The snake who really bit off more than it could chew: Centipede EATS its way out viper's stomach

Sometimes, instinct is an imperfect teacher. This poor viper misjudged what she was after, and it came back to bite her in the @ss ... almost literally.

After being swallowed whole by a snake, it made one last desperate attempt to escape by eating its way out of her stomach.

The pictures are similar to pictures of the alligator/python in the Everglades, but this was a legitimate finding. Apparently, baby vipers eat this type of centipede all the time, but this baby made a deadly miscalculation.

Tomovic came to a conclusion that the juvenile snake also ate its meal alive due to the full-grown insect's tough invertebrate. (what's up with people not editing their papers nowadays?)

'We cannot dismiss the possibility that the snake had swallowed the centipede alive, and that, paradoxically, the prey has eaten its way through the snake, almost reaching its freedom,' she wrote. in an article headed 'Two fangs good, a hundred legs better'.

So, basically, the centipede was little like those unlikely scenarios you sometimes see or read about where the protagonist gets swallowed by the big monster and cuts his way out. It almost worked out for it, too.

That's why you should always chew your food. I'm normally not afraid of bugs but centipedes creep me out. I remember when I was a kid being chased by a fiery red centipede. Never cared for them very much since then. lol

a reply to: ketsuko

I've always wanted a giant centipede as a pet.
This thread didn't help

I really dread going to hell and meeting all the centipedes i've sent there...

God that third photo is disgusting. Coming from someone who likes bugs...

ohhhhhhhh that had to be a painful death....just imagine using that as a torture substitution...

I´m glad pizzas don´t do that or else I´d be in serious trouble tonight...

a reply to: ketsuko

Wow. Is it just me or is it really sad that the centipede didn't make it out alive? It was all for nothing.

I know there's a meaningful analogy with this relating to current events but I'm just not in the state of mind to throw one together.

a reply to: Cuervo

I'm still trying to figure out why the poor thing tried to eat her meal alive. Everything I ever read about poisonous snakes suggests that they wait for their venom to subdue their prey before approaching and eating. I'm not even sure how it would have been able to swallow something that nasty-looking without being severely enough injured to abandon the attempt before getting the centipede down her throat in the first place.

Basically, either instinct failed this baby on several levels or she was really, really desperate.

Well...that definitely made me feel uneasy! What a cruel way to die...yet which is worse: being eaten alive or being eaten from the inside out?

I'd like to lodge a formal protest to Whom or whatever set up this system we term a "food chain."

Having to eat other living, feeling things is bad enough... but this?