A snake that attempts to eat something too big to get down its throat is in serious trouble. This rattlesnake caught a dove in the desert during the night, but really struggled to swallow the bird. As a result, the snake was caught out in the open the next morning – by me and my camera. The snake couldn’t bite, couldn’t really squirm away from me, and couldn’t easily find its way back to a hole. Most likely final outcome for a snake in this situation is that the snake will be spotted and picked up by a bird of prey, becoming a meal itself. Even if a snake can get a huge meal through its mouth, there are examples of snakes’ bodies getting ruptured as a result of being perforated by the bones of a creature too large for the snake to eat. An injured snake is going to have a lot of trouble moving and catching future prey and is therefore likely to starve.