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A woman in Virginia found an extremely rare two-headed copperhead snake that crept around her neighbor's flowerbed.
Last week, Virginia Wildlife Management and Control released images and an extract of the poisonous viper on Facebook – and the state now hopes to post it in a zoo for the enjoyment of all.
"That's what nightmares do," Dorothy McColl Holmberg wrote on the post.
Other commentators wondered if the rare reptile was even real – and the department assured them that it was "very real and that it was being stripped".
Stephanie Myers, who made the shocking discovery, told USA Today.
The snake was found in a yard in Woodbridge and is young, about two and a half weeks old, about 6 inches long, said J.D. Kleopfer, amphibian specialist at the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
He is now being cared for by an experienced viper guard in a residence in northern Virginia.
The few two-headed snakes around usually do not survive long, because every brain often wants to do "two different things," said the herpetologist. In this case, "the left head has the esophagus dominant and the right head has the most developed throat to eat," explained Kleopfer.
Yet both heads are able to attack and bite and both mouths can send a potentially deadly venom to their victims.
While Copperheads often reach 18 to 36 inches and can attack humans, this young viper mostly takes insects, said Kleopfer, adding that his goal was to help the "little guy" stay desire.
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