Andy, I am beginning to get concerned about your typos. In a previous thread you categorised what had been said as “heresy” instead if “hearsay” and here we have me providing “incite” instead of “insight”, which may well be the case anyway. Lol.
There is much still to be learned about the functioning of snake’s internal organs. However snakes, like other vertebrates that live on land, have a particular need to conserve moisture. Of particular importance in this regard is the absorption of the high volume of water that constitutes the bulk of the digestive juices secreted into the alimentary canal. In those vertebrates where this has been studied, the stimulus for absorption of moisture from the remnants of food that has been digested is the bulk of this material as it passes through the ileocaecal valve into the colon. This concomitantly initiates absorption of various mineral salts plus the useful products of bacterial putrefaction of the wastes, such as Vitamin K. I see no reason to assume that snakes have an alternative stimulus to perform these important processes.
The term “fibre” is in botanical terms it refers to cellulose and lignin fibres that provide structural strength to the walls of cells (cellulose) and the stems of plants. In zoological terms it refers to three structural fibres made of proteins and found within and without of cells. These fibres hold organs together and in place as well as being part of bone structure and holding bones together. These fibres are collagen, elastin and reticulum. At the same time there are other fibrous proteins in the bodies of animals. Of particular prominence in vertebrates is the protein keratin, which is group of insoluble fibrous proteins that form the outer layer of skin, scales, nails and claws, and hooves and horns. For some reason these are not included in the technical zoological definition of “fibre” but are most certainly fibrous by nature, although comparatively much less evidently so in their gross structure.
Does that provide the info you were seeking?
Blue