Abstract

The digestive efficiencies of seven taxa of Australian pythons were examined with respect to body temperature, meal size, and passage time. The hair of rodents was not digested by the snakes. Digestive efficiencies were not influenced by body temperature, and the values ranged from 89% to 98% if hair was included and from 99.3% to 99.8% if hair was excluded from the analyses. The digestive efficiency of different food types can be made more comparable by taking into account the known indigestible components. Passage time was significantly longer at 24 C than at 30 or 33 C. Passage time was not related to relative meal size.