Although a lot of people are frightened by them, some keep snakes as exotic pets at home. Most of the time snake owners would usually keep their pets in separated containers since they are not really social animals. In addition, they could end up eating each other if placed inside a single box and fight over their food. But in very rare cases, owners face a dilemma of having to take care of a snake that has two heads in one body.

A snake with two heads, each able to think and eat separately and even steal food from each other, has become a popular attraction at a Ukrainian zoo.

The small albino California Kingsnake, now on show in the Black Sea resort of Yalta is quite a handful, zoo workers told AFP.

The snake’s two heads are fiercely independent, are not always in agreement and like to snatch food from each other, said keepers of the private zoo, called Skazka, or Fairy Tale.

“Sometimes one head wants to crawl in one direction and the other head in another direction,” zoo director Oleg Zubkov said,

Zoo worker Ruslan Yakovenko added that he tries to feed the snake’s two heads separately as they sometimes fight for food.

“If it is really hungry, its heads may steal food from each other,” he said, adding he also needs to separate the heads with a barrier.

“The second head may get angry, but both then feel satiation because they only have one stomach,” he said

The private zoo said kingsnakes hunt other reptiles, meaning one of the snake’s head could instinctively try to attack and eat the other one.

The three-year-old, two-foot-long (60 centimetre) reptile is on loan from Germany.

Visitor numbers had nearly doubled since it went on display in early July, said zoo keeper