even with an ik tool, making a snake wouldnt be a good idea at least with the triangle solving method. it would look weird.
i was working on something else thats ikish which would work for that, i used it in evolution game for the worm, but i never found a way to keep the root of the ik in place.
ps, i think someone made an ik plugin, its in the pluginswtvforum. i dont use it tho cause i havnt worked on any ik stuff in a while, so i never really tried it out much.