Beldar has started coming out at somewhere between midnight and 1:00 AM (Eastern STANDARD time - later now). And being visible until about 7:20. I wanted to try stick feeding him again tonight but when I went to his tank he had already found the fiddler so I left him for an hour. The Hummelinckis would need digestion time but somewhere around 15-20 minutes, Beldar seems to need a full hour. He stayed out to play when I returned but after about 30 minutes, he took a nap. I have seen him do this before but tonight I stayed through the nap time to watch. He was playing and interacting and then just glued himself to the wall and wouldn't move. Since we had been experimenting with touch, I finally reached over (he was only 6" from our designated petting corner) and petted his mantle. He did not move or change color. I did not want to do this too long but the lack of reaction was a lot like eating coma. Later he stretched, played more and then took another nap, again just ignoring the world. I took a couple of pictures that I will post later but he sat through the flashes for several shots, stretched and decided he did not like the flash and went into a den ... for a minute or two then we had some real break throughs on interaction.
With this octo and this tank, I had designated a specific corner for touching/petting. Now that he is responding to me (food is not an incentive and I have tried to avoid using it for interaction with the hummelinckis as well), we have started establishing the rules.
1. Beldar must go to the corner if he wants to play with my hand/be petted.
2. I take my hand out of the tank when he has all 8 arms on the substrate.
3. He can touch my hand/fingers with his arms but only the back side of the head and mantle (i.e. no beak side touching)
Sound silly? We had a ball. As with the Hummelincki, I am never sure which of us is the teacher and which is the student. We have had a couple of contact sessions but none as long and as interactive as this one. He willy-nillied his way to the specified corner and kept looking back at me (I was seated initially but must climb a two step ladder to reach inside the tank). Once he was in place, he stopped and waited until I got up, climbed my steps, opened the tank and put my hand in the tank. He would come and go along the top of the tank, sometimes touching with arms, sometimes just mantle, pretty similar to the hummelincki. He decided that was enough and went to the bottom, crouching on all 8 in the sand (not touching the glass). I closed the lid and sat back down.
That is when he started experiementing. He would go to the corner (he must go to the top of the tank as well), wait for me to get up and open the tank, come and get a pet then go to the bottom. If he continued to touch the tank wall, I stayed standing, if he put all 8 arms on the sand, I closed the lid and sat down. We have been doing this for 2 hours! I finally put some limits on the excercise and made him stay and wait because he had started going to the designated place and then sliding away when I would open the tank. He would, however, come back over for a pet but then go immediately to the bottom of the tank and release the glass. I could not help but laugh out loud as the intent was very obvious. It will be interesting to see what he does tomorrow.
The first two are during his second nap, notice the arms going in all directions. The last two are his carve retreat after the flash was too much for him. Unfortunately, I never see his color since I view him only in red light. This is the first glimpse I have had (though the pictures only) on how much his coloring resembles brarius.