Two-headed snake draws no takers

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis can keep one claim to fame -- it will remain home for We, the two-headed rat snake.

After offering We for two weeks on an Internet auction, the snake's owners at the World Aquarium downtown decided to keep the rare creature. The asking price of $150,000 was never offered, said aquarium president Leonard Sonnenschein.

So the aquarium is replacing its "For Sale" ad with a new one that Sonnenschein recently printed:

"Help Wanted -- Stud Service."

Sonnenschein said he's looking for a male two-headed snake with which We can breed. He said it's unclear how the offspring might turn out, but it's worth a shot to see if they are aberrations of nature.

We was put on the electronic auction block in January. The starting bid price of $150,000 didn't draw any takers, although two bidders made private bids, Sonnenschein said. Both bids were less than $50,000, the minimum set by the aquarium.

Sonnenschein plans to build a new display for We that will elevate the snake's terrarium and surround it with mermaids and sea serpents. He said We has boosted ticket sales at the aquarium since the auction was announced.

"Why sell the snake if you can appreciate the same value by letting people see it?" he asked.

The aquarium sits on the second flood of the City Museum, an eclectic St. Louis attraction that draws about 650,000 visitors each year. The aquarium is run as a charity, and Sonnenschein said he would have used revenue from the We sale to fund ocean conservation campaigns.

Groups of children gawked at We Thursday as it slept. The albino snake's two heads were facing in opposite directions as if they had just finished arguing. Both heads eat and both have a brain, Sonnenschein said, although one head tends to decide which way to slither.

Finding a mate for We is no easy task. Sonnenschein said it's tough to figure out if the snakes are male for female. We, for example, is technically a set of twins joined in one body. A surgical procedure revealed We has female reproductive organs.

As for a possible mate, Sonnenschein said there's a promising two-headed rat snake in Mississippi, but it remains to be seen whether it's male or female.