baby snapper care

Question
i found a half dollar sized snapper in a almost completely dried stream next to a busy road.i would let it go back because the little water that is still there is very polluted because of being near a road.Also it has been getting very cold at night and we have had it since it was warm and i am afraid the cold will slow it down and it wont be able to dig and hibernate,so i am keeping it until a year or so when it is not so cute so some little kids wont pick it up ant take it home.can i feed it small crickets,or should i get some guppies?or can i use a dead frog(did not come from the stream near the road)because i heard that they eat dead stuff.Also should i heat the enclosure,because it is staying in the seventy degrees.thanks

Answer
You have a good plan, but it is not going to work as well as you hope.

I recommend releasing it as soon as you can close to where you found it. It was probably looking for a good place to live before things got too cool for it. It will then hibernate by burying in thick mud under water. It probably even has a place in mind for this and is confused and scared by the changes that have happened to it.

It is not recommended to release turtles after a few months- they pick up germs from captivity and become less able to live properly in their old home territory. Sadly, many turtles released after a few months do not do well in the wild unless the care giver was trained in how to do this.

If you DO decide to keep it, you are going to need a good-sized tank, a big powerful filter, lighting, heating, etc. We figure it runs about $150-300 to set up a good turtle habitat.

The diet should be about 1/2 good quality turtle pellets, and the other half live or frozen/thawed (no freeze dried) 'fish food' like small fish, shrimp, krill, worms, insects, beef heart, etc.

The site http://www.chelydra.org has great care advice for snappers.

Good luck!