
The famous two-headed western rat snake, Tiger-Lily, will be at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood from Jan. 23 through the end of February.
Are two heads really better than one? Visitors to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Powder Valley Nature Center in Kirkwood can soon find out.
Tiger-Lily, a two-headed western rat snake, (Pantherophis obsoletus), will arrive at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The snake will remain there for visitors to see until the end of February. From there, the two-headed snake will continue her journey around Missouri, staying temporarily at other MDC sites across the state.
Tiger-Lily is on loan from her home at the Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Center near Branson, which is currently closed for construction.
Western rat snakes are non-venomous and native to Missouri. Tiger-Lily is actually a pair of conjoined identical snake twins that were never completely separated. Such snakes are rarely seen in the wild, partly because snakes born this way have a low survival rate.
“Tiger-Lily” is the name given to the two-headed snake by the family who found this unique reptile in Stone County in 2017,” said MDC Interpretive Center Manager Alison Bleich. “The female snake was donated to the Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Center for display purposes. “Tiger-Lily is almost five feet long and has a healthy appetite,” according to Bleich, but she said that feeding time always presents a challenge.
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