Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yes, that's right, I came home today after a bad day and lifted some newspaper to find a 2 headed Rosy!

My 100% Het Limburg Albinos produced it. Very cool, still alive, both heads move, and are alert and 66% Het for Albino!

A little closer, only about an hour after birth.

what did the rest of the litterlook like. did they all have the egg sac still attached?

Interesting....really. I just posted a pic of how I found it. With unfertilized Ovum. There was another 66% het but it looks different than normal as well. The color of the 2 head is how most of my 66% Het Limburgs look, but the sibling of the 2 headed is very very light, it did not have it's sac attached.

I had another clutch born last week, 3 66% hets, no Albinos this year, but one was born with a sac, the next day it was disconnected, looked great, moving, investigating, died the following day. Strange.

The odd thing, is that the female the 2 headed came from had 1 Albino and 3 hets last year, no slugs. Nothing changed this year at all, same tubs, temps etc. Strange.

wow! congratulations
please post more pics and keep us updated

I will post more pics, but these are all I have for tonight, I want to give it some space. I just hope it lives. I actually had a 66% die 2 days after birth last week. It also came out attached to its sack still. I just want to make sure I dont over stress it. I dont have a whole lot of experience with multi headed animals...

Very cool snake. I hope it does well for you. Keep us posted on it's progress.
Matt Ozsvath
Lizards of Oz

I had a two headed rosy a long time ago.

Like an idiot, I didn't take very good care of it and it died. Make sure it does not dehydrate. Keep it relatively humid but not damp and make sure it can drink distilled or purified water. It may not be able to get a head into the water dish to drink like a normal single headed boa would.

Cool animal, good luck.

well not distilled water.... I've always wondered why people think distilled water is so good (tho it does have some uses with fish keeping). think about it, there's always something in water in nature, before unnatural junk was dumped in water. The way my science teacher explained it to us is water is very absorbant and likes having those minerals, so distilled water doesn't, so it'll leech the minerals from the body in order to balance itself out, or something like that. If I explained it wrong, some one let me know. Its been ages since that class ^^

oh but anyway, very interesting rosy you got there! I was wondering it'll be interesting to see it eat. Which head actually gets to swallow? haha

roussis retiles has a two headed bci
Link

-----
jake

my addiction:
2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
1 amelenistic corn snake (mazy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)

He brought that Boa to Daytona a few years back. I called him last night, and left a voice mail.

Strange, it is just like discovering a snake noone has seen before, you dont know how it eats, drinks etc. The good part about Rosies is that they dont drink that often.

My main concern is going to be eating. It appears that both heads look very independant. Steve's boa has a dominant head and the other just kind of goes along for the ride. My experience with these Coastals is that their feeding response is remarkable. I have had one grab the couch and contrict it for 30 minutes until it realized it wasnt prey. Since both of the heads have individual movement, there might be some competition for food. We shall see. I checked on it this morning and all looks well...so far. I will post more pics later this evening.

Tom, ya might have to keep a pair of scissors handy to snip the food item in two if they start fighting over it Good luck with it whatever happens.

Quig

I remember a two-headed cal-king that was divided more posteriorly. The owner claimed he had to hold a divider (like a sheet of paper) between the two heads when he fead it because they would both try to eat the same prey item. Cal-Kings are stupid, it was split further back, and both heads were apparently completely independent, though.

KJ

Well, we made it through day 2. It is still in the same spot and has absorbed about 80% of the egg sac. It is starting to smell, so I may try to tie it off tomorrow.

Have any of you had to do that? One thing I was told to be careful of, is that if it starts to crawl, it may rip the cord and bleed out.

I would cut the thing of before an infection gets into the snake.

Do I just cut it off, or do I tie it with thread? Will it bleed out? I have never had to do this, usually a Rosy neonate moves around so much it doesnt have it's chord attached.

That is one (two?) of the coolest animals i have ever seen. I have been looking into investing in one for a few years now. I am quite jelous. Incidentilly, i have heard that rosies with 2 heads is fairly well documented (as 2 headedness goes)....wicked cool. Take care of that little buggar(s).
-----
"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho......MIA
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
1.0 Sunglow motley corn-Ernie
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.2 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.1 crested gecko- Jubeh
0.1 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.0 bettas
0.0.1 goldfish-fishwad

cut it off close to the remaining sac

Well, I cut the chord this morning and all looked fine, no bleeding etc. I offered it some water in a shallow dish, and one of the heads took three small drinks.

I went out for a couple hours and when I returned, it was dead. I feel bad, but then again, not sure what kind of life it is with two heads.....thanks for all the posts.

Sorry Tom, woulda been neat to see it go to adult size.

Quig

Sorry to hear that, Bro. But it is still an amazing thing that you were able to witness!!

Scott

I am really torn, like Scott said, what a chance to witness something that most will never see or hold. For that, I feel lucky.

On the other hand, I felt so bad for it. Sometimes Rosy hatchlings bring the front of their body up to meet you as a defensive posture, well the right head wanted to do that, but the left head seemed to want to hide its head in its coils, how confusing.

I had a bad Rosy season this year, where all my het to het breedings had Albinos last year, this year, zero. This morning when I checked, the sibling to the 2 headed, almost hypo looking, very very light almost burnt orange striping was dead. Something was really really wrong with that clutch. Thanks to all for your posts, have a great breeding season this year.

n/p

n/p
-----
James Wilson
Pacific Coast Herpetological
www.pacificcoastherpetological.com

>>n/p
>>-----
>>James Wilson
>>Pacific Coast Herpetological
>>www.pacificcoastherpetological.com

Cut store-bought rubbing alcohol to about 55% to preserve it. You might even want to inject some directly into the body cavity, but I've VERY seldom done that. I haven't had any problems not doing it, but I'm not trying to preserve fragile internal organs, either. Straight rubbing alcohol is usually in the 70% range which is to concentrated (or so I've been told by people that preserve museum specimens),

KJ

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your snakes (twins), but it really was probably for the best. Honestly, I have seen many breeders toss babies in the freezer for displaying birth defects that seemed far less serious than that. I do not know what it is about two-headed snakes, but the hobby seems to be obsessed with them, kinda in the same way they are with color morphs. I also realize that I breed color morphs, and while it is technically a defect, I do not see at as something that affects the quality of life for the affected specimen. I cannot say the same about two-headed snakes. That being said the whole two-headed thing is not something we breed for, but if it was, I wonder how many of us would.

A couple weeks ago, someone asked me how I would feel if one of my Rosy Boas gave birth to a two-headed baby. I told them that I would be bummed out. They asked If I would sell it if it lived, and after a minute of reflection, I said yes I would. I do not like to euthanize something if it displays any sort of will to live, and if it was already here, then I guess I may as well get it into the hands of someone that will look at it as a natural wonder, while making some money on it to boot. Sorry that I rambled. Being a twin myself I sometimes wonder how it would have been If I were attached to my brother in such a way.
-----
James Wilson
Pacific Coast Herpetological
www.pacificcoastherpetological.com

James, it is funny, I felt the same way. Most of the snakes we covet are animals that probably would not survive in the wild due to a genetic "mutation", i.e. leucistic, albino etc. They are not good traits to have in nature so they tend to become a fatality.

I do want to preserve it, I froze it to protect it, but I will use a cut Alcohol solution. That seems best. I dont want to display it as a trophy but more of a "wow, I cant believe that happens" example. Thanks to all.

tom