Serpentes Species Basic Info (Physical Abnormalities)

There are a few birth defects that a Serpentes can be born with, some are harder to live with then others. Below are a few of the more well known body deformities.

Bicephaly

Although extremely rare, it is not unheard of for a Serpentes to be born with more than one head. The double head can be joined at the jaw or even as low as the shoulders and often consists of two sets of eyes, brains and mouths. Both mouths feed one stomach and commonly are controlled independently of one another, meaning that two consciousnesses live inside one body. Growing up sharing a body with your own sibling often results in chronic stress in a Serpentes and this stress, puls other genetic problems that are commonly found with Bicephaly, will often lead to a short life span for any two-headed Serpentes. 

There are records of one or two Serpentes living a full life with Bicephaly however most don’t make it past the first week, with the rest tending to die before they reach 20 years. Those that do survive are often considered to be blessed and some even view them as some kind of lucky charm. This odd belief often leads many Serpentes with Bicephaly to go into industries where the superstitious flock to, such as fortune tellers or palm readers.

Spinal Osteoarthropathy

Sometimes due to inbreeding or simply bad luck a Serpentes may be born with a physical malfunction. These can come in many different forms, but the most common, although still extremely rare, is a bent spine. Also called Spinal Osteoarthropathy, a bent spine is as the name implies, its where kinks and bends along the Serpentes spine can not be tightened due to shortened muscles, fused vertebrae or various other reasons. If the Animalian has only one or two small kinks, especially behind its tail, then they are likely to live there life with little to no issue from the condition, however if the bends are many and within the Serpentes body or neck then they will likely suffer and struggle for their whole life due to it being hard to move, eat and even digest. Due to the pain of moving many will simply choose to stay still for as long as possible causing sores to form on their body causing it to be even harder to move around. It often gets to the point where assistance in doing any day to day task is mandatory as they can’t do it on their own. As they get older the condition often worsens with their spines becoming bent farther, they become extremely lethargic and a constant cloud of depression hanging over them. There are groups out there that believe that any Serpentes who are born with severe Spinal Osteoarthorpathy should be put down because of all the suffering that they would have to endure if they remained alive. There is no cure to this ailment leading a number of groups to try to discover why it happens. 

The consensus for its cause seems to be two possibilities,the first and most common factor is genetic issues due to inbreeding. Without variation in genes there will always be complications that pop up with Spinal Osteoarthropathy being one of the more common ones. The other cause is thought to be from unstable eggs. Any eggs that don’t have optimal conditions when they are incubating have a chance for failure and problems and any eggs in these kinds of conditions have a high chance of developing a bent spine. If a Serpentes survives the condition long enough to breed with another, they can, and likely will, pass on the condition to its offspring leading many to cry out against those that still choose to have children despite their condition.