My first O. Hummelincki

[skywindsurfer]

I don't know if it's still in there, alive that is, but it was crawling around with a bubble of air encompassing its entire abdomen for a good long while. If I see it again I'll be sure to let everyone know. There is a crap load of webbing strung all over this one plant though lol.

 

[skywindsurfer]

No sign of the spider, but BUbbles continues to get more and more relaxed. I now realize that not only did I stress her out by completely changing her entire environment inside of the aquarium, I also changed her external surroundings by moving her from the bedroom to the living room. She was out for a good few hours today playing with the plants and exploring the rocks. I haven't seen any more cork screwing so I'm taking that as a good sign.(sigh of relief)

 

[skywindsurfer]

I just had an amazinng expierence with Bubbles just now. I went to hand feed her and I waited until she came out to me instead of giving it to her. She reach out and grabbed my fingers, but didn't pull me towards her. She grabbed the shrimp with a free arm, pulled it to her beak, then just sat there holding me, occasionally giving small gently tugs but made no attempt to try and bite me or climb on top. She even stayed calm the hole time. After a few minutes she let go and sat halfway beneath a rock to consume it.

 

[skywindsurfer]

 

[SabrinaR]

I did a little reading on your "spider" situation... apparently they will eat up all of your pods. You might want to either add more or get rid of that spider.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I did a little reading on your "spider" situation... apparently they will eat up all of your pods. You might want to either add more or get rid of that spider.

ROFL
Are you being serious? Its not an aquatic spider. I had the plants sitting on my backyard for about a week or so. He was just sitting in them when I put them in my tank. I didn't notice until after I put them in. He's probably dead by now.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, your post just caught me off guard. What type of spiders are you talking about.

 

[SabrinaR]

No not rude... funny as all get out actually. I was reading about aquatic spiders, and they get transported into tanks by plants. After reading your post I just assumed it was a hitchhiker from one of your "aquatic" plant

Here was one other ref to spiders in an aquarium that I read.

http://www.reefland.com/forum/reef-archives/3100-saltwater-spider.html

 

[skywindsurfer]

Thanks for not taking that offensively. I realized how rude it sounded only after I posted it. Thanks for the link. I'll have to check that because I thought most arachnids could not survive in saltwater.

 

[SabrinaR]

From what I read they DO need air BUT they some how encase themselves with air bubbles to live underwater for a while.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Well there is a group of animals called "sea spiders," but from what I've read they are not exactly the same thing as the spiders we are more commonly familiar with. They are entirely aquatic and do not need air bubbles to breath. As for the ones you are referring too, they are fresh water and use a web attatched to plants and other debris, and transport pockets of air inside this web like a ballon, and that's where they live. I had neither of these.

 

[skywindsurfer]

From what I read they DO need air BUT they some how encase themselves with air bubbles to live underwater for a while.

All spiders have small hairs scattered along their entire body. They can use these hairs to trap a bubble of air around their abdomen and thorax which allows them to stay submerged for a certain amount of time.

 

[skywindsurfer]

For those intersed, I'm attaching a link to this post of a paper on sea spiders. I found it very fascinating, and I hope anyone interested will enjoy it as well.

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/10.27/01-spiders.html

 

[skywindsurfer]

I just spent the last 30 - 40 minutes interacting with Bubbles with my bare hands after hand feeding her. I wanted to get some pictures/videos, but my wife ran the camera's battery down. She basically sat there holding my fingers and exploring with the tips of her arms. She let me touch every part of her(top and bottom) except for her mantle. She gave some pretty strong tugs there a few times, but I stayed my ground, and even pulled away a bit. I think she got the hint that I wasn't liking her pulling on me like that, because she stopped after I began pulling away. That was the best half hour I spent with her in a long while. I saw her arm tips twitching a little speratic like they were uncontrolled twitches. Other than that everything else is going well.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Bubbles let me touch her mantle this even. She was sitting at the bottom of the rocks on the far right side of the tank, and acting like she was eating something. I reached down and started gently touching her mantle. At first she barely touched me with the tips of a few arms, but didn't really grab me. This lasted a few seconds and then she just acted as if I wasn't there. I then began stroking her mantle fully, though avoiding her eyes. Still she didn't seem to care at all. I think her and I are making great progress. I'm excited to think of how far I can go before getting bitten lol. I know I started LATE in her life cycle to begin the whole full on interaction, but I just hope that I can get it to the point that she will crawl in and around my hands/arms without fear or bitting before she dies. I will DEFINATELY have to start these "touch" sessions much earlier on with my next octopus(which will not be for quit some time after Bubbles passes ).

 

[skywindsurfer]

I caught Bubbles digging this evening after the lights went out. She dug out about four inches of sand straight to the tank bottom, and then stayed there for about an hour or so until we left the living room. When we came back she was gone. I think she's some where in the back of the rocks but I'm not sure. I took four short videos of this. The quality isn't the best because everytime I would hit her with the light she would stop or act as if she would leave. The videos are loading right now, so I'll post them as they finish.