Inklet Update

[corw314]

We are approaching the 3rd month with Inklet! Actually, on May 24!! He continues to gain size at an unbelievable rate! I think he maybe 1/2 of Inks full size already. He is outgrowing the 5 inch shell he moved into and I have found him in Ink's old cave several times. It's like he's is moving into the larger cave gradually! I am happy to report, my daughtor still delights in feeding him his snails. I am the one that cautions her about letting him get ahold of her again. He continues to chase our fingers through the glass. He stalks them and then pounces on the glass! You should hear her squeels of delight when he comes after her!!

Yesterday I gave him the biggest crab he has had yet. It was about the same size as Inklet, with a shell of 3". We got to observe him grabbing it, and while I always cut one pincher off so he cant be injured, I observed he uses his suckers to keep in control of the claws so he doesn't get pinched. We also observed the poisening of the crab. Takes about a minute before the crab becomes immobilized enough for Inklet to haul it to his shell and dine!

He never hides unless he is sleeping and then he draws his large clam shell up to the cave as a door.

I would say his mantle is now about 3"! Really remarkable the growth compared to all the others I have had.

 

[cthulhu77]

As always, fantastic and way cool !
Glad Inklet is doing so well...looks like a happy ceph to us!
greg

 

[Nancy]

Hi Carol,

What a fastastic pic of Inklet and the crab! He's looking good! I certainly agree with clipping off part of the claw. We don't have any way of treating octo wounds and it's best to avoid the possibility.

Finger chasing on the other side of the glass is a good game - something all our octo owners might like to try.

Just because Inklet bit your daughter one time, it won't necessarily happen again. It was just "mistaken identity"!

How big is your tank, just incase he becomes Ollie-sized? She was a bit cramped in my 46 gallon. We knew of three big bimacs last year. Ollie seemed to enjoy being so big and stretching out to touch all corners of her tank.

So thanks for the report!

Nancy

 

[Burstsovenergy24]

Awesome, Carol!!

 

[Ceph Roy]

corw314,
Glad to see that Inklet is doing so well, and it is always a treat to se an Octopus "battle" a crab. All of this makes my need to get a Biamic even stronger!

 

[Jean]

Hi Carol,

Inklet's looking great!

How any of you out there remove a claw from the crabs?????

We never bother, even with the midgets who can eat crabs bigger than themselves. I haven't seen any come to grief (although I s'pose they could
) After all in the wild there's no-one to nip the claws off.

Must watch ours feeding more closely!

J

 

[corw314]

My tank is a 44 gal Pentagon. He is an eating machine! I need to go collecting! Luckily the bait shop sells large green crabs which he loves! I take a pair of scissors and snip off the top claw that moves so he can't pinch. Still quite a battle to watch!

And the finger chasing game is a riot. Inklet goes through this elaborate stalking of our fingers. Sometimes he just shoots his arms out trying to catch us!! Jess loves it!! He has been getting more curious as to his tank. I have watched him more than once playing with the Eihmn tubes.

How is everyone elses???

Do we know how many siblings are left?

Carol

 

[Spring]

Hi Carol, Ashi is fine and he too plays the finger chase game and is out growing his shell quickly also. I wonder if our hands and wiggling fingers look like some sort of 5 tentacled creature to them? He really likes to get the long handle tongs I have and tries to pull them away from me. He absolutely hates the algae magnet. I's so funny to see him reaching as far as he can to get it but from a safe distance. When it passes by he darts out of his shell and takes what I'm guessing to be, a defensive stance, standing tall with all legs touching the sand. He then starts to bob around and kind of dances around a little. It's so cute. I don't think he's scared of it though, he has never inked. Good to here Inklet is doing well, sounds like him and Ashi share a lot of the same traits. Their so charming. It makes me wanna give em' a big ole' hug!

Spring

 

[Nancy]

Thanks Spring and Carol for the update. BOE and Nepture are keeping us informed,too. The bimac siblings - at least those that are reporting in - seem to be doing great!

I keep a sticky note at the top of Journals and Photos - In the first message, I keep an updated list of the siblings. We have lost two - Truffles and Lil Pumpkin. We hear about The Agent, Inklet, Ashi, and Ochi, but not much from the rest. We haven't heard about Ocho and Camo in some time. There are others that could be siblings in the database, too.

Nancy

 

[joel_ang]

Its great to hear your octo's are still doing well . Maybe they see our hands or as food

 

[corw314]

Hi Spring!

Inklet and Ashi sound very similiar in personality! I noticed a new behavior yesterday I never saw in any of the others I have had. Inklet looked like he was pretending to be swimming. He was all stretched out straight to the tips of his legs, sideways, just sitting there. Was the most bizarre look I have ever seen. Didn't have time to get a shot of it!

Anyway, 2 more shots below. The first is him trying to grab my fingers in the catch me game and the second was dinner yesterday!

Got to post quick as there's a thunderstorm coming!!!!

Carol

 

[Ceph Roy]

Another set of great photos!

 

[Burstsovenergy24]

Yes! The second is great!