Izabela!

sedna

Architeuthis
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Last Tuesday as I was picking up cuttle eggs for another TONMO member and the LFS (Pet Connection) had just received a shipment, this little one was still in the original shipping bag. My older daughter asked, "Oh Mama, please can we get it?" I was hesitant because the color and giant eyes made me think NOCTURNAL. For $30 and my daughter's pleads (as if she needed to try, the 55 gal has been waiting for a new inhabitant) it was mine :sagrin:.

The only info I have is that it is from the Pacific. I was right about it being nocturnal, but it's not like with Artemis. As soon as the room is darkened and quieted down, she comes out. So far her hours are 9:30 pm to 8 am or so. She hasn't shown any defining habits or color patterns yet, no skin texture. She is mostly all smooth and reddish brown, with some light spotting but not very iridescent. It's hard because I'm viewing her mostly under red lights- making out colors it difficult.

Julie (the older daughter) named her Izabela. We're spelling that way so if it turns out to be a boy we can call it Izzy. Plus it's a cool tune by Jimi Hendrix. Anyway her 3rd arm gets no special treatment, so we're thinking girl. She is playing on unifix cubes in the pictures, they are 2 cm cubed. She's the first cto to play with those, and because they are actually math manipultives for kids, I can tell she' a genius already:rolleyes:. She is in a critter keeper inside my 55 gal. I know, she could get out if she wanted...

She did do one thing I've only seen a hatchling do... She was swimming in her critter keeper the other night, and when she got tired she curled up her arms and just drifted to the bottom. I'm so looking forward to watching her grow up!
 

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This is going to be interesting journal, seeing as we don't have an ID yet! She looks awesome thought. Oh, and great name choice! I named one of my snakes Izabella because that's my favorite Jimi song! Props! What a coincidence.
 
Cool little one!

The drift to the bottom is one of the things I need to journal in Beldar's notes. He spreads his arms a lot like the videos of the mimic and kind of floats down. Your description is more like the hummelincki drop.

Have any of the cuttle eggs hatched yet? I had my justifications in order and discussed the idea with Neal and was all set to have you send me three when I looked at some video ... they are just way too big if they do not dwarf in a limited space. I am hoping Daniel or Richard will report back on their size in an aquarium environment and will wait out their experiements.
 
The eggs at the LFS haven't hatched yet but I'm watching and keeping my camera in the car when I remember. I'll post photos after they hatch!
 
What to do with Izzy?

Izzy thinks she might change her name to IZZO! GO MSU SPARTANS!!!

Well, it's been three weeks today that I've had Izzy. Still in her critter keeper, it's hard to tell if she's actually grown a bit of if it's wishful thinking... I'm still trying to I.D. her, still haven't even decided if she's a dwarf or not. This is what begs my question, "What to do with Izzy?"

I'm thinking of letting her out of the critter keeper, or at least leaving the top open and letting her decide. I'm surprised that she hasn't just squeezed out already! When I got her, I hoped she was a baby and not a dwarf, but whatever she is, I DID NOT mean for her to be kept in that little plastic box. Just a larger glass one... If she is a dwarf, 55 gal may be too big for her, and either way there's a good chance I'll loose track of her in there. When I watch her crawl along the box, I can't help but think of how much more there is for her to explore in the rest of the tank. What do you all think? Any thoughts or advice?

For the most part her/his habits are the same as previously posted. She eats live hermit crabs and has so far declined frozen shrimp. I haven't initiated any physical contact, she's still shy and being in the keeper makes that harder, anyway. She likes to hang upside- down in her chunk of Texas holey rock all day, and sometimes holds onto a hermit shell as she dozes. Sometimes the crab is still alive, and I'm reminded of a spider. She comes out in the evening when the room gets dark and quiet. This timing varies as my family enjoys being able to see in the living room and doesn't always comply with "red lights" only after dark- blind humans!
 
Sedna,
Thales kept Beldar's alter ego in a small container while he readied a larger tank and it was human acclimated. He is having much better luck (assuming same species) with lighted encounters than I do (and have decided to give up on) with Bel. On the other hand Izzy is so small and may not grow or ever fully acclimate to humans. What about putting Mundo's brood net in the 55 and placing Izzy in the smaller tank? If Izzy does grow, the larger tank will be available at that time. However, my thinking does not include what to do if you have success with young mercs. Is your oldest inclined to have a merc tank in her room yet? :sagrin:
 
The only other tank I have set up right now is my 12 gal nano, but it has 3 bubble tip anemones and the only 2 fish in the house. I KNOW Elise will not part with them, and I don't want to, either. I could switch the octos and let Mongo brood in the 55- it would give me more room for hatchling nets. Then I could add more nets if needed, I was thinking the current set up is already a bit crowded.

Of course, I'd love to add a new tank to the house, but our AIREDALE PUPPY was born this weekend, there is no talking my husband into any more pets! Except the puppy and the standard poodle we now time share with a friend who travels too much! :sagrin:
 
tank transfer

Well, I don't know why I needed D to think of it for me, but that's why we post journals:razz:. I had already done a H2O check and change yesterday (3-31) so it was perfect timing to switch Mongo and Izabela. The parameters were identical in each tank with only a 1 degree temperature difference. I just floated them in containers for an hour then placed their dens at the bottom of the new tank.

Izzy is now free to roam the 20 gal, and Mongo, complete with brooding den and favorite shells, are incubating in the 55 gal. This should give me more surface area to work with the mercs if I'm lucky enough to get a healthy hatching.

As I placed her den, Izzy reached out and grabbed a finger, the first time she's done that! She was out on a rock for a bit then retreated to her den and stayed there all night as far as I can tell. Hopefully she'll have more fun with more room to explore!

As for Mongo, her shells are all arranged exactly as before. For a brooding octo, that's the best sign that things are o.k. that I'm going to get.
 
Izzy is home

Izzy seems happy and "at home" in her new tank. I was getting worried because I didn't see her for the last few days at all- I had NO clue where she was in the tank. The funny thing is I was trying to be really patient and not fuss with anything- let her take her own time to get comfortable. Tonight I decided she'd had enough time and I needed to clean up in there some. She was nowhere to be seen before I started, but came out after my hand had been in a while!

She has moved out of he holey rock and into a different small chunk of LR in the back corner. I slowly moved my hand closer and she didn't flinch. I set my finger on the rock, and she came over to me. She completely enclosed the tip of my finger and tried to pull it into her hole. It was nice because I didn't worry about getting bitten like I have with the larger octos I've had. After a second she let go and retreated a bit. I got a hermit crab from the nano and held it for her, and after a moment she took it from my fingers!

I am really encouraged after this encounter. I was a bit bummed to think I had another type of shy dwarf, but she seems more interested when I'm in the tank than when I'm just looking in. I'm also happy because it was about 7pm, so I don't think she's uber-nocturnal.:fingerscrossed:
 
Izzy is bigger

The last few nights Izzy has been out and ready to socialize after 8pm. I'm really glad hat I moved her into the 20 gal- she's out more and seems to be having more fun. The chunk of LR she moved into is the perfect coloring for her, she blends in under the red lights beautifully.

Without a doubt she has grown, but just a bit. I don't really care what species she is, I just didn't want another full grown octo that dies after a month. I've had her for over a month now and she isn't brooding (with every female I've had so far- 4 weeks then straight to brooding), so that's success for me. I am hoping that if she's close to full grown that she's a large egged species, but you all know I'll through good $ after bad trying to keep any sized baby alive!:banghead:

I'm hoping to get some better pictures soon, especially now that she's not behind the bow front! As for ID- it's still anyone's guess. She lives in a LR den, eats hermits, is nocturnal and from somewhere in the Pacific. She seems to have banding on on her arms, but I haven't viewed her under white lights in a long time so I'm unsure of the coloring.
 
I should be better about posting on Izzy, but there's not generally anything different to report. I'm still clueless as to her ID, but still think she's a dwarf. She has grown some, but even if she's doubled in size, she is so small. If her entire body, arms and all, were the size of a raisin when I first got her, she may be the size of a regular grape, now. Her eyes seem to have grown the most, bigger than a peppercorn but smaller than a caper. She is also less transparent than when she moved in, but looks the same as the first posted pics. She's difficult to photograph, as she rarely comes all the way out unless I'm playing with her.

She still only really comes out when she knows you're looking for her. My dad got my younger daughter a red LED flashlight for her birthday, which I quickly appropriated and keep on Izzy's tank. It's great because it's brighter than the red tank lights but not enough to make her mad and hide (Osgood doesn't like this light so much). Once it's dark in the room. I shine the red light on her LR and after a couple minutes she comes out if she wasn't already. When she knows I'm watching, she hangs her eyes out to watch me, and comes all the way out when I put my hand in. So far she'll grab hold of my finger tip then "run away." Of course as soon as I get up a moment I'll come back and she'll have caught a crab or done something to prove that she came out when I wasn't looking. She'll also watch late night TV, Letterman is o.k., but the Daily Show is her favorite...
 
Pictures of Izzy

After I posted yesterday I was showing the neighbor kids Izzy's den with the red flashlight, telling them they'd never see her that early in the day, and she made a liar of me! I really only started using that light to see things in the tank better without scaring Izzy. I guess she's more trained on that light as a signal to visit than I realized. I was able to get some pics, she put up with the flash and I stopped before I could tell she'd had enough.

I was able to measure several of the shells in her litter pile but couldn't find that exact one. Over all she's eating hermits in 2-2.5 cm shells, and about 1.5 cm was showing in the picture. These shots are very characteristic of her coloring and texture, especially the lighter bottom half of her eyes. That's not just an effect from the flash, that is her natural appearance. She's a pretty little one!
 

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I have learned that octopuses can be like children when it comes to making a definite statement about their behavior. It is almost a guaranteed misstatement if I post or say "always" or "never" :hmm:
 

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