I did see something like that in a snake documentary, can't remember which one, probably part of the "SnakeBites" series.
But anyway it was a baby snake that stuck the tip of it's tail though the leaf litter... some rodent would come along try to bite it and whup... no more rodent.
I bet sometime, somewhere, someone got a fat research grant to figure out why the tails are red... just gotta find it!