I would call the wild life people to take him back to his home. Painted his shell..............how terrible.

I would call animal authorities just to save your own skin if it ever got out to anyone that you have this animal. I love turtles and have a red ear slider as a pet but its better to be safe than sorry when it comes to animals that might be extinct or that aren't supposed to be in this country. Sorry I am a downer and didn't tell you to keep it.

thanks Zaza.. I called them but they are only in the office Monday thru Thursday.. Looks like I am a turtle owner until then..

Wonder if your turtle will eat those doughnuts in the corner of my screen..............man, they are making me hungry.

No downer Beth.. I think getting him back to the wild is important also.. It was just strange to see this kind of turtle, or any turtle walking down a busy highway. lmao.....I need to name him if I am going to be his mother until Monday.. Is that all I can do is wait until Monday?

awwwwwww :(

i think you are doing the right thing...

thank you for giving so much of yourself to help it! that's very honorable :)

((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))

LMAO Zaza

Do you have a park nearby with a naturalist or someone who knows about animals?

Aww, poor little guy. Wasn't there a cartoon turtle named Mr Wizard or something? I forget now. Hope it works out.

Look up to see if he needs heat or his care until then. I picked up two 1" turtles here about a year ago that were crossing the road and brought them home..little did I understand their care and they passed in mine. Soooo sorry.....

... I looked the turtle up, his name was Tooter and he was on the Mr Wizard cartoon show,,, When we were out hiking once there was a turtle on the bike path that I moved to the side and my husband said he was probably cussing me up one side and down the other because he just came from that side, took him all day to get to the middle of the path.

"Do I call the Utah Wildlife authorities"

I definitely would .. as soon as they are available.

Of course provide him water and I suggest you keep him in a 'normal weather' environment rather than an air-conditioned one. Outside 'air' and shade if possible.

Dunno what they eat .. I am sure vegetable produce would work.

I think he might be more properly referred to as a Desert Tortoise.

Three groups of desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, exist: 1) the California type, which is found in California and southern Nevada; 2) the Sonoran type, which inhabits areas south of the Grand Canyon; and 3) the Beaver Dam Slope type, which occurs in extreme southwestern Utah. Utah's Beaver Dam Slope population of desert tortoise is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Within its range, the desert tortoise can be found near water in deserts, semi-arid grasslands, canyon bottoms, and rocky hillsides. Desert tortoises often construct burrows in compacted sandy or gravelly soil. Females nest under a large shrub or at the mouth of a burrow, and lay one to three clutches of two to fourteen eggs from May to July; eggs hatch in late summer or fall. Burrows, which may contain many tortoises at once, are used for hibernation during cold winter months.

The typical diet of the desert tortoise consists of perennial grasses, cacti, shrubs, and other plant material.

http://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/search/Display.asp?FlNm=gophagas

Yeah, call them.

You won't catch any trouble, as you rescued him/her.

Somebody has painted the shell? Hmmmmm? Turtle was trying to escape!! Don't they breathe throug their nostrils, skin & shells?

I could be wrong on that...but I do have a name suggestion:

PICKLES.

arms and legs look like pickles? I had a turtle once...twice. The one who didn't escape, we named "pickles".