PICS: Two-headed snake found in KZN

A snake rescuer said the snake was a Southern Brown Egg-eater, a common totally harmless snake, but it had two heads.

A two-headed snake was found in KwaZulu-Natal. Photo: Nick Evans

Have you seen a two-headed snake? One has been found in KwaZulu-Natal.

In a Facebook post, environmental conservationist Nick Evans, also known as the snake rescuer, said he was at braai in Durban North when he received a surprising image from Ndwedwe.

“This is something I certainly wasn’t expecting to pick up on a call! It was a Southern Brown Egg-eater, a common, totally harmless species. However, this one had two heads!”

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Evans says two-headed snakes have hatched in captivity and in the wild, but they are rare.

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“It is a deformity. The gentleman in Ndwedwe had found it out in the open, in his yard. I’m sure he was just as surprised as me! He didn’t want anyone to harm it, and put it in a bottle. He asked me to collect it and take it away from there. I thought that was really nice of him.”

Evan says he never saw a two headed snake before and jumped at the opportunity.

“It was such a strange sight, seeing this deformed snake. It’s a juvenile, around 30cm in length. It was quite interesting to see how it moved. Sometimes, the heads would try go in opposite directions from one another, other times, it would rest one head on the other. That seemed the most effective way of moving.”

Evans says the two-headed serpent is being taken care of.

“It is in professional care now. There is no point releasing it. As far as I am aware, they don’t generally live long. This one wouldn’t last long at all in the wild. It can barely move, and when it does, it does so incredibly slowly. Very easy pickings for a predator.”

“If it hatched months or weeks ago, and survived this long, I’ll be truly surprised,” Evans said.

Evans adds that he is intrigued to see if the two-headed snake can feed on its own or not.

“They only eat bird eggs, so it will have to be tiny eggs. We want to try and learn as much as possible from this little one.”

Evans said he will keep people posted on the progress his research on the snake, adding that he is grateful to the resident for saving the two-headed serpent.

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