My first O. Hummelincki

[skywindsurfer]

Over all, Bubbles seems to be enjoying her new tank. I don't even think the reduction in size bothers her that much. lol She's probably just glad to be away from the stingray, anemones, and urchins.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Something I just remembered, last night while I was feeding Bubbles my daughter was in her pack-n-play between the bed and the fish tank following the stingray every time he swam within her sight smiling and giggling the whole time. Too bad she couldn't see Bubbles. I would've loved to see her reaction.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Bubbles has stayed in her rock pile all day as far as I can tell. She wasn't hidden, but she was in the rocks. I went to feed her and she took it quickly, just stretching out one arm.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Here are a few videos I shot of Bubbles this morning.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Bubbles was acting a bit curious this evening during feeding time. She came out and watched me thaw the shrimp inside her tank. About half way through this process she quickly crawled to the center of the tank, almost completely beneath me, and continued to watch. When I was near finished, she crawled to the algea where she began to probe beneath it with her arms, stretching really far into it. I lowered the shrimp down to her, but she crawled to the back of the tank centered (right to left and top to bottom) in the middle. Once again I slowly offered the shrimp. She took it quickly this time and drifted to the bottom of the tank where she held it for a short time and then spit it out. After that she scuttled into her rock pile, peaking out slightly to see what I would do. I removed the shrimp, placed it on a stick, and offered it again(I did this after letting it thaw a bit more because the core was a little cold and sometimes she wont take it if it's not COMPELETLY thawed). She shot her arms out like lightening, but just as quickly spit it back out again. Using the stick I tried pulling it back towards me along the bottom. Not two seconds after I begun to drag the shrimp, she pounced on it, only to envelope it for a few seconds and spit it back out AGAIN!, and slowly retreated back into the rocks for a second time. This time I was successful in completely removing the shrimp, where she sat on top of the rock pile near the far right of the tank just watching me. Weird right?.

 

[sulley]

in my very limited experience i have found that they need to keep being stimulated and challenged..try new toys new food etc...

 

[skywindsurfer]

I've never had any luck with toys with any octopus I've kept or cared for. She did like the scrub brush until she touched it a few weeks ago and now she stays clear of that, but that is all the interaction she's done with man made objects.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Sorry for the short period of inactivity on my part. My computer was going through a little rut and I just managed to fix it.

To get everyone up to speed, I'm feeding Bubbles several times a day. She even comes up to grab the food from my hands. She's really gotten large. I took a few photos that I'll try to post later. She's still happy and healthy and really seems to enjoy her new solitude.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Here are some pictures from a few days ago when Bubbles was playing with me. There's a video as well but I have to download it first.

 

[skywindsurfer]

 

[skywindsurfer]

My computer is royally broken, so my posts may be far and in between. We're looking at getting it fixed sometime in October so I appaulogize in advance for my absances.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Just as a quick update, Bubbles has adopted a crepescular activity schedule, spending most of her time inside the rock pile. Coming out in the mornings and evening to the far left side of the tank and hanging around the pipe and macro algae. She's eating two whole peeled shrimp daily. Fully stretched out she can reach between 6" and 10" roughly. I haven't tried to measure her cause she only fully stretches out when she's in the rocks. I can see her sitting on top and her legs start poping out of cracks near the bottom. So I use this as a general length reference. Sometimes she'll come over to take food from my hand but her prefered method is by a short piece of clear solid airline tubing. I thaw the shrimp out by hand at the top left of the tank and watch her crawl out and start bobbing her head and probing around with her arms. When I put the shrimp on the stick she will crawl down to the sand bed and make her way over. I take this time to "tease" her with it. I make her work for it a little and kind of chase it down before I give it to her. I use this as enrichment for her. Kind of like a cat with a toy on a stick. She tolerates it for a little while, but too much will upset her and she'll just crawl off ignoring you. Overall she's doing great and still growing. I have videos and pictures I'll post when I fix my computer.

 

[skywindsurfer]

"Hey daddy....did you know there's an octopus in this thing?"

 

[skywindsurfer]

"Where did it go daddy?"

 

[skywindsurfer]