Can turtles taste food?

Answer 1

well every animal who have taste buds can taste foods
turtles have taste bud so they can obviously taste foods....
but maybe like humans...turtle vary their likes from food...i think if i were a turtle i wouldnt like those pellets food...mmmm try veggies :D

Answer 2

Turtles use eyesight and scent to find food, and scent and taste to determine of the food is safe and edible.

Several studies have been done that confirm this. In one example, a pen of Aldabaran tortoises (giants like Galapagos) were fed apples routinely. Staff then peeled the apples and the tortoises ate them. Staff them substituted the apples for onions and the tortoises bit them, then stopped eating them quickly.

From that point forth, none of the tortoises in the study would eat a peeled apple unless some of the red peel was left on.

The tortoises clearly demonstrated that taste and visual clues are big parts of their food selection. (This study also showed that these tortoises did not use much scent to test food, but other studies have shown that other species do.)

Answer 3

I'm sure that they can...

I have a RES and he's very picky. I offer him lots of variety in food because it's good for their immune system to change things up a bit. Zach will not TOUCH cucumber anymore. I put it in with him once, alone with a few pieces of banana and he ate only one piece of the cucc, but the banana was totally gone. I had cut off the peel from the cuccumber, so both foods were the same consistency and size.

He won't eat lettuce either. I think probably because lettuce has no taste to it.

Answer 4

I really don't know. I have two turtles and they seem to smell the food before they eat it so maybe they just rely on their sense of smell rather than taste.

Answer 5

They must- I have 2 box turtles, and their preferences are completely different. The younger one likes to be hand-fed the little turtle food sticks you get at the store. But the older one won't eat them at all. He prefers chicken, although he'll also eat cantaloupe.

Answer 6

You bet they can. Try offering your turtle some delicious food; it'll totally dig in. Then a few days later, offer it some boring cabbage. It'll eat it, but you'll see the look of dismay it'll give you, first.

Answer 7

I'm sure they can, some of mine are very picky

Answer 8

actually they can because they have a tung but they don't have teethe