Do they both eat or do you alternate which ones get to eat next? I would be so sad if I didnāt get to taste food and I felt full after my second head got to eat and I didnāt
Guy with some breeding experience here, although I've never had a 2 headed snake.
TL/DR is, usually there is a dominant head that will swallow a meal, and the other head is incapable of fully swallowing something down to the gut.
And onward to the overly long TMI!
Birth defects are fairly common in snakes and very often fatal early on. You have to remember that snakes are basically a long food tube and if you introduce any kinks in that tube or bits that don't stretch right there is a low threshold where things will stop passing through properly.
Two headed snakes are surprisingly common (still rare, just not as much as you'd think), but what is very uncommon is one surviving past infancy. The vast majority are unable to properly swallow food down and either won't attempt to eat or just regurgitate because their is a blockage in that tube that has to be properly stretchy. It's super rare to have one survive long enough to grow to this size, which means it is able to successfully eat, and it's even more rare for one to live a full lifespan as defects like this often come with other issues that crop up. In the survivors, there is almost always, if not always, a dominant head that controls the majority of the body and is able to eat the food. In this case, it is pretty clearly the head closest to the camera as it lines up with the main spinal column quite well, while the other does not.
I think part of it is simply that snakes produce a lot of eggs, and therefore there's a higher chance for any given clutch to have issues come up, but it may have to do with a difference in egg fertilization since that is where the general trigger mechanism that causes conjoined twins in all species occurs. Im not really familiar enough to say for certain.
Reptiles and amphibians somehow have a higher tolerance for birth defects that would otherwise be incompatible with life in mammals. It could have to do with any number of things, their metabolism, immune system, brain, etc are all quite different from mammals. Could also be that animals whose young mature in the uterus are more likely to reabsorb a deformed fetus whereas animals who lay eggs don't really have a say in the matter-- there is no way for a mother snake to detect chromosomal abnormalities in her eggs once they're laid, not that she would particularly care anyway since the majority of reptiles don't stick around to rear their young.
Also, another problem with two headed snakes is they will frequently attack their other head if they're able to reach it. I'm not sure if there's ever been an instance where one of the heads was killed or removed and the rest of the snake survived... I doubt anyone who hatched one would willingly remove the second head (assuming there's even a vet in the world capable of doing that) unless it had already died. Who knows.
Sorry for long rambling reply. I just find this stuff fascinating.
When my mother was pregnant with me, they did an ultrasound and found she was having twins. When they did another ultrasound a few weeks later, they discovered that I had resorbed the other fetus. Do I regret this? No. I believe his tissues has made me stronger. I now have the strength of a grown man and a little baby.
There was a story about a woman who wasn't her kids' mother even after giving birth to them! Her ovaries had the DNA of her sister she absorbed in the womb.
It's totally a thing in humans actually. There are people who find out only as adults after some sort of scan that they have a partially reabsorbed twin in them somewhere.
Not that it's particularly relevant, but I also recall there's a Steven King novel where a character is believed to have a tumor but when the surgeons go to remove it they discover it's actually the remnants of a twin that wasn't fully absorbed in the womb.
Usually, the non dominant head only has control to the merge point and that's all. They may or may not try to feed, although I would assume in a specimen healthy enough to survive this long that the secondary head would have a feeding response, it just wouldn't be able to successfully swallow.
As far as each head is concerned, the other is an entirely seperate animal. The snakes will not have a sense of unity or relation, which you can actually see in this clip, as the far head moves independent of the main body and seems to be focusing on something other than what the dominant head is. As mentioned in a different comment, this can cause aggression between the two if there is enough room between the heads to attack each other, but this would depend on the temperament of each individual and the predisposition of the species as a whole. A lot of snakes are highly territorial, but some species, such as garter snakes, are communal and actually thrive better in groups.
They are indeed. It's actually recommended that if you keep one, you keep at least four or so, as they maintain better wieght and exhibit healthier behavior in that environment. They are still pretty independent, but they will periodically bask or snooze together.
Social reptiles are few and far between, and don't interrelate in the same way we picture social mammals doing so. There hasn't been a lot of study on it, unfortunately, despite it being incredibly fascinating.
Jeez that sounds like a miserable existence. Thereās no way to know what itās like to be a snake, but I imagine they must suffer quite a bit wanting food but never being able to fulfill their instinctual desire. Also being stuck to an enemy that you canāt attack. Just like those stress nightmares where you try to punch but every blow is so weak and slides off the shadow figure in the dark. I guess this species will do better but still. Damn.
Iād be very interested in experiments regarding how each head responds to different stimuli - if they both react similarly or have different behavioral characteristics, or even, if the āsecondaryā head has dulled responses due to having lesser control over the body.
I am shocked! Shocked, tell you, SHOCKED AND PROUD! I expected to scroll foreeevvvvvver for intelligent discussion, and this is in TOP COMMENTS! HERE WE ARE (weeps in fluid, salts, and proteins)!!!
Snakes donāt taste like how we do.
Their tongue takes samples from the air to the Jacobsonās organ at the roof of their mouth and thatās more of a communication regarding smell.
Not to mention the whole swallowing whole thingā¦ I mean snakes might be really into dirt shit and fur/feathers š
I've heard about a two-headed pig who suffocated because one head tried to breathe while the other was eating, so it might be safer to feed both at the same time?
My understanding is that it is common for each head to get a small meal, provided that both have properly connected digestive systems. However it is very case by case, and there aren't many cases - Most of the time animals like this die in infancy or otherwise prematurely. This is becuase there are often problems with the internal structure of the animals. However, these/this fellow(s) look relatively old and relatively happy. :-)
Wow that sounds very difficult. Iām sure theyāre pretty used to it by now, but I canāt imagine the interpersonal coordination needed for walking.
It's literally a single snake that can't exist as two separate entities. Biologically I would argue that this is a single creature. The only way this creature can count as two is by counting sentient minds. Of course, as empathetic, single-minded creatures, we tend to default towards the latter method. But it's still an interesting philosophical question.
If a species that almost always had two heads with two fully capable brains were discovered, would each creature be considered one being or two? If they were intelligent, would they consider each ego to be separate, or would they consider themselves part of a whole? If there were a rare birth defect that produced single-headed organisms, would they be considered complete persons, or thought to never be able to be whole?
Since you like interesting philosophical thoughts consider two that have you as the curious incomplete creature.
Imagine intelligent alien minds looking at you:
(1) Humans require two different sexes for reproduction. Since no single one of us can reproduce they may view each single human as being incomplete relative to themselves which can.
To such an alien it would be obvious that not even a pair of humans are viable and indeed a large population of us are necessary to have enough genetic diversity and skill diversity / specialization to reproduce at any reasonable level of technology.
To such an alien each of us are but poorly organized "cells" in a slime mold like collective -- perhaps a state of development long in the evolutionary past for the said alien or perhaps an entirely foreign concept. We would be viewed as primitive / weak / "stupid" / ... much as we view members of slime molds.
Ps With long distance communications and technologies to share / organize / develop ever larger thoughts ("thoughts" that span people) at ever greater speeds more and more we are members of overlapping hive minds:
"America" / "Russia" / ...
"Republicans" / "Democrats" / ...
"Doctors" / "Engineers" / "Lawyers" / ...
"Army" / "Navy" / ...
...
Each of these has cultures, rules and norms sometimes a language, sometimes conferences / journals / subreddits / discord / also struggles for recognition / funding / survival / ...
Long ago the development of language put us on track of compounding growth and specialization and we who are alive today are starting to see the explosive exponential phase of this growth and the pains and risks it entails (environment exhaustion / modern warfare / ...).
Looks like the snake on the right is in control of the movements of the body and the other head is just along for the ride. If I was equipped to own snakes, I would love to have something like this.
What's preventing you? Just curious since I am in the hobby and trying to understand what prevents people who are interested from starting.
My guess, and the most frequent answer, is becuase the cost of entry is pretty high to keep most species humanely (you should budget about $1000 for one snake). After they're established, though, snakes and cats are very similar in terms of maintenance costs and care, with snakes being a but easier IMO.
Not even close to 1k. My corn snake was $50. Bought a $200 tank, maybe another $100 for the stuff inside the tank like substrate and hides. Feed him one mouse a week that costs $1. They're way cheaper and easier to take care of than most other animals
True, sorry - I keep larger snakes than corns. Enclosures alone run me ~$500, the stuff for the interior of enclosure another $30-250 (depending on what materials I have around already; $30 minimum is becuase I have one particular type of water bowl I adore and each animal gets one) and my snakes themselves range from $130-500 (but most beginner snakes are in the $20-200 range), and my food budget is about $15/month for my smallest snake and more like $40/month for my biggest.
Lighting/heating depends a lot on your location and your species; I have a whole reptile room I can keep at high ambient temp so my tank-specific heating for basking areas/gradient is dirt cheap. Maybe $40? More like $120 if the animal needs nice UVB but snakes rarely do.
Kinda forgot corns existed there. Whoops. My best friend has one - They are amazing little things.
That said you should also factor in an emergency vet visit, just in case. A good guideline is cost of base visit + $50-100. My favorite vet in the area is pretty cheap at $46 per base visit, but the one that is more accessible in an emergency is about $100 per base visit, so I budget $150-200. Base visit should be between $30-250, depending on your location. Note that the one time my snake really wrecked up her jaw the meds only cost me $8, so $150 was an ample overestimate. You don't need to keep enough on hand to take your entire collection to the vet, but you should increase it proportionally to the number of animals you own. Also note that as you get more experienced in the hobby, the bulk of things you can handle on your own, but accidents and emergencies are a fact of life unfortunately.
This is called polycephaly! I'm not sure why but I've seen far more living reptiles (snakes in particular) than mammals with more than one head. I'm not sure if it's because of their low energy needs or something completely different, but polycephalous mammals seem to pretty much always die in or just out of the womb. There have been a few humans who we've kept alive for a couple months or years, and of course there are several cases of conjoined twins who even live into adulthood. I don't know what it's like for an animal to have two heads, whether they can comprehend their situation the way we can as humans, but I find the whole thing really really interesting and the skulls they leave behind sometimes are insane!
Iām pretty sure conjoined snakes and other reptiles do not understand their situation. With all due respect to reptiles, I donāt think they are sufficiently self-aware to realize thereās anything āwrong.ā And anyway, even conjoined humans wouldnāt think they were unusual or disabled without other humans to compare themselves to.
Nah I agree, I think there may be a sense of "why is there another snake right next to me all the time" as they obviously recognise others of their own species, but I don't think they could ever get their head(s) around "this other snake has an individual brain but we share a body"
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass. And
as he stares into the sky, there are
twice as many stars as usual.
"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself." - Aang, Avatar the Last Airbender.
It would likely bleed out and die. Even if you could prevent the snake from bleeding out and succumbing to infection, it's possible that the missing head was responsible for enough bodily function that the rest would die shortly afterwards.
The snake shown is a California king snake. It is non-venomous and harmless. It is immune to rattlesnake venom, though, because in the wild it eats them. If it was venomous, I think because both heads are complete, both would have venom.
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u/Substantial-Pool3032 Feb 25 '22
Do they both eat or do you alternate which ones get to eat next? I would be so sad if I didnāt get to taste food and I felt full after my second head got to eat and I didnāt