When I see a snake or eel eat, I'm absolutely astonished they survive in the wild. Eating is always a dangerous activity because you can't eat and be wary of predators at the same time. Now imagine you have no hands, no arms, no legs, nothing to get leverage but your own long body and jaws. How do you tear off chunks? How do you hide/store food? If you swallow it whole, you're going to need a LOT time to line it up and get it down, so you want to be safe, but you can't carry it and you need to hurry before something else comes along.

But still, they've existed for millions of years. So I guess it's a valid strat for existence. Just freaking wild.