What is a plausible reason why the creature keeps its victims alive in this stomach?

On planet Dalia, there exists a creature that supplies Dalians with horrific fear. The Tayan. Tayan is similar to the Earth pitcher plant, and employs similar methods to capture prey.

XENOBIOLOGY

The Tayan embeds itself in the soil of planet surface, with only its octopus like tentacles and and teeth showing. Think something similar to a sarlacc pit. The surrounding of its mouth secrets a fluid, and often humans and livestock trip and fall into the Tayan mouth. The teeth are inward facing, making it hard for prey to fall in and crawl out. Tentacles knock and drag victims to be swallowed. Once inside the mouth, it's impossible to get out. It's most common prey is young children.

Digestion

The victim slides down the slippery "Throat" of the Tayan, into either the main or secondary stomach. The secondary stomach is where food is stored for later consumption, during droughts or hibernation. The main stomach is just the ordinary stomach, where food gets broken down, digested, and excreted. Since acid is involved, the process is seen as excruciating by most, and unimaginably painful, and it takes up to 32 hours for prey in the main stomach to die.

Secondary Stomach In the secondary stomach, the victim is injected with a neurotoxin that attempts to immobilize prey, like humans, as to stop them from doing anything rash like biting and scratching. The victim is kept alive in the secondary stomach though. This part is very important to my plot.

You remember how I said the neurotoxin attempts to immobilize prey? About 1/3 of the time, the neurotoxin is ineffective at doing its job, and prey can retain the ability to move. It would be much easier to simply put prey to death with a venom, as it would kill 100% of the time. So, my question is, why would the creature prioritize keeping its prey alive?

posted over 6 years ago

DT Cooper‭

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