An unexpected and rare event occurred in the home of U. Central Florida field biologist Daniel Parker a few weeks ago. An albino Honduran milk snake was born – but with two heads.
“I saw that they were hatching the day before,” Parker said. “I didn’t notice anything unusual then.”
Before they fully hatched, he had taken the incubation container holding the eggs into his living room. The next day when he stirred up the moss, he saw that the snake had two heads.
“I was pretty shocked, and my wife was excited and squealed when she saw it,” Parker said.
He said that this snake is the prettiest two-headed snake he has seen to exist.
Parker has seen a few two-headed snakes before, but hasn’t hatched any himself – until now.
“The two-headed mutation in reptiles occurs with some frequency, but is extremely rare. It is mostly seen in snakes and turtles,” said Fred Antonio, a professional acquaintance of Parker and the director of the Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation. “Daniel’s specimen is extremely unusual in that the bifurcation is more posterior, with two significant lengths of necks.”
Parker said most would think a snake with two heads has little to no chance of survival, but it all depends on how well it functions internally.
“It’s hard to tell what’s going on, so we don’t know for sure,” Parker said. “It looks healthy, really well formed with no lumps, so the chances are pretty good.”
Two-headed snakes have lived for more than 20 years in captivity and have less of a chance of surviving if released into the wild. With two brains in competition over what one body will do, feeding and moving can be an issue.
“If one brain wants to go in one direction and the other brain wants to go in the opposite direction, often the body will struggle with any meaningful movement at all,” Antonio said.
Nick Mesa, a reptile breeder and wildlife photographer involved with the reptile industry for the past 14 years, finds Parker to be extremely lucky to have produced this snake.
“It is probably the most striking two-headed snake ever produced and should be very impressive once it reaches adult size,” Mesa said.
Mesa and Parker have known each other for more than eight years and met through Florida reptile shows and online forums.
Two-headed snakes have a condition that is caused by the same process that produces conjoined twins in humans. It occurs when identical twins fail to fully separate during development.
“Having produced hundreds of snakes myself, only once have I produced twins,” Mesa said.
The mother of Parker’s two-headed snake had produced a two-headed snake before, but died before it could hatch.
“This [snake] was a truly remarkable happening,” Parker said.
Parker is in his second stint with UCF. In 2008, he worked for Dr. Dan Smith on a field project doing snake research on Southwest Florida Water Management District lands. In his current research project, he was hired as a biologist working in the Ocala National Forest to study the impacts of roads on wildlife. This entails documenting road kill, catching animals and marking them to track them, putting up motion-sensing cameras and hair snares.
Even as a kid, Parker was interested in animals. He kept pets growing up, including the turtles his dad would bring home, and has bred snakes since 8th grade.
Parker’s experience with animals led him to start his own Internet-based business called Sunshine Serpents. It started in 2003 and expanded as he and his partners guided tours throughout the state, sold reptiles and held lectures at shows. People can also buy snakes and have the reptiles shipped to them through Sunshine Serpents.
“My favorite thing is being out in the field and seeing animals out in the wild,” Parker said. “It’s more of a thrill for me than keeping animals in captivity.”