Two-headed boa

[jiboia]

Hmm, what are your opinions, do you think a snake like this suffers? Poor thing, what if one head wants to go south and the other north?

http://www.roussisreptiles.com/colle...headedboa.html

[JuliusSqueezer]

They don't usually live long. All it is is conjoined identical twins so it's obsurd to think there is any possibility that it's genetic. Usually there is a dominant head that does all the eating. They share organs so the other does not need to eat...They usually don't have the organ capacity to support two animals which is actually what they are or they have other issues and don't make it so I hope at the first sign of failing health, they do what's right and put the poor thing(s) down. Conjoined identical twins are formed by that original single egg cell splitting into two so they have identical DNA. Sometimes for what ever reason, the cells don't fully split or it's thought that maybe pressure from the way the mom is laying on them causes them to squash together and fuse and then the 2 animals develop as one. What I find interesting with reptiles is you never see a 2 tailed snake...it's always one of these wicked little Y shaped snakes with 2 heads...*shrug* who knows what exactly is the cause. it's very random and impossible to predict but not as rare as you might think. Thank God it's not genetic or surely some nerd would be selling het for 2 heads by now. grrrr

	Heterozygous Heterozygous - the animal carries the gene for a genetic trait but does not outwardly demonstrate the trait. Example: A boa that is het for albino looks normal but carries the albino gene. When it is bred to another het for albino boa or an albino boa, a percentage of the offspring will be albino.

[jiboia]

Oh!!! Thank you for that awesome explanation!!!!

[xxxjustinxxx]

i know theyres a 2 headed rat snake, i think not sure what type but i know its a colubrid, i think its around three too four feet and still alive

[HadesBP18]

Aw, I feel bad for that little guy but at the same time it is kinda neat. I remember seeing a pic of a two headed snake on Rays website (raysreptilia). It looked like a black and white milksnake....or maybe a California kingsnake.

[normballpython2]

well as long as their are no health issues at the moment then i see no probleem with the snakes being this way (it's how they were born nothing really wrong with that ) and if they do make it to adult hood imagine a huge 10' 2 headed boa..... that would be a pretty interesting sight. but i do agree with JS. if any sign of suffering was to come then the right thing to do would be to put them down. (still kinda cool though lol)

Brian

[yousuredo]

that is intresting...