Only in Florida: Rare Snake Meets Tragic Death After Swallowing Massive Centipede

Thinking it was a feast, a snake ended in a tragic death after underestimating a centipede. As it tried to swallow the giant venomous centipede, little did it know that both would succumb to untimely death.

A Florida visitor in a park witnessed the gruesome and epic state of the dead snake. The corpse showed the snake with a giant centipede stuck on the snake's gullet. The snake swallowed the headfirst but was unable to eat the rest! The centipede died as with half of its body on the snake's mouth.

Live Science identified the visitor John Pennekamp who found the grim sight at Coral Reef State Park on February 28, 2022. The snake was said a rare Rim Rock Crowned Snake. It is also on the list of threatened species.

About Rim Rock Crowned Snake

Furthermore, the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation website said Rim Rock Crowned Snake is Tantilla oolitica. The website has categorized it as Florida's Snake. According to the identification, the snake has a slender body in pinkish tan, brown-black head and neck, and pale-cream-tank snout. The snake is believed to lay eggs.

Rim Rock Crowned, the website added, can be found only in Florida, along the southeastern Atlantic Coast. The snake secretly crawls underground, such as stump holes, limestones, under logs, limestones, or inconspicuous places. The snake is also on the list of threatened species.

The rare snake's favorite foods are centipedes, but it didn't turn out well as the prey was bigger than usual. Records show the Rim Rock Crowned Snake eats small scorpions, insects and their larvae, worms and spiders. The said snake has an almost similar appearance to Florida's three-crowned snake.

In Daily Star UK's report, an associate research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that the rim rock crowned snakes are not easy to find on Key Largo or elsewhere. The snake is considered the rarest in North America, and scientists have not seen it for years.

Immediately, the park reported it to the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) in Gainesville. Scientists from the museum brought the snake and centipede for examination and collection. It was unfortunate for a scientist to see the rare snake again, but a corpse.

Museum examination

In the Live Science report, snake biologist Coleman Sheehy, a researcher and collection manager at the FLMNH said that the snake was extremely rare. Sheehy said that they have 15 preserved species of Tantilla oolitica at the museum, but that is only half of the known species. However, the record of the rare snake-eating prey is new.

To better understand what happened in the snake, the scientists used enhanced computed tomography to investigate the snake's inside and its prey meal. Such an advanced step is important not to damage the specimen.

The same report said the scans revealed that the dead snake trachea was compressed, which may have been obstructed by the centipede meal. It could have led to asphyxiation. The snake also possibly suffered from the centipede's venom or was wounded during the epic battle with its prey.

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