Rowan County, NC — A rare two-headed corn snake hatched in Rowan County last week.
Naturalist and snake breeder Mike Lambert got to experience the rare event as the snake hatched. He watched as two snake heads popped out of the same egg.
He first noticed the unusual snake during a process called “pipping”. That is when a hatchling sticks its head out of an opening in the egg shell. There were a total of 18 eggs, but one of them contained the two-headed snake.
Lambert, who is a naturalist at Dan Nicholas Park, says he first thought they were twin snakes, but realized it only had one body when he opened the rest of the egg.
The corn snake has another rarity. It has a double recessive gene, meaning it is lacking the black and red coloring of its scales, making it appear mostly white. The pattern is still visible within the scales.
Mike Lambert runs Dunn Mountain Reptiles in Rowan County