getting my octopus to become more friendly

[clownfish]

Ok,
I've been lookign at my octopsu when he comes out what i have nodiced:
1. his arms are healing very quickly

2. he has doubled his size

3. He is now starting to come out durring the day!

4. he only comes out when he is hungry and when I feed him (he won't hand feed) he looks at me and goes and hides. Is there anyway to help this? a way to entice hand feeding with out starving the little guy? my octopus also has no intrest in toys : ( leggos, small sponges, small rocks)

thanks,


Tom

 

[aximbigfan]

well, how long have you had him? remember, it takes time for him to feel comfertible enough to allow you to hand feed him. show him that you mean no harm. just give him time.


chris

 

[Colin]

Hi Tom

give it time

why not try the feeding stick method? Put the food on the end of a clean plastic stick and they will take the food off that quicker than from your hand.

just work at it carefully and slowly

Colin

 

[Nancy]

Hi Tom

Not all octopuses like toys. They have different personalities and even different interests, I guess.

I was never able to interest my bimac in any toy. However, she did like to interact, loved to play tug of war with the feeding stick and when she got a little older, liked to be petted and play with my hand. She also had "possessions" that she took to her den and seemed to like - one was an olive shell, very smooth and shiny.

Colin's suggestion of using a feeding stick is a good one.

Also, give it some time. Just sit in front of the tank and observe. Your octo will get more used to you. You'll have more interesting behavior later.

By the way, I don't think your octopus is in the List of Our Octopuses. If you send me it's name (if it has one), species, and when and where you got it, I'll it it today.

Nancy

 

[DHyslop]

The feeding stick suggestion is a good one.

I use a brine shrimp net to deliver food to my cuttles, and slowly they've grown comfortable with it: if a shrimp is perched in the net, I can move the net close enough to the cuttles that they will eat out of it. I hope this means eventually I can hand-feed my cuttlefish

Dan

 

[Paradox]

With octos and cuttles, I just try to make it known that the food comes from me. And soon they will come out for it!

Dan, Ive gotten my bandensis to eat from my hands!! They can get comfortable enough where they will site in your hand as well!

 

[Mizu]

Yeah
I m with Paradox on this one.
I make sure he understands that all good things are given by my hand.
if he wont take it he goes hungry.
they WILL come to get it before they let themselves die.
I hold a fidler crap so that half the legs are showing and wiggling
that ussually gets his attention
I also make it a point to touch the glass whereever they are at.
soon enough they get the point that you cant touch them from the sides.
they test this by putting tentecles up against the glass to see if they can touch you.
if they cant they get a lot braver.
Meatwad was reluctant but every time he came up to the top of the tank near the back right corner i fed him
now when he wants to be fed he comes up to the back right corner and waits for me.
course i made the mistake of putting my fingers in while my son went for a crab and he actually attached himself to my hand and would not let go. I lifted him out of the water even and he still hung on.
Had to show him the crab for he would let me go.
hungry damn thing
just takes consistnecy like training a dog
do the same thing every time and soon they get it.

 

[DHyslop]

Dan, Ive gotten my bandensis to eat from my hands!! They can get comfortable enough where they will site in your hand as well!

!!!

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I got the cuttles expecting simpler behaviors more like a fish than an octopus. I've been shocked by the level of interaction with my cuttles. Sometimes I spend hours sitting on a bucket next to the glass staring at them, and they will come over and look at me, too. We play a game where I drag my finger across the glass in different shapes and they will follow it.

Dan

 

[clownfish]

Thanks guys,
I'll try your ideas. i actualy got realy close to having him eat out of my hand today. Atleast I see him more than I did Bubbles my last octopus
thanks,


Tom

 

[Jay]

I feel your pain brother. I got my pus at same time and place as you, Dookie does the same things like hiding when I get close to the tank. He has grabbed onto my fingers and checked them out, but when goes to pull me into his den and cant he bugs out and inks. I think the above persons are correct and time is what they need, slowly but surely Dookie is getting more comfortable with me being around. Later Jay.

 

[Paradox]

!!!

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I got the cuttles expecting simpler behaviors more like a fish than an octopus. I've been shocked by the level of interaction with my cuttles. Sometimes I spend hours sitting on a bucket next to the glass staring at them, and they will come over and look at me, too. We play a game where I drag my finger across the glass in different shapes and they will follow it.

Dan

Ive spent hours sitting on stool watching them as well! Not to downplay how cool bandensis are, but Officinialis are even more interactive (and thier color changing is a pretty awesome site), which is the reason why I would love to get more in the future.

http://thetentacleparadox.com/Video-Damien.htm (sigh I miss him)

Only a couple of my bandensis let me feed them by hand, so I guess it depends on the individual. Most will let you get close and pet them though after a while. I fed them crabs, which they will use all tentacles to catch them instead of the two feeding tentacles they use on shrimp. Ive never tried hand feeding with shrimp.

 

[clownfish]

I'm becomeing intrested in this. So cuttles have the same requirments as octopus do? I Do have an extra tank. maybe that will be divoted to a few small cuttlefish.

 

[cttlfish]

Paradox, what kind of behaviours does S. officinalis display? More playing with fingers, or more staring inquisitivly at you or somthing like that? I find it interesting that the two species interact differantly with humans.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Maybe it is that my bandensis are still so small, but I have noticed a difference in the behavior of the two species also... my S. officinalis would recognize me in a group of people (I was the one who usually fed them...) and all congregate around my face (probably begging for more food). I often got in the tank with them in order to scrub algae off of the bottom of the tank (it was an 8 foot circular tank). The cuttles would swim up to me, interact with me and one liked to snuggle under the arch of my foot (very ticklish!). I sometimes would take a mask and snorkel into the tank with me and they would approach my mask and stare into my eyes.

My bandensis are still a little skittish when I stare into their tank. They are getting less scared and Baby A almost took a shrimp out of my hand the other day, but I think that the S. officinalis were more curious about checking me out too.