2 headed boa

CARLiTO_ · 01-31-05, 07:19 PM

Image courtesy of www.strangecosmos.com

I thought this was pretty cool!

beanersmysav · 01-31-05, 07:34 PM

been seeing lots of 2 headed creatures lately

Bartman · 01-31-05, 08:17 PM

imo looks like a photoshop job. The left head looks fake. Could be real though, cool anyhow.

peterm15 · 01-31-05, 08:23 PM

would you have to feed both mouths or just one..

beanersmysav · 01-31-05, 10:05 PM

I dunno if you're serious or not, but both in case ya don't know the other would attack the one eating

But it looks like the left one is hungrier

peterm15 · 01-31-05, 10:06 PM

well i was joking but i really only thought one.. thats amazing... i would have never guessed that... i guess you just have to use smaller prey.. to large might get cought up where the neck joins..

beanersmysav · 01-31-05, 10:12 PM

Yeah I'm sure you'd definatly have to use smaller prey. I'd hate to see if they refused frozen and had to eat live... THAT could be a sad thing to watch.

chaotic · 01-31-05, 10:48 PM

I've seen a two headed corn snakes down in St Louis. Talked to the owner and he said he only feeds one head since they share one stomach. He separates the heads with a card to stop them from fighting over the f/t rat. Pics on their site.

http://www.exoticarc.com/aboutus.htm

thunder · 01-31-05, 10:50 PM

with two headed snakes, there is usually one head that is "dominant", does most of the eating and drinking. however, there have been animals studied whose heads switched dominance over a period of time. one animal researched had heads that consistantly perferred different prey sizes. it is also true that the will sometimes compete for food. this info comes from a book written by Harry Greene, a herpetologist at UC Berkeley.

beanersmysav · 01-31-05, 10:53 PM

Yeah I talked to a guy at the White Plains show who delt with this and he told me he feeds both heads because one of them always seemed to attack the one feeding. Which the card thing is a GREAT idea.

dave68 · 01-31-05, 11:01 PM

Looks like one hand two snakes to me, I recently saw another pic of a 2 headed boa that looked alot more believable, can't remember where though, anyways pretty cool if it is real!

Dave

smeagel · 02-01-05, 11:04 AM

That pic looks fake to me. What happens to make a two headed snake anyway. Is it something that would be genetically wrong with one of the parents? Or is it a rare unexplainable occurance?

Rainbow · 02-01-05, 11:19 AM

It could be because of a genetic problem with the parents or out side interference such as pesticides ect. but more then likely if it is real its just a add on to one of the genes chromosones that causes these event to occure. So a possible rare occurence.....

Bartman · 02-01-05, 12:01 PM

How come it is seen in reptiles more then any other animal. Is it possible to happen in humans?

gonesnakee · 02-01-05, 06:35 PM

Usually 2 heads is a result of twins not working out (ie:conjoined/siamese twins). There is a good article in the Feb 2004 Reptiles by Van Wallach, PH.D. from Harvard. Try searches under dicephalism, axial bifurcation or somatodichotomy for more info. There are 7 different classifications of the various types of "mutations" that are known to occur. Kinda interesting, especially to me as I hatched out a double header myself before ("Dually" female Lavender Albino CK). Article is worth checking out anyway. Mark
P.S. most 2 headers don't make it BTW