The development my son built his home in was once a ranch/farm (actually directly behind him a pasture of horses remain) there is one pond that was always on that land...others were dug as the developer built for water run off as the water table around this part of the state is very high - always subject to flooding. I suspect that is the draw for all the turtles - and probably was their natural habitat before the developer got is hands on the land.

My daughter had a much larger turtle in an aquarium in her classroom (fun to watch the turtle swim) but after a time, my daughter took it to the nature preserve and released it. She also had a ball python in her classroom - also in an aquarium and the kids absolutely loved it. One of the worst arguments my daughter and I ever had was when she brought that forken snake to my house during COVID lockdown...she stayed with us for a couple of weeks. I am not afraid of snakes but I absolutely did NOT want that snake in my house. Jaysus...and it was a forken torutre/horror scene at feeding time which I left the room for. GAWD.