Is this really real?
I thought two-headed snakes were just something you could find in sci-fi movies, but lo and behold, here we are.
A Texas family came across the impossible when they found a two headed western rat snake in 2016.
Rat snakes are common rodent eaters in Texas. They grow to 5 feet long and eat whatever they can find. Rat snakes having two heads is super rare though, and to have one that has survived a few years is even more crazy.
The snake, or snakes? They have two heads, which means two functioning brains. That results in the snake having trouble telling its body what to do as they each give it different directions.
After the family found him they donated the snake to the Cameron Park Zoo which has helped this incredible creature continue to survive and best sums up the snakes life in the post.
“A family outside of Waco found this unique western rat snake in their yard back in 2016 and they donated him to the zoo. This snake probably wouldn’t have survived long in the wild as he has two brains that are often giving conflicting commands to his one body, so his movements are more sporadic and uncoordinated than typical one-headed snakes.
The other problem is that he can easily injure his neck by trying to go in different directions and getting stuck on branches, rocks, and other obstacles. This is what happened back in February of 2021. He had a wound on his left neck so we took him off exhibit to heal.
Our veterinary and reptile teams worked hard to keep the wound bandaged and clean. It took until June last year for the wound to fully heal. Now that he has been eating well and the wound has been fully closed for a year, we are excited to put him back out in the freshwater aquarium building.
You may notice that his exhibit does not have many obstacles besides grass. We are hoping that this design provides enough cover for the snake to feel secure while also being physically safe, so he does not injure his neck again.”
Well, I’ll be…
You sure don’t see that everyday.
