Diet
Most reptiles eat a variety of foods, although a few species—such as the Striped Crayfish Snake, which eats only crayfish—specialize in one particular food. Many reptiles eat other animals, from insects and slugs to mammals like mice and rabbits. A small number of reptile species eat only plants.
Lizard Chow
A few lizards are plant-eaters (the Chuckwalla and Desert Iguana eat leaves and flowers of a desert plant called creosote bush), but most eat insects, spiders, snails, and other reptiles.
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Collared Lizard eating a fence lizard. © Karl H. Switak
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Gator Meals
American Alligators are the top meat-eaters in their habitats. Adults eat turtles, water birds, mammals, and occasionally smaller alligators. A large gator can take down a White-tailed Deer stopping for water.
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American Alligator eating a raccoon. © Gerald & Buff Corsi - Focus on Nature, Inc.
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Turtle Food
Tortoises eat plants, but most turtles eat both plants and animals. Freshwater turtles dine on insects, mollusks, crayfish, amphibian eggs and larvae, algae, and duckweed.
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The Desert Tortoise is a
plant-eater. © Dan Suzio
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Red Milk Snake constricting a Five-lined Skink. © Allen Blake Sheldon
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Squeeze Play
Some snakes kill their prey by constricting, or squeezing it to death. Each time the victim breathes in, the snake winds itself tighter. Eventually the victim can’t take another breath. When the victim stops breathing, the snake will eat it.
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Texas Coral Snake swallowing a Western Hook-nosed Snake. © Karl H. Switak
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Muscles help the Texas Coral Snake swallow its victim. © Karl H. Switak
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Open Wide!
Chiefly meat-eaters, snakes dine on birds, insects, salamanders, frogs, lizards, snakes, eggs, and rodents. Snakes are able to open their jaws very wide in order to swallow their prey whole. Muscles along the snake’s body push the victim along. It takes days for a snake to digest a large meal.
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The Corn Snake’s jaws expand so that it can swallow a mouse whole. © Allen Blake Sheldon
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Gone Fishing
The Alligator Snapping Turtle fishes for meals, using a wormlike growth on its tongue. It lies in wait with its jaws wide open while wiggling the lure. Fish and other creatures that are attracted by the lure rarely escape the explosive jaw trap.
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Alligator Snapper showing its lure. © David M. Dennis
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