: | United States | Status: | |
| My old neighbor sprinkled in a few ducks with his dogs over the years - and those ducks took on dog habits. Alas, the last duck died a few years ago. |
|
| |
|
Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 18,033 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| |
|
| |
|
H/PC Vanguard Posts: | 2,579 |
Location: | The Lone Star State | Status: | |
| That is pretty cool. I wonder if fear ever entered into the equation you know fight or flight. Also there is a huge difference between wild animals and domesticated ones. I assume that both are domesticated by now. Also was the snake born in captivity? |
|
| |
|
Administrator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 18,033 |
Location: | United Kingdom | Status: | |
| Yoldering - 2006-01-24 11:13 PM
That is pretty cool. I wonder if fear ever entered into the equation you know fight or flight. Also there is a huge difference between wild animals and domesticated ones. I assume that both are domesticated by now. Also was the snake born in captivity? You'll have to ask Tokyo zoo those ones |
|
| |
|
H/PC Elder Posts: | 2,156 |
Location: | Barrie, Ontario | Status: | |
| Hammie and the serpent had a spot on CNN tonight. It was interesting to see them moving around.
I don't think hammie is a Syrian breed, it looks like a dwarf of some sort. (Campbells, Russian, Chinese dwarf perhaps.) I only know a bit about dwarf breeds. But I do know most of the dwarfs are very social and need a companion.
I hope they update this story. I'd like to see how it turns out. |
|
| |
|
Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,673 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| Well, given that the report also said that the snake had also previously refused to eat frozen mice offered to it, I'm wondering if the snake has some genetic condition that causes it not to be attracted to rodents as food. (But then, what do I know? I didn't exactly ace life sciences in college. )  |
|
| |
|
H/PC Elder Posts: | 2,156 |
Location: | Barrie, Ontario | Status: | |
| Isn't it an, um, rat snake? Pretty damn fussy one if it is. But hammie looks pretty big for that snake to eat. I know the snake is pretty elastic and all but IMO hammie would get stuck partway down and they'd both calf.
maybe they should put the frozen mice on a stick with some prinkes and make a micesicle |
|
| |
|
H/PC Elder Posts: | 2,156 |
Location: | Barrie, Ontario | Status: | |
| Isn't it an, um, rat snake? Pretty damn fussy one if it is. But hammie looks pretty big for that snake to eat. I know the snake is pretty elastic and all but IMO hammie would get stuck partway down and they'd both calf.
maybe they should put the frozen mice on a stick with some prinkes and make a micesicle |
|
| |
|
Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,673 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| C'mon, that can't be the problem. I've heard of snakes swallowing larger animals than that.  |
|
| |
