de stressing a wild painted box turtle

Question
I rescued a turtle from the road and want to keep in my home.  I have a clean glass aquarium and he has not ate or omitted food in 5 days.  As I live in upstate NY, and it is colder and colder each day, what should I do to ensure his/ her survival in my home.  Should I set him free?  What kind of heat lamps and environment should I focus on?

Answer
Wild-caught turtles are usually VERY stressed by capture and tend to make poor pets. I always suggest releasing them- especially as we start fading into fall when they are even harder to care for at home.

(There is also the minor fact that in most states, most wild animals are protected by law, but as this is rarely enforced with small animals, it is not usually a big issue.)

However, if you decide to keep it, there are some websites that will help. The first step is to determine what the turtle really is since there is no such thing as a 'painted box turtle', but there are Painted turtles and Box turtles in your area and they have very different needs.

For ALL turtles, try http://www.austinsturtlepage.com
For Box turtles, try http://www.boxturtlesite.org
For Painted, try a related species site- http://www.redearslider.com or Austin's Turtle Pages, above.

Another good site for general stuff is http://www.tortoise.org

Just to give you an idea...
Painted turtles need a tank that offers at least 10 gallons of swimming space per inch of turtle; box turtles need a land pen that offers 100 square inches per inch of turtle.

They need heat. Painteds need filtration (lots of it!), boxes need humidity. Both need sun-like lihting that offers UV-B, whcih is kinda tricky to do.

Sadly, many turtles are thought of as being 'easy' pets, even kid's pets- and this is not true, not if you want it to have a long, healthy, and happy life.

Good luck!