GooBall

i woke up today and tried to feed GooBall a silverside, and he felt it and that was it. By now I am desperite to get him to eat, so i took one of the little hermit crabs in his tank and smashed it open with a hammer and pulled out the crab. I dropped it in his den, and he grabbed it, and from what i saw he had it in his web for about 25 minutes.

When i looked over he had pushed the little crab out of his den, and it looked like it was split in half. Most of the crab meat in the shell was still their and some of the insides from the back half remained. He must have eatn some it, if it were split inhalf though right? Why would he eat (hopefully ate) a freshly filled one that i gave him, compaired to a live one in its shell? I just hope he will eat more.
 
Hi, Freak. Sorry to here the little guys not eating. I know this is probably a shot in the dark, but.....What temp is your tank? Don't even know if being to warm would affect his appetite, But it might. Just a thought that went through my head as I was reading through the thread. My bimac Ashi, seems to have had a loss of appetite, as It's been near 90 here in the Ohio Valley the last few days. In fact my husband and I just installed a window ac unit last night in our living room where my tanks are located to help keep things cool. Our central air unit is a little insufficient since we built onto the house. Anyway, just thought we should cover all bases and rule out all environmental possibilities. Hope the little guy starts eating and pulls through. Best of luck to both of you.

Spring
 
I found that you can bring down the temperature a few degrees by having a fan blow on the sump - but you will have to top off more frequently.

It's not good to have such high tank temperatures - bimacs can tolerate a wide temperature range for short periods, but we recommend that the basic temperature be in the lower seventies or upper sixties.

Nancy
 
I've been trying to learn more about feeding these young octopuses - they seem to have to have exactly the right size of food. Could the pieces of food that you're offering be too large? Or too small?

Usually there is not this much problem with the little bimacs eating.
I know you are trying everything you can think of.

Hope he finds something he likes -

Nancy
 
this could be. maybe my grey hermit crab shells are over welming for it. i do have some that are kinda big, about an inch long, but i also wave some that are about a half inch. i'll try removing the large ones and replacing them with smaller ones and see what happens.

I also smashed open another hermit crab from its shell and tried feeding it to GooBall. He took it after a couple touches, and has been eating it for the past 15 minutes. looks like i have finally gotten him to eat atleast. I'll just have to beef him up with small hermit crabs till he gets to be a little less picky on his food choice.

I have a question also. When they eat a little hermit crab, do they eat the entire thing? Should i be searching for old shells, so they don't pollute my tank?
 
The heat just kind of snuck up on us. Wasn't expecting it to be that warm so soon. I've had the new ac unit sitting around for 2 months now and just hadn't taken the time to install it. Tank got up to 78 degrees for a couple days and Ashi didn't seem to be to active, Alls well now. Tank is a cozy 72.

Spring
 
Glad to hear that all is well.

Some of our bimac owners have had to come up with innovative solutions to the temperature problem. It's easier with an octopus from tropical waters like the briareus - then you mainly need a heater!

Nancy
 
Today i split another hermit crab shell inhalf to feed GooBall. Well this is the third day in a row he has taken the de-shelled hermit crabs, which is good. Atleast i know he is eating.

I took your advice Nancy and i went to the store and bought 20 little blue leg hermit crabs, and as soon as i put them in he saw one and reached out to touch it. All he did was touch it, but atleast they got a reaction out of GooBall. These blue legs are half the size of the Grey ones i got.

Is GooBall just in-experienced with hermit crabs or what? He wants them when they move, but as soon as he touchs the shell he doesnt know what to do then it seems.
 
Goo Ball is tiny and probably came to you having eaten only amphipods and baby clams. It's quite possible he's never killed a crab. You're going to have to keep him eating and give him a little time to adjust to his food.

Have you tried tiny pieces of unfrozen uncooked shrimp? - most octos like shrimp. Glad the crabs are appealing to him, even if you have to kill them yourself.

You might try feeding him more than once a day since he's so young.

Nancy
 
i tried feeding him twice yesterday and wanted nothing to do with the second one, and yes i have tried feeding him krill a couple times, and ghost shrimp again, but no go. It seems also when i feed him those crabs that he doesn't completely eat the insides of the shelled area, i figured if he was still hungry that he would eat the whole thing.

The worst part is, is that he never comes out of hiding. He is usually in the same spot, or i will have to find him in order to feed him. I have only seen him come out once and swim around for like 2 minutes and that's it, since i have had him.
 
how long have you had him now? im sure hes still adjusting to the envirornment and maybe his hiding place too. if there are enough hiding places he will come out more ironicly.
 

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