One snake with two heads? Or two snakes with one body?
Whatever the answer to that riddle, the new kid (or kids) on the block at Prehistoric Pets in Fountain Valley makes (or make) for an indisputably rare beast.
“She has two brains so, in my opinion, she’s two snakes,” voted Jay Brewer, owner of the shop/menagerie.
But for simplicity’s sake, let’s just call it (or them) “it” until something better comes along – which should happen soon enough.
When Brewer initially posted about his sensational serpent on Instagram in mid-October, suggestions for names poured in by the thousands. Baby’s first photos amassed 1.5 million views and thousands of comments, many debating the one-snake-or-two conundrum.
Among the ideas: Lucy and Ethel, Thelma and Louise, Laverne and Shirley. Someone, apparently leaning toward a single-entity argument, recommended Medusa.
The little Texas rat snake was discovered a few months ago slithering around in its home state. Now 18 inches long, the nonvenomous reptile eventually will grow to about four feet.
After learning about the oddity via his circle of like-minded aficionados, Brewer moved quickly to add it to his shop-adjacent Reptile Zoo.
Able-bodied two-headed creatures can cost an arm and a leg. “Let’s just say I spent well over $10,000,” Brewer said.
Although he opened his establishment 34 years ago as a strip-mall pet store, Brewer is now more interested in collecting exotic animals than he is in selling them.
Over the years, Brewer has nurtured two other double-headed snakes, both long deceased. His previous Texas rat snake lived 12 years and his California kingsnake lived 14. Normally, the breeds survive three decades or more.
“In all animals, brains consume a lot of calories,” Brewer said. “My theory is, that’s why two-headed snakes have shorter lifespans. They burn twice as much energy.”
And there’s no guarantee this one will hang around even long as long as its predecessors did.
“It’s a financial risk,” Brewer allowed. “That being said, she just gobbled a small lizard for lunch. She seems very healthy.”
Like humans born conjoined, two-headed – or, bicephalic – snakes are identical twins that did not fully separate. While their brains are independent, the snakes share everything else – including a digestive system.
But wrap your solo head around this mind-boggling factoid: Each brain has its own wits about it. One might sense hunger when the other doesn’t. One might want to wriggle this way and the other that way.
Brewer’s bicephalic California king’s pair of noggins would “get into a mental argument with each other,” Brewer said.
“The two brains might want to go in different directions,” he said. “When that happened, the body would just vibrate in place, going nowhere until one side gave in.”
That may sound like a frustrating existence. “I don’t know how snakes feel about having two heads,” Brewer said.
Wryly citing doctor-patient confidentiality, he added, “Their shrinks aren’t allowed to tell me.”
But, so far, the newbies don’t appear to be experiencing sibling rivalry.
“This snake has a dominate brain that makes the decisions,” Brewer said.
One sibling seems to be the boss, telling her agreeable sister what to do and when to do it. That girl also takes charge of chomping food while her other half simply enjoys the nutrients.
The snake (or snakes) reside with hundreds of other permanent residents at The Reptile Zoo – including alligators, pythons, cobras, vipers, turtles, tortoises, boas, bearded dragons, geckos, skinks, frogs, toads, catfish and tarantulas. Those creatures are not for sale.
On a given day, as many as 300 people pay $10 to $15 to visit the zoo. Most are parents accompanied by awestruck children. The Reptile Zoo also hosts day camps and birthday parties.
In his own scaly world, Brewer has risen to fame. His instructive yet humorous videos are followed on social media by reptile-philes (sometimes known as “herpers”) everywhere.
“This business morphed from a pet store to an educational center,” Brewer said. “Kids love my animals. They’re not video games. They’re not on a screen. They’re real.”