A curious tale out of southeast Georgia tells of an eastern indigo snake that had been captured, only to vomit up two more snakes to the surprise of captor Matt Moore of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The wildlife technician continued to get more than he bargained for when one of the two snakes turned out to be alive. Three snakes for the price of one? Now that’s value.

The Russian doll wildlife encounter began with a 1.2-meter (4-foot) eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi), which at full size is the longest native snake in the United States. It had been captured and tagged and placed in a bag for weighing but in the process, it threw up quite the surprise: when Moore opened the bag there were two more snakes.

“It was filled to the brim with snakes,” Moore said in a Georgia DNR blog post.

“The indigo, known for preying on other snakes, had clearly swallowed and then expelled its meal, losing about half a pound in the process,” said the Wildlife Resources Division – Georgia DNR on Facebook. 

Snake one, a young rat snake, was already dead, but snake two put on a bit of a Lazarus performance. Initially, the juvenile eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) appeared lifeless, but an hour or so later Moore noticed it had started to move. "This rattlesnake must have been a little too 'undercooked' for the indigo snake, considering it was still alive when it came back up," Georgia DNR said.

Moore suspected he caught the indigo soon after it had swallowed the rattlesnake; it was clear the rat snake had been digested longer. 

Moore released the rattlesnake at a gopher tortoise burrow, which they often use for refuge, but it was later seen out in the grass basking in the sun (you can watch it here). The skin on the rattlesnake's head was slightly torn but has healed and even proven a useful identifier as it was seen and photographed a few weeks later. 

One last curiosity: the revived rattlesnake had a noticeable bulge in its belly, suggesting it had recently eaten a large mouse. “It managed to keep its meal down after being swallowed and regurgitated by the indigo,” Moore said.

Perhaps if the indigo knew what eels can do, it might have taken more care to kill its meal first.

It's the second in a string of strange snake stories in the press this week. A recent paper was published on what’s thought to be the first-ever reported case of a Burmese python eating a reticulated python, which has the indigo snake beat as the longest snake in the world.

Unfortunately for the reticulated python there would be no coming back from the dead, and gruesome pictures show its final moments before it disappeared into the stomach of the Burmese python – a meal that took around two hours to complete.

“[the Burmese python] had caught a Reticulated Python by the tail and coiled tightly around its prey before swallowing it tailfirst. The Reticulated Python tried to defend itself by constricting the Burmese Python but loosened its grip after being subjugated. From the initial strike to complete ingestion took about two hours,” the study authors wrote.

“To the best of our knowledge, this observation represents the first documented predation of M. reticulatus by P. bivittatus.”

It’s a snake-eat-snake world out there, I guess.