An extremely rare two-headed snake has shocked its owners with all the predictions of its imminent death and is getting ready to celebrate its 17th birthday. The black rat snake, which is actually a snake that shares a living body, has grown up to five feet and has already exceeded the lifespan of its normal counterparts in the wild.

The snake sister was found in her backyard in the small Missouri town of Delta in 2005 and taken to the Cape Girardot Nature Conservation Center. According to the snake expert, the existence of the two-headed snake was already a long shot out of 100,000, and the fact that it lived to old age would make it a hundred million wonders. Steve Allen, board member of the British Herpetological Society.

He said: “I know of another two-headed snake that has survived for 20 years, so it is impossible to save it for that long. However, this is extremely unlikely. I would say one in a hundred million. This very rare two-headed snake, found in a Missouri garden in 2005, is surviving into its seventeenth year.

The Black Rat Snake, which are actually two Black Rat Snakes sharing a living body, has grown to five feet and has already exceeded the lifespan of its normal counterparts in the wild.

Pictured: X-ray of a two-headed snake. Snakes have a common stomach, so technicians only need to feed one of them, but feed on both to stimulate natural instincts and provide some mental enrichment.

Alex Holmes, a naturalist at the Conservation Center, described some of the challenges facing the life of such an unusual snake.

“Ordinary snakes your size can easily eat normal-sized mice,” he said.

But their cohesive backbone makes it difficult to swallow everything except the very small, young mice they receive from the frozen.

The heads are quite competitive when eating, so we cover each head with a drinking glass and feed each one separately.

“We are waiting a certain period of time to make sure the food has passed the knot, to avoid getting ‘stuck’ in the esophagus during left and right dishes.

“They share a womb, but we both feed to stimulate their natural instincts and provide some mental enrichment.”

In nature, a snake may never have been created, which, strictly speaking, is two snakes sharing a body.

“Most connected babies can’t survive,” Alex said.

“Our ‘twins’ have a hard time deciding which way to go, arguing like sisters, which is good for silent captivity.

“But if a hungry hawk, skunk or raccoon went out into the wild, a slow response to danger would make them easy to eat.” However, even in captivity, survival is rare.

The existence of the two-headed snake was already a shot away in 100,000, and if it had lived to that age, it would have turned into a hundred million wonders.

Heads are quite competitive when it comes to eating, so owners cover their heads with a drink and feed each one individually.

Snakes can be born with two heads when a single egg is fertilized and starts to divide into twins, but it doesn’t separate perfectly. In this case, the developing embryo partially split upwards, but failed to separate further downwards, as seen on the x-ray.

Paul Rowley, a herpetologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, says it was impossible to calculate such high probabilities.

He said: “It is quite difficult in the case of any normal newborn or hatched snake – there will be some in the group that will die for an unknown real reason.

“But with animals that are like snakes, you have issues with their compatibility, what organs they have in common and how they take care of each other.

“And yet, it’s like any other twin: if one gets sick or has organ problems or failure, it obviously affects the other.” Then you duplicate the problem.

“17 years is a real achievement.”

Snakes can be born with two heads when a single egg is fertilized and starts to divide into twins, but it doesn’t separate perfectly.

In this case, the developing embryo partially split at the top, but failed to separate further down. The exact date of birth is unknown.

Black rat snakes reach sexual maturity at seven years of age for males and nine years for females.

Their main predators are foxes, hawks and owls, which they frighten by imitating thunder, curling their bodies and swinging on the dead leaves of their tails.

They are shy creatures that avoid confrontation, but have been known to pounce when they sense danger. They are not poisonous.

Source: Daily Mail