Food Too Large, Snake Dies

This gopher snake at SJER attempted to swallow a young cottontail that turned out to be too large for it. The snake tried to expel the prey item, but its coiling and pushing put so much pressure on its skin that it broke and forced the rabbit's head out the side of its neck. Still alive when found, it couldnšt eat and soon died.

photo by Howdy Howard, published in Saved by Bedbugs (2004)