Death of a juvenile false coral snake, Oxyrhopus guibei (Hoge & Romano, 1977) (Serpentes: Dipsadidae), after ingesting a tropical house gecko, Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818) (Sauria: Gekkonidae)

Some snakes species have the ability of feed on large meals, which, in some cases, may exceed their own body mass. Besides, following prey ingestion, snakes must complete digestion before the prey begins to putrefy inside their gut due to bacterial action. Oxyrhopus guibei is a false-coral snake that feeds mainly on rodents and small lizards and it is known by trying to ingest oversized preys. Herein, we report a feeding-related mortality of a juvenile O. guibei following the consumption of an adult Tropical House Gecko, Hemidactylus mabouia . Upon dissection, we found that the oversized prey ingested by the snake represented more than 70% of the snake body mass and 45% the predator total length.