What is the best of taking care of a turtle?

I have a Red Painted turtle (I call him Einstein) that my friend picked up from the road in the floods. He is about 4 inches long. We have made a little aquarium which is very shallow and Einstein lives there most of the day. He has a few rocks and gravel and plants. We have also created a little dry play pen outside the house. It is walled on 3 sides and fenced on the 4th and has big shelter rocks and plants in it. We put him in his dry pen atleast 4 hours staggered over the day. Is this good for Einstein or do I need to give more breathing/living space?

What is the best of taking care of a turtle?
Please do not release this turtle back in the wild. Once they start depending on you they cannot adjust in the wild by themselves. You may release him into another turtle's territory by mistake and yours could be attacked and injured. I have box turtles so that is how I know this. I do not know the best care for a painted turtle but if you go the library you could find a number of books that will direct you. I belong to boxturtlelist.com and get very good information from the people there. You could try going on line there and if they don't know the answers to your questions that could direct you to another list.
Reply:The best thing you can do is release that animal back where you took it from, and get a captive bred one from a breeder who will guide you through everything you need to know.



Please
Reply:i think you need to put a lot more water in the aquarium so it can swim peacefully.