How do You know If your Octo is dying???

[kwilliams10@woh]

Are there signs of when your octo starts to die???????? What should I look for?

 

[Animal Mother]

Yup.

Laying eggs, legs seem permanently coiled/corkscrewed, loses color/stops changing colors, starts wandering the tank in a frenzy, refuses food...

 

[shipposhack]

Constant hiding can also be seen (or not, rather), usually in females because they are guarding their eggs; whether they are fertile or not. Also loss of eyesight is typical.

 

[corw314]

The corkscrew look to the legs....I have never yet seen one live much longer once this happens, unfortunately.

 

[DWhatley]

I have only kept dwarfs (two that died within two weeks after arrival and my first one that survived 11+ weeks after brooding her eggs) but this is what I noticed

Arm thinning, Trapper appeared to have "lost" her suction cups at the tips of her arms. Eventually, I realized that they had just been shrinking (I think Sisturus is starting to show this now). The shrinkage was gradual, however, and not a sign if impending death.

Loss of arm/sucker strength. Trapper was extremely weak and could barely stick to the tank wall. The night she died she seemed to just fall.

I also all three I have lost stayed completely white with no sign of color in the last 24 hours.

 

[shipposhack]

My Hummelincki kept his colors even after he had died. He did not, however use his chromatophores much the last week or so. I think that is due to loss of eyesight, though, and may not be characteristic of impending death.

 

[gjbarord]

Males and females may behvae differently at this point. As stated, females will most likely lay eggs and tend to those eggs for the duration of her life being very reclusive. Males in senescence may be very active about the tank, much more than previously in their life.

Autophagy, epidermal sloughing, and decreased appetite may also be signs of senescence. I have not observed much in the way of color loss at this time.

It is also good to keep the specimen's age and size in mind, if at all possible. These same symptoms may be exhibited in younger octopus due to various other reasons.

Greg

 

[Animal Mother]

My Hummelincki kept his colors even after he had died. He did not, however use his chromatophores much the last week or so. I think that is due to loss of eyesight, though, and may not be characteristic of impending death.

My second one (the one that lost an eye) never changed color or texture but didn't lose color either.