Music by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Lyrics by Friedrich Schiller
Golden hamsters are from Syria.
Tegus are from South America.
They are not natural enemies in the wild.
The only thing that has me worried about this video is the hamster bit the tegu a few times. Those bites can cause an infection.
Wow, if this was a meeting in the wild I don’t think this Hamster would have let the Tegu grab him again. I’v seen these guys when they go wild… They are fast and high jumpers. This one was obviously tame or it would have made a dash to get away once it broke free from that Tegu. In Syria I’m sure these Hamsters would have run ins with Savannah type Monitors. Similar to a Tegu.
It would probably be a Desert Monitor (Varanus griseus) that the Syrian hamster would meet.
This is why you should feed reptiles prey that is either dead or stunned – you are correct, those bites can cause nasty infections. And I have known of snakes who were very badly bitten – or even partially eaten – by rats released into the cage when the snake wasn’t all that hungry.
I certainly agree with all of that, but there are snakes that, for some reason, cannot be conditioned to eat dead prey. So you have to feed them live prey that you hold with feeding stick for them to kill.
I used to buy rats by the dozen frozen. My snakes would eat them thawed at room temperature. docile and no battle.
My Nile monitor on the other hand would beat the crap out of the rats and preferred it messy and bloody.