A two-headed snake is being raised by a New Orleans family after it was discovered in a backyard.
Tanee Janusz, a wildlife expert, said she adopted the two-headed snake when a fellow member of her naturalist society found it in his garden, according to Newsweek.
The animal is western rat snake, Fox News reports.
Janusz told SWNS it is 10 months old and 1 foot long. It has two heads due to a genetic defect that is caused when the embryo does not divide fully.
The animal has two brains and shares a respiratory system, digestive track and body.
Janusz named the two heads Filé and Gumbo.
Credit: Tanee Janusz
Credit: Tanee Janusz
She told WSLS she calls them the "twins," because Janusz said they have two different personalities. She said Gumbo is the more dominant head.
"Because they have two heads, they have different thought processes, so one will go one way and the other will want to go in the opposite direction," Janusz said. "One will go one way, and the other will be like, 'Oh no.' They will almost wrestle, twisting and turning."
Janusz told SWNS her three children are helping raise Gumbo and Filé, and they go on tours at local schools and libraries to educate others about the rare animal.
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