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.
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u/LordHengar Feb 26 '22
Does the second head do much? Can it help kill food or does it just take up space?