'Weird Baby' Snake With 2 Eyes In Same Socket Freaks Python Breeder

A Mississippi python breeder witnessed the birth of a mutant cyclops snake with two eyes in the same socket and no functional snout. In an interview with Newsweek magazine Monday, Tyree Jimerson said he and his wife were helping a batch of eggs hatch earlier this month when they found one that looked "weird."

According to Jimerson, the snake eggs had developed and he started cutting the shells open before they hatched. One of the eggs Jimerson's wife was cutting open had a funny color and gave a strange feeling.

“It was not what I was expecting at all,” Jimerson, of Biloxi said. “(It) was just a weird baby that popped up.”

The reptile reportedly had the umbilical cord around its neck, and when Jimerson pulled its head out, the snake "just really freaked me out" as it had two eyes in one socket and no functional snout.

Jimerson added the snake was very weak and unable to hold its head up, Newsweek reported.

“Someone else had already had one that was very similar, like a cyclops, and it just wouldn’t live. So I went ahead and euthanized it," Jimerson said, adding he plans to sell the snake and was offered $750.

It is believed the python had a condition called cyclopia — a rare form of holoprosencephaly and a congenital disorder — in which the embryo’s face becomes too narrow while developing. The rare condition often affects the brain, making the survival of these animals with mutations difficult. The deformity can either develop from toxins and environmental pollution or due to Trisomy 13, which is associated with harsh intellectual disability and certain physical aberrations in parts of the body.

There have been several incidents in the past where animals were born with such physical aberrations and mutant features.

In August last year, scientists found a group of mutant apes in Uganda with abnormally shaped noses and missing fingers. Some of these apes also had no nostrils at all. The apes, discovered in Kibale National Park in Uganda, seemed to have these issues due to the chemicals.

The same month, reports surfaced of a mutant pig, born with two heads and eight legs on a farm in China. The animal reportedly died after birth, and his owner said he "had never seen anything like it."

In another incident last year, a mutant goat with bulging eyes and a permanent pout on its face was found in a village in Chennai, a city in southern India. The goat’s owner, Mukhri Das, spoke to the Sun at the time, saying: “I was shocked. It’s like a miracle and people have been coming to our place to see this baby goat."

A video was also shared by the Sun showing the animal being licked by its mother minutes after it was born.