[Octopus]: Dax, O. briareus

[sedna]

BOOP!

 

[sedna]

 

[sedna]

 

[sedna]

 

[sedna]

 

[sedna]

Just getting caught up on getting my videos posted. Figuring out the whole YouTube thing has been a tiny bit tedious, but my girls and my husband have been amazingly encouraging- and to be honest I’m just super lazy when it comes to tech stuff- I’d rather clean fish tanks! .

Dax seems to be doing well, but I’m getting the feeling that senescence is near... I haven’t seen obvious signs yet, just “that feeling” you get after living with them for so long that the time is near. Hopefully we still have a couple of months together, but we take things as they come!

 

[LLynn1952]

Those of you who know me understand that I am superstitious for the first two weeks of octopus acclamation. . I don’t go public with them until I am sure they are healthy, but I still take lots of pictures. Here are some more shots from the last couple of weeks of DAX after dark, and the tank in general.

I did not know that the charming and hilarious Dax lives with you. I fell madly in love with him by way of those hysterical vids you put up on YouTube. The one of him showing really cracks me up, especially when it seems like he poses for the camera. So funny to watch. I am going to try to look up o.briareus to learn more about them. I will never be able to live with one myself, but i truly do appreciate being able to do so vicariously thanks to tonmo.

 

[sedna]

I got some great footage of Dax eating last night! He had found a chunk of raw shrimp in his glass jar, but decided to visit with me while eating it. I started taking the video because I wanted to get some clothes up footage of him actually eating the shrimp. I’m glad I kept filming longer than I normally do because at the end of the two minute video you can see where he actually pull the “mud vein” from the shrimp out of his mouth plays with it a little bit and eventually discards it! In the shorter one, I was able to get close up to the suckers around the mouth, and really see them moving the food into his mouth!

His colors still look good, he’s eating well and his regular motor movement seems normal. However, last night I noticed that when he’s sitting still on the glass “just hanging out,” his arms are starting to dangle more loosely at his sides...

 

[tonmo]

he looks great!!

 

[sedna]

There really isn’t anything very exciting or informative about this video that hasn’t been documented in previous videos, but it’s pretty... I put a meaty shrimp tail in the feeding jar while Dax was still in his den to see how long it would take him to “wake up” and take it. It was a good 15-20 minutes before he rousted out to take it- but it was between 4:30 -5pm, so that was pretty early for him.

Just for fun I got measurements on the jar- it’s 4in tall with a 3in diameter, and it’s volume is 13oz- so that gives a comparison for Dax’s size.