Eyeball disappearence while yawning (C. orientalis yawns)

[richard]

Has anyone ever noticed their CO actually suck their eyeball inside of their head while finishing up a yawn motion? I don't mean close his eyes, but the whole eyeball literally disappeared off the side of its head. It kind of creeped me out.

 

[kaysie]

Richard, I think this is common with all caudates. Mine do it a lot while trying to swallow.

 

[rodrigo]

It´s the way amphibians swallow. Most don´t have a tongue...and even those who have need their eyes to push the food through the throat. That´s how they do it, it´s completely normal..and necessary hehe.

 

[cameron]

Rodrigo is right. They push down their eyes in order to push the food down their throats. Same with ALL amphibians.

 

[richard]

wow - that blows me away!

you learn something new every day.

 

[kaysie]

Cameron, that's not necessarily true.

When an amphibian swallows, they relax the erector bulbus muscle, which keeps the eye protruded.

But this is not to push food down the throat. They will do this when yawning, or fighting, or a myriad of other things, not just when eating.

 

[rodrigo]

Actually it´s just the way their eyes close. We close our eyelids, and they have to push the eye into the bucal cavity to close theirs.
It happens when they yawn, when they eat or just when they sleep.
And Kaysie...they DO use their eyes to push food down the throat...if not my zoology teacher is really wrong....and all the books i´ve read hahaha
It´s very obvious with toads. They´ll move their head and push the eyes to make food go down, you can even see how food moves down every time they close their eyes with strength.