I have questions about keeping turtles in my pond. But first, I will
give you a description of the pond. It is located in North-central
Pennsylvania in Zone 5. We have had some low temperatures in the
vicinity of -10 below recently but that is unusual. The pond is
roughly 6’ by 16’. There are multiple depth levels with the deepest
spot being about 3 ½ feet. It will not freeze solid. I have several
inches of pond planting soil covering the bottom for critters to
burrow into. It holds about 900 gallons of water. It contains
various water plants, different strains of goldfish, claims, snails,
tadpoles and frogs.

I would like to introduce turtles to the pond but am unsure as to what
to do. I have already decided if I get turtles they should be either
Map Turtles or Red Ear Slider Turtles. Map Turtles are native to this
area and I think Red Ear Sliders are native only as far north as
Virginia. I don’t want to mess up the environment and catch my own so
that leaves me with buying them.

So, here are the questions: (1) It seems all of the turtle dealers
plan on people keeping them in an aquarium. Hence, the instructions
they provide claim the water temperature should be at least 70 degrees
with a lamp for them to bask under that is at least 80. Does that
mean a turtle that has been captive bred won’t survive if released
into the wild where the temperatures are much colder? (2) What would
happen if I bought baby turtles now, raised them indoors until the
weather got warmer and slowly introduced them into the pond? Would
they survive? (3) Would three Map or Slider Turtles be too many for
my pond?

Thanks for any help anyone can give me.
Glenn