A basilisk prefers to eat petrified flesh. Once a victim has been turned to stone, the basilisk crunches the fossilized corpse with its powerful jaws and lets its potent stomach acids do the rest. This digestive process is extremely slow and inefficient, causing the basilisk to move so lethargically that it appears as if in mid-petrification itself. This has even led to the saying "as slow as a well-fed basilisk." Certainly basilisks are well-known for their slow gait and slothful nature, but a predator that can turn its prey to stone with a glance hardly has much need for speed.