Is it true that alligators fall asleep when they are flipped over and their belly is rubbed?

Dont wory, I wont try this one at home =)

You could say that this is true. After they had a real large meal (you), the often fall asleep.

Puppies do that since it simulates mummy licking its belly to help digestion. Since gators are no canines, they don't have that feature. Best it does is to annoy them.

Most types of reptile don't have a diaphragm for breathing and when they are on their back, they can not draw air into their lungs.

They aren't "sleeping", they're unconscious because they've been suffocated.

That doesn't really stop people from thinking it's "cute" and "hypnotizing" them into a near-unconscious catatonic state and then posing them for photos.

Crocodilians *do* have a diaphragm, but it works differently than a human diaphragm and is still ineffective when the animal is on its back. It can't rotate the pelvis very effectively.

Alligators do go into a sort of stupor when their bellies are rubbed after being placed upside-down. This has been demonstrated. Why this is, I can only speculate, as I'm not sure anyone really knows. If their diaphragms don't work well in the upside-down position, this may be a factor: The 'gator is passed out from hypoxia or a similar condition. Then again, it may be something intrinsic in their CNS that causes them to relax during this sort of handling. It is not an attitude they encounter much in the wild and the clip I saw showed the little bugger was quite rambunctious until the handler started rubbing the belly, after which, he calmed down rather quickly and seemed to go to "sleep".

This is a good thing, for, as my late uncle once told me, alligators alligate, so pay them no mind. The more they sleep, the less they alligate and the less trouble they cause.