hammerpede

been wondering. what was the hammerpede doing after it entered milburns throat? we see quite clearly if it just simply wanted to kill its victim it couldv snapped his neck or just strangled him, it was certainly strong enough. but it made a deliberate move to go down his throat. was it laying something, similar in ways to the actions of the face hugger, that we didn't get to see? or was it eating him from the inside out? it was there for at least a few hours by the time the crew come back looking for milburn. did the crew disturb it in the middle of something?