Do you know how do reptiles digest food? It is a hard question to answer, isn't it? This is concerning to the fact that reptiles don't chew their foods. Rather than chewing their foods, reptiles are directly swallowing their foods. Probably, you ever see a reptile which swallows little animals or several plants. Yes! What you see is a real! So, here's the explanation about this process.
Fasting Period During Digesting Period in Reptiles
To answer the question about how do reptiles digest food? you need to know several things. For example, you need to know that some of big reptiles such as crocodile don't eat daily. They will have fasting period after eating their meal. The fasting period is different and it depends on the type of the reptiles itself and also the type of the meal. Crocodile will take fasting period up to six weeks after eating their last meal. This is not an ordinary fasting for reptiles. This fasting is also the period of digesting their food inside their stomach. They will digest their meal slowly. When they finish digesting the food it means that it is the time for the reptile to find a new animals or plants to eat. The process will start over again continuously. But you have to notice that the period of digesting food for reptiles and mammals are different. The significant different is on the speed to digest the food itself. In specific, mammals are faster than reptiles in digesting their foods. This is the cause why reptile has longer period of fasting period than mammals.
Different Way of Digesting in Reptiles
How about the herbivore reptiles? Do they have the same digestive system with carnivore reptiles? Actually, the digestive system is the same. In this case, this type of reptile doesn't chew their food. They will directly swallow the plants. Plants are not the only food they have to eat. To support the digestive system, herbivore reptiles have to swallow rocks and pebbles. Those additional meals have an important function. In fact, rock helps the reptiles to grind the food so the food will be break down.How Snake Digest Food?
Specific reptile such snake has different way of digesting their food. In this case, snake also directly swallows their meal. The different is that snake has a stomach which is very flexible. It is a common thing if you see a snake can swallow a goat. After this period, they will have a long fasting period while digesting their food. So, are they got any kind of advantages because of this type of digesting system? Of course, they get it! At least, they can keep their energy. They don't have to go outside recently to find meal until the next eating period. From the explanation about how do reptiles digest food, at least you know the eating period of reptile. It will be useful if you have reptile at home. At least, you don't need to worry if they don't wan to eat after their big meal. They just want to take fasting period and digesting the food until their next eating period.