Unlikely friendship between a pet snake and the mouse it has refused to eat

A teenager was astonished when her pet snake struck up an unlikely friendship with a mouse – which was supposed to be its LUNCH.

Zoey Van Lowe, 16, was helping her aunt feed their snake Spike a mouse from the pet shop and was forced to drop the live rodent in when the reptile showed no interest.

But Spike the python – which hasn’t eaten for more than six weeks – has refused to tuck into the lucky mouse, now named Snowflake.

Instead the pair have become “best friends” over the last seven days with the white mouse more than happy to curl up for a nap in his new friend’s coils.

The pair even share the same water tray and Spike doesn’t mind it when Snowflake runs up and down his body in their shared tank.

A photograph of them cuddling up together has gone viral on twitter and has been favourited more than 110,000 times, and retweeted 78,000 times.

Schoolgirl Zoey, from Houston, Texas, said: “Well my aunt bought the mouse last Wednesday (8th) and after holding the mouse by the tail for roughly an hour she gave up and left him in there to eat when ever he pleased.
“The mouse was in a brown bag and he chewed out of the bag and started running around the cage with the snake like there was no problem.

“When we leave them for a while and then come back they will be all cuddled up together and they go and play in the water bowl together too.

“It really is just the sweetest thing to watch them together.

“He should be hungry by now as he usually eats once a month every month and he is now on a month and six days.

“We are just letting the mouse live with the snake right now.”

Zoey’s aunt Shirley Van Lowe, 42, has had Spike, a ball python, for five years.

They have been feeding the rodent on dog food and cheese balls. Zoey is trying to convince her aunt to get a different mouse for Spike to eat in case he gets his appetite back.