Chomper

The Chomper is a multi-use instant kill plant. Possible inspiration sources for the aesthetic and use of this plant include Audrey II, the carnivorous, man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors, the Venus Flytrap, or the Piranha Plant from the Super Mario series. When this plant devours a zombie, it takes a while for it to finish chewing and swallowing it, making it vulnerable to other zombies.

Suburban Almanac Entry
Chomper

Chompers can devour a zombie whole, but they are vulnerable while chewing.

Damage: massive

Range: very short

Special: long delay between chomps

Chomper almost got a gig doing stunts for The Little Shop of Horrors, but it fell through when his agent demanded too much on the front end. Chomper's not resentful, though. He says it's just part of the business.

Cost: 150

Recharge: fast

Usage
The Chomper can eat all zombies (other than a Gargantuar, Giga-gargantuar, or Dr. Zomboss) in one bite - even Zombonis and the Zombie Bobsled Team. It will spend exactly 42 seconds chewing its meal, during which time it is vulnerable and cannot eat another zombie. However, if a Pole Vaulting Zombie (or another Vaulting Zombie) jumps over a Chomper, it will not be able to eat it unless it is frozen.

When confronted with a Gargantuar, if there are no other zombies that the Chomper can eat and it is not currently chewing, it will bite away at the Gargantuar and do two normal damage shots per bite.

Standard Levels
The Chomper has a range of one and a half square in front of it, so it can eat a zombie on the other side of a Wall-nut, Tall-nut, or Pumpkin. Like all massive-damage plants, it's best against tough zombies, or for when a zombie manages to get past your defenses. The Tree of Wisdom mentions that the Chomper and Wall-nut were roommates in college owing to the way that if a Wall-nut is placed directly in front of a Chomper, the Chomper could reach and swallow zombies just as they reach the Wall-nut. If you are trying to save space, plant a Pumpkin over the Chomper so that you do not need the extra space in front for a Wall-nut.

ZomBoogie
Dancing Zombies are the most effective against the Chomper because they can continue to summon Backup Dancers. Just be sure to place the Dancing Zombie on the far right so that he will start summoning his Backup Dancers before he gets to the first row of plants, and to use a regular zombie first if there is a Chomper in the first column. When all else fails, use the regular zombie to feed the Chomper, then eat it with another zombie.

All your brainz r belong to us
There's no time limit on these puzzles, so plan your first moves carefully. There's usually only one lane with Chompers, so that's generally a good candidate for a Digger Zombie (remember - Chompers can't chomp behind themselves), but remember that there is almost always a Magnet-shroom close enough to steal the Digger Zombie's pick, so you may have to wait until you've earned enough sun to afford a Bungee Zombie to get rid of the Magnet-shroom before you can send a Digger after the Chompers. Also, be warned: if a Chomper is in the leftmost column, it can eat any Digger Zombies that try to eat it.

Level 5-5
On Level 5-5 on the roof, the Chomper is your only offensive plant here, but you also get Pumpkins, Cherry Bombs, and Flower Pots. It is best to put all of your frontwards Chompers in Pumpkins.

Nom Nom Nom Achievement
To get Nom Nom Nom, you must complete a whole level using only Sunflower, Wall-nut, and Chomper. Because Chomper is your only offensive plant, all zombies will have to be eaten by a Chomper. Protect the Chompers with a column of Wall-nuts and at least two columns of Sunflowers behind. If a large group of zombies are about to burst down a Wall-nut, then replace any nearby Chompers still chewing, and get rid of them before the Wall-nut gets completely eaten.

Trivia

 * No matter what type of zombie a Chomper eats, the arm hanging out of its mouth is an arm of a regular zombie.


 * It takes exactly 42 seconds for a Chomper to finish chewing and swallow a zombie.
 * It and the Cob Cannon are the only two instant kills that are reusable.
 * If a Gargantuar smashes a Chomper, no matter whether it is eating a zombie or not, its flattened version will always have no zombies or arms, and will have an open mouth.
 * On the loading screen, you can see saliva dripping from the Chomper's teeth.
 * The Chomper resembles a Venus Flytrap, which secretes enzymes into its trap to digest insects, so this can just as easily be digestive fluid, which may explain why the Chomper takes time to chew its prey.
 * Chompers can't eat Gargantuars whole, but bite them instead and deal little damage. However, if a Chomper kills a Gargantuar, the Gargantuar will fall down as normal, but the Chomper starts chewing with an arm hanging out of its mouth.
 * It is unknown how a Chomper can tell if a zombie is in front of it due to the fact that they don't have eyes.
 * If a Chomper is planted directly in front of a bobsled, it will eat the sled and all four zombies in it, which can be extremely helpful in Bobsled Bonanza. It's unknown how the Chomper is able to do that while taking the same amount of time to chew and digest it as a regular zombie.
 * Strangely, the Chomper can also devour a zombie and its entire vehicle, such as a Zomboni or a Catapult Zombie, despite the vehicle parts being indigestible.
 * The Chomper is the main part of the achievement "Nom Nom Nom".
 * According to the Plants vs. Zombies website, the Chomper costs 175 sun, while it really only costs 150.
 * The Chomper is the only plant that can kill a vehicle zombie without making them explode.
 * The Chomper is the plant with the most teeth seen.
 * The Chomper is the only instant kill plant that is rooted to the ground.
 * The Chomper is one of only four plants that have a name which doesn't involve plants or mushrooms, with the others being the Spikerock, the Grave Buster, and the Gold Magnet.
 * The Chomper's Almanac Entry states that it was going to be a movie star. Its explicit reference to the Little Shop of Horrors movie may be due to the fact that it resembles Audrey II, the carnivorous monster plant from that movie.
 * On the DS and Android version, the Chomper's Almanac entry replaces "The Little Shop of Horrors" with "Hollywood". This may be because PopCap didn't have enough room on the screen for its full entry. However, it is unknown why PopCap didn't use the page feature, as the DS version's Almanac Entries can be split into pages.
 * In addition to the aforementioned Audrey II, the Chomper's design bears a resemblance to the Piranha Plant in the Mario series.
 * The Chomper on the start-up screen for Plants vs. Zombies doesn't have spikes on the back of its head, making it look even more similar to a purple Piranha Plant. It is one of the plants shown at the loading screen, the others being Sunflower, Peashooter, Repeater, Wall-nut, Tall-nut, and Cactus.
 * In the art cover of the Plants vs. Zombies Original Soundtrack, Chomper is visible singing along with the Squash and Sun-shroom. This version has three spikes on its head, while the in-game Chomper has four.
 * It's rather easy to beat an ordinary day, pool or roof level with only Chompers and Potato Mines (at the beginning) as offensive plants. Bungee Blitz (or 5-5) is also an example of a Chomper-leading level, but as the zombies don't need to walk across the roof in this level, it's harder than regular levels.
 * The name "Chomper" was devised from the fact that it "chomps" zombies.
 * When a Pole Vaulting Zombie (while it still has its pole) runs into a Chomper (not chewing), the Chomper will try to chomp the zombie, then the zombie vaults over the Chomper without being chomped.
 * In the PC Demo Version, when a Chomper eats a zombie, you'll hear the noise when a zombie eats a plant, as well as the noise when a Chomper attempts to eat a zombie.
 * A Chomper or Tangle Kelp can instantly defeat a Tall-nut Zombie, despite the fact that Tall-nut Zombies usually require two instant kill plants to kill them.
 * The Chomper is one of the plants that appears on the title screen. The others are Tall-nut, Sunflower, Wall-nut, Repeater, Peashooter and Cactus.
 * Chomper, along with the Blover, are the only instant kills to have a fast recharge.
 * Even so, the Chomper is the only fast-recharging instant kill that works on almost all zombies, while the Blover only works on one type of zombies, and the Cob Cannon has a very slow recharge.
 * According to the Tree of Wisdom, Chomper and Wall-nut were roommates in college.