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two headed cornsnake

gr8dnlvr Nov 30, 2011 03:25 PM

I am not sure if I'll be able to participate much on these forums since I find the layout very confusing, but just thought I'd post on here about my 2 headed ghost cornsnake that I hatched on July 1st, 2011.

She is thriving and has now shed 6 times, had had 16 meals of frozen thawed! Her growth has been incredible!

I have a youtube channel where I frequently post videos of her as well as chronicles of her progression including LOTS of pictures. Not sure how to post on here, so let me know if you are interested in reading more about this girl!

Rebecca

Replies (14)

janome Nov 30, 2011 06:52 PM

Well, that's incredible!!! Very cool. Nice

liljenni Dec 01, 2011 12:02 AM

Thats wonderful,looks like its going to have a long life..Can you feed either head?

gr8dnlvr Dec 01, 2011 03:04 PM

I only feed the left head. When she was neonate, I x-rayed with barium to make sure the left head, which seemed dominant at the time, was attached to the gastric system. It was so we didn't bother checking the other head. So far the other head doesn't seem interested in food and we know they current methods of feeding are working great so I won't be offering the right head food any time soon!

By the way, the Right head is "Lucky" the left is "Destiny"

Rebecca

DMong Dec 01, 2011 07:35 PM

Wow!,...that's interesting that the one head doesn't seem interested in eating. There aren't too many people that can say they have a fantastic feeder and a non-feeder and be talking about the SAME snake!..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"


serpentinespecialties.webs.com

a153fish Dec 03, 2011 04:29 AM

That is definately something to cherish! Not many like that hatch or even live, so you are lucky indeed. I know there was a gorgeous 2 headed albino honduran Milk hatched this year too. I have alwaus been fascinated by the 2 headed snakes ever since I saw one on TV as a kid many years ago. It was a Cal King.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

DMong Dec 03, 2011 11:21 AM

yeah Jorge, and for a mere $35,000 that two-headed amel Hondo can be YOURS!..HAHAHAHAA!!!!!!!..

~Doug

Image
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"


serpentinespecialties.webs.com

rosspadilla Dec 05, 2011 08:57 AM

Wow, that's too much of a risk for that price.
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gr8dnlvr Dec 05, 2011 09:15 AM

HAHA! Well, if there's TWO that hatched then that means they should be worth less than my Ghost corn since she is the ONLY two headed ghost corn in the world right? lol!

I do wish I could keep her, but sadly for the right price I have to let her go. They are not so rare to hatch, but to have them survive and thrive and demonstrate likelihood at a long life, now THAT is cool! So happy my girl is doing so well

Thanks for the comments guys!

Rebecca

rosspadilla Dec 05, 2011 08:19 PM

I don't blame you, I'd sell it too for the right price.
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DMong Dec 05, 2011 06:38 PM

Heck yeah Ross!, how many two-headeds out of the countless many live for very long?........NOT MANY!

And where the two vertebrae join is always a big-time weak link where they fuse together from seeing X-rays on a few.

I would have to be a fool-hearty multi-millonaire to throw that kind of silly money on something that could die any time..LOL!
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"


serpentinespecialties.webs.com

rosspadilla Dec 05, 2011 08:18 PM

Yeah, I think that's way too much to ask. People that pay thousands of dollars for a snake want to make that money back and extra from its offspring. They are pretty much guaranteed to do that if they are morphs or hets, but what about two headed snakes? Twins might be genetic but isn't it a freak thing to have two that didn't split up completely inside the egg?
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gr8dnlvr Dec 05, 2011 09:01 PM

Well, from educated oppinions we have every reason to believe that "Lucky Destiny" is one of the animals that has every liklihood to live a long healthy life. This is due to multiple x-rays showing her development thus far and the lack of the lump/kink (I forget the name the scientist used to define) where her heads fuse. I work at a vet clinic so I will be able to continue taking xrays every so often. I think I'll do every 3 months for the first year and then twice yearly as long as I have her.

As for her condition. It seems the most modern thought on most two headed snakes, is that it is a freak occurance that often happens when some sort of trauma happens to the egg at a precise moment of development. This is part of the reason it shows up most frequently in colubrids or snakes like garters, which occur in areas where cold weather or temperature fluctuations are most likely to occur.

I don't incubate my cornsnake eggs in an incubator, rather I have them above some racks in my snake room. I have very wild tempertature fluctuations, particularly in early summer. This supports the theory of trauma being the likly cause of her "two headedness". In fact that in 6 years I have produced corns I've had 4 two headed occur while only the one hatched live. I have also had a single head two bodied snake and a "no headed" snake. Only two of these "freaks" were half siblings to eachother and only one had parents that were "line bred".

Since I work in a vet clinic I have been able to preserve all of the odd specimens in formaldehyde .

Rebecca

liljenni Dec 01, 2011 09:49 PM

Thanks Rebecca,just was wondering-glad you had a nice story for my question-Nice photographs.

rosspadilla Dec 05, 2011 08:57 AM

That is incredible!
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