Kooah - O.briareus

Neal said I should have added a megaphone or an ear to my staff photo :wink:

This guy still continues to fascinate me (OK, that doesn't take much but ...). He exhibits such different behavior that I am afraid I won't get it all recorded. His arms are extremely muscular at the base (compared to mantle size, most obvious in the acclimation picture where he is inside the jar). I often see him hugging LR with the upper part of the arm - close to the mouth - and hanging attached to the largest cave entrance (will take a photo but just don't want to scare him). Knowing that the arms are muscle, I wonder if this behavior is the reason for the thickness of the arms. When he is moving along the LR, he stays very flattened and takes on the contour almost like a liquid as he moves. I am hoping he will continue to do this when he comes out during daylight so I can video but so far he seems to have his biologic clock set to wake at 11:00 PM.

We played a little hide-and-seek last night. I was trying to determine if they really look you in the eye. I took a black towel and hid my face and then moved the towel to expose different parts of my face. I can't say that I noticed anything specific (it is hard to determine what is going on when you are behind a towel :roll:) and need to refine the idea but after awhile he came to the glass and went to the top corner so I offered my hand. This time he did not touch but would bring his arms within a quarter of an inch, move away and then come back.

He seems to know I am not paying attention to him when I feed Puddles and watches what I do when I go across the room. When I reapproach his tank, he come out quickly if he is not already out.

No way to interpret any of this but I want to try recording what I see to be able to look back later. Right now I am just really enjoying this guy who badly needs a name (Neal did not like any of my owl names so he remains "the new guy" for now).
 
Body Molding

Kooah, unless Neal rejects the name :hmm:, shows more substrate molding than any of the octopuses we have kept. When he comes out of the front cave entrance he is tightly shaped to the rockwork and does this whenever he is moving about the aquarium. If he ever decides to come out with the lights on, and continues the practice, I will video but I hate to take too many flash photos. If you look at the arms in the photo, you can see why I think the extremely thick muscle at the webbing may have to do with life style. He attaches himself and uses the fully webbed section to hang on and manuver. He also does a very strange arm whip with the longest and thickest arm when he is on the glass that I hope to video eventually.
 

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Kooah continues to delight and be unusual in his/her behavior as well a physique.

He does not curl the appropriate third arm to the right but does curl the second one. I have seen suggestions that the hectocotylized arm is not always the third to the right but don't know if this is species dependent or an occassional oddity in individuals (Need help here if anyone knows of a reference). I can't get a clear look at the second arm since he still shuns white light but I can tell it is short. Hopefully I can get a clear picture of it in the next week or so to tell if there is a channel along the edge.

He has taken a live crab from me and one from Neal and has started being somewhat less paranoid about touching our hands. After he took the live crab from me last night (with arm tip only) he tried to pull my hand into the tank for a short time (only after the crab was secure in his webbing though). He took the crab from Neal tonight, again with just the arm tip, and then explored his hand without grabbing. After playing with Puddles, I went back to the tank and he came up to my fingers and let me touch him below the eyes but when he decided to touch my finger he freaked out again and zoomed to the LR. He has only inked twice with this panic and each panic attack is less panicy than the last. This time he came back out fairly quickly and back toward my hand but not up to it.

This is the second or third time I have noticed and mentioned that octos may be aware of attention given to other animals or things. It is hard to tell if this is really happening but it seems to effect their willingness to play or want human attention.
 
Kooah's behavior continues to be very different from any of the others I have kept. She still stays molded to the LR when crawling and just kind of oozes where she wants to go. Last night she came up to investigate my hand and let me pet her on the head (in front of the eyes and on the webbing) and slowly started to check out my hand with her arm, starting with the thicker part close to the webbing. Once again when she started touching with the tip (regenerated end, maybe 3 months old) she paniced, inked (less than the first two times) and dashed back into the LR. Very strange. She definitely knew my fingers were at the top of the tank and she swam up to them presenting her head and bringing her whole body to the level of my hand. She seemed to expect to be touched and sat a few minutes just being petted but when she explored, she did not like something she touched/tasted. It would appear that new arm growth (or possibly just the end inch or so) is more sensative than any other part of their body.
 
Nice octopus, D! The coloring looks strange for a briareus - all that I've seen at some point show the red and white.
And yes, octopuses make eye contact, but that may be easier to see during the day.

Nancy
 
Colors are normal but I have to use a flash so the green shows up more. The arms immediately at the webbing are extremely muscular and I am thinking she has grown up using them to hold on to the undersides of things like in her picuture.

I played a bit with eye contact and would agree. A lot of people have played hide and seek with their octos. I experimented with the game making sure I was visible except for the eyes and Kooah would always elevate her eye stalks until she was looking me in the eye (Kooah is the first animal I have kept that seems to like this game). Granted, she could be looking at the nose or mouth (and mouth would make some sense) and I might try covering these next to see if she reacts differently.

Again tonight she let me touch her (this time I went to where she was on the wall rather than her coming to my hand) on the head and this time on the mantle but as soon as the tips of her arms touched my wrist, she zipped away. I have been wondering if nicotine on my fingers is part of the answer (my other octos have not been this way though) but this time the touch was well up the wrist and not likely to be cigarette related. Heat maybe?
 
i know when they are trying to bring up huge freshwater rays in the amazon the natives drop tobacco on them so they release from the mud on the bottom then they can catch them with the net...the rays hate it so cigarettes may have something to do with it
 
Kooah has shifted the rocks around in both sides of the aquarium and has not come out for two nights (she is usually out every night). I have to use a flash light (red) to even see an arm and she disliked that so much that she blocked the one place I could peak in on her. She has not eaten in two days and I had noticed her mantle getting slightly fuller but not at all like KaySoh's so I expected more time. Sigh ...

There is a chance she has mated and I have wanted to try briareus young but I had high hopes she would be much more interactive before it was her time.
 
I'm not sure to be excited or sad for you! I was glad that Lerxst is a boy but also REALLY want to try raising briareus babes. I hope all is wonderful and successful so you can pave the way for the rest of us, but I really do hope you get some more good time with her.
 
Kooah has been sequestered for 10 days but has been taking food regularly. Last night she rearranged the rock work (big clue when I found the on top of the rocks covering a hole) and the main front den entrance is now open. She is all the way to the back and there is very little light but I managed to get one shot of the eggs and an out of focus video after an hour of trying. Unfortunately, if the eggs are a full 10 days old, it does not look like they are fertile but I do not know when she attached them. They do look nicely inflated and I am hoping she will leave the opening so I can monitor for any signs of life.


Click on the thumbnail for a clear look at the eggs. Unfortunately further enlargement shows nothing of interest.
 

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