How fast is a snake's metabolism? ?

Question

Alligators have a very slow metabolism, and are lethargic but capable of short bursts of speed. But many snakes seem to be able to hold a higher speed for a much longer. So how fast is a snake's metabolism? :/

Also, snakes seem to take a long time to digest, and eat fairly infrequently, so I assumed their metabolism was quite slow. Or is that only because they are cold-blooded?

Answer 1

The speed of a snake's metabolism depends on the surrounding temperature. That is why they bask in the sun and warm themselves up. It makes them much less vulnerable if they can move fast.

Not all snakes eat infrequently. There are insect-eating snakes that will eat every night. It is only snakes that eat large meals of whole animals that take a long time to digest. Imagine how long it would take you to digest a whole steak if you swallowed it without chewing...and a snake's meal still has the skin on. the speed of digestion is more to do with the size of its food than the speed of its metabolism.  

Answer 2

If a reptile heats up its body through sunbathing then it can move pretty fast!

The term 'cold blooded' is misleading. More accurately, reptiles adjust their body temperature by external means, rather than maintaining a constant temperature.

Answer 3

they probably do have a slow metabolism but they still digest food slowly because they dont constantly burn up energy in order to heat their bidys as warm blooded animals do