why are reptiles fed 1 to 4 times a month?

Question

please help with this

thank you

Answer 1

Because they typically eat things whole, and it takes longer for them to digest things. Typically a human eats a meal and that meal will stay in the stomach for roughly 8 hours, leaving the human "hungry" again after about 4 to 6 hours. Also, the cold blooded thing is right. Warm blooded mammals burn more energy, that is how they are kept "warm", and require more fuel. But the main thing is, they eat things whole, and there "stomachs" if you will (all though they really don't have stomachs) digest more slowly.

Answer 2

Not all reptiles are so seldom fed. I have an iguana that eats daily. My turtles also eat on a daily basis. If given the choice most reptiles would eat more often than 1-4 times a month.

I suppose the fact that reps are cold blooded allows them to go for long periods of time without food; the demands for energy are not constant.

Answer 3

It depends a lot on the type of reptile. Most herbivorous reptiles are constantly grazing, but snakes, carnivorous lizards and crocodilians eat much less frequently. Alligators and crocodiles for example only eat about once a week on average in the wild. (Perhaps meat just takes longer to digest, but still)

Being cold-blooded, they don't require as much caloric intake as we do, and in some instances overfeeding can end up killing some lizards. It's all in the metabolism...

Answer 4

because they are cold blooded and don't require a constant food/energy supply to maintain their body at a constant temperature