Two-headed snake set to celebrate its 17th birthday, scientists astonished

• Two-headed snake is set to celebrate its 17th birthday.
• Such reptiles have one in 100 million chance of surviving.
• Its conjoined heads makes it tough for it to swallow food.

A two-headed snake is set to celebrate its 17th birthday even though such reptiles have a one in a 100 million chance of surviving, The Mirror reported.

The black rat snake now measures five feet. It was found in 2005 in Missouri, United States.

It lives now at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Centre.

Swallowing is a challenge for the serpent but it has overcome it and reached its late teens.

Council member of the British Herpetological Society and snake expert, Steve Allain, said it was extremely unlikely for such snakes to live this long.

Alex Holmes, a naturalist at the conservation centre shared the predator's eating habits.

He said: "Normal snake of this size would be able to eat full-sized mice with ease.

However, he explained that this particular snake's conjoined heads make it tough to do so. It can swallow a smaller mouse.

He reported that one head was to be covered while the other was being fed. as the heads are competitive for food.

Snakes with two heads are born when an individual egg starts to divide into twins but is hatched before separating fully.