Departing from the light feel of their previous work, Jupiter (2009), the twelve-track Reptilians includes lyrics by Joshua Hodges about death and the end of the world, while musically not sounding depressing.

Finished in November 2010 and released on March 8, 2011 by Polyvinyl Records, two singles were issued from Reptilians, which was "Julius" in late 2010 and "Bury Us Alive" in January 2011.

Josh Hodges discussed coming up with Reptilians as the title of the album: "Sometimes I get sucked into the rabbit hole of watching conspiracy videos all night.

"[4] Hodges' lyrics of the songs from Reptilians mainly deal with death and the end of the world, inspired by his grandmother's passing, but musically, the tracks sound "not the slightest bit depressing", as explained in a press release by Polyvinyl Records.

Starfucker believed death is responsible for giving meaning to life, which is expressed in the record using snippets of British-American philosopher Alan Watts talking about the band's same beliefs about death, "vibrant crescendos, explosive drum beats, and layered synth melodies that drive a theatrical live show where dance party meets Roxy Music.

"[5] Krystina Nellis of Drowned in Sound that said by the second half of the record's fourth track, "Mystery Cloud", these philosophies became "basically a more morbid version of" "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" by Baz Luhrmann.

[7] The first half of the album is faster-tempo'd,[8] opening with the "rhythmic rock-like anthem"[7] "Born", a track that is introduced with "chattering voices and tinny guitars, quickly overwhelmed by a shuddering wash of electronics.

"[8] "Mystery Cloud", according to The Aquarian Weekly critic Roz Smith, "sounds like something out of Mario Kart 64", and ends with Alan Watts talking "about how death can be used for creativity.

[14] "Quality Time" closes Reptilians, and is another song that opens with a snippet from Alan Watts, before going into "a head banging techno style dance track.

The remasters were completed by Mile Nolte at Eureka Mastering, and Darouian returned to provide a revamped version of his artwork for the album cover.

"[8] Jason Lymangrover of Allmusic awarded the record three-and-a-half stars out of five, writing that "There aren’t any weak points, and it drifts along dreamily, from one understated jam to the next.

"[20] Spin writer Marc Hogan called it Starfucker's best studio effort so far, scoring it a seven out of ten,[23] while Larry Fitzmaurice, in a 6.5-out-of-ten review for Pitchfork, found it a "pretty good album.

[9] Giving it a percentage of 61, Beats per Minute author Ray Finlayson said that "I know the band can write damn good songs and they have proven that before and prove it here, but until they address the main problems ... or really venture out into something different...

"[10] Kenny S. McGuane of Filter dismissed the record, writing that "With no standout tracks, Reptilians just becomes 40 minutes of innocuous, digital background music that’s been done before.