The same way we do - by excreting powerful stomach acid, which breaks down the food, allowing the nutrients to be absorbed.
usually either the snake is sick or the food is too big for it to either swallow or digest
The main reason a snake doesn't digest it's food properly (and re-gurgitates it) is temperature. Snakes need a narrow band of high temperatures in order to digest their food - typically 22-28 degrees Celsius.
When it eats, check the time. When it poops, check the time again. Find out how much time went by and that's how long it takes for it to digest it's food. Simple, but boring, cause you'd have to sit there and watch it.
try four hours. that will give the snake some time to digest the food properly.
All snakes need heat to digest food.
No... There is a very high likelihood the snake will regurgitate its meal. This is not only wasteful (as the food cannot be reused) - but may also be detrimental to the snake (it's similar to a human vomiting !). Snakes should be left alone for at least a week after feeding - to allow them to digest their meal.
It might eat, though it's unlikely. However, if the snake is not warm enough, it cannot digest its food, and the food will literally rot inside the animal, causing major sickness, if not death.
Yes, but it depends on the size of the snake
In most cases, a predator such as a snake will instinctively know what it can and cannot swallow and/or digest. There have been times where a snake has attempted to swallow and digest it's prey and have it turn out a bit too large.
Yes, they can digest food.
Yes they do digest food.
Yes, snails do digest their food.