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I have owned a RES for about 5 years and have recently been feeling like he must be lonely. I have been considering giving him over to a local RES rescue facility just so that he may be with other turtles. Am I crazy? Thanks much for any opinions/advice.

No. They are very happy being alone! In fact, if you got a female turtle, you would need to deal with viable eggs and aggression from mating. If you got a male turtle, you would be dealing with aggression as well.

My little girl has a nice big tank to herself and she is quite happy not sharing the resources with another being. I would suggest that you upgrade your tank, add environmental items like larger rocks or decorations to entice interest, and/or get a few fish for him to chase. He'll be your happy little man for many years to come!

Thank you.

Most of the time no, sometimes yes. Some turtles are okay with being around other turtles, some don't care either way, and others hate the very idea of another turtle being around them.

Coming from my own experiences, I have one turtle who puts up with the other but would rather be alone, and the other turtle is very clingy. I want the clingy one to grow out of it, because they only like certain things, which would give me a chance to make two awesome setups. If you see them together, it's kind of amusing, but, this is not the normal. Typical RES are very territorial. (I'm glad mine can interact, because at least they know what another turtle is, that they are a turtle, and now they had a chance to try a living condition that can be changed later).

Turtles do get kind of bored easily. River rocks, plants, and anything small they can lift or move around without ingesting will keep them entertained. You could try increasing your interaction with the turtle. Handling from time to time, or just standing still in front of the tank and watching him swim. If he shies away it's all right because he'll get used to it.

Thanks. I'm definitely going to get some large rocks for him and he loves when we stand in front of the tank and "play" with him. If we run back and forth from one side of the tank to another, he'll swim back and forth and try to chase us...pretty funny. I've just been feeling like we're kind of holding him in captivity, that he should have a lager space to live in (like a pond or lake) and some friends....or not.

both of my turtle stay in different tanks because they always fight when i let them in the same tank.

If you think he got bored...play with him I do it all the time.