[Octopus]: New Bimac: Octavia

[RCLasley]

I finally felt comfortable enough to post her on my personal Facebook page last night. I read somewhere it was bad luck to do so before the two week mark since that seems to be a critical time period in evaluating stress from the new environment. I was hit with some rather annoying comments from people (that have never done any research) and was curious if any of y'all have a standard mantra for the people that are negative? I know this still seems to be somewhat taboo and if you're going to make public statements you have to be ready for criticism but dang it really got under my skin.

 

[RCLasley]

Day 16, 17 &18-

Not a whole lot to report over the weekend. Its very busy around here trying to get the spring garden going!

Octavia switched dens at some point over the weekend. She went from a fairly open cave to excavating all the sand from under one of the main rocks. She is no longer viewable with the exception of maybe a few suckers here and there.

I did see her out one morning over the weekend when there was slight ambient room lighting but the aquarium lights were off. She does seem to prefer that and will usually always hide if the lights on the aquarium are on.

 

[RCLasley]

Day 19:

THE BEST DAY EVER!!! I was outside in the garden when my husband hollered for me to come quickly inside. When I walked through the door she was hanging on the glass out in the open!! The few times she has done this previously she was moving around quickly- presumably looking for food- before going back to her den. We had never seen her relaxing on the side of the glass like this. It was amazing! We stood there in awe looking at her for a few minuets before returning to the garden to finish up. My husband put on My Octopus Teacher for her to watch since she loves to watch the TV. Much to our surprise when we came back inside she was still out cruising around the glass and watching TV. *Side note to give context- my husband is not an animal person. I drag home all kinds of animals-often- and he rarely gets invested or involved* After a few minuets of watching her curiosity got the best of him and he decided he wanted to see if she would let him touch her. I told him if he does this I don't care if she bites the living daylights out of him he has to remain calm and not panic because we have spent all this time gaining her trust and if he breaks it this early on we would be lucky to ever try and gain it back. I will attach the video and some of the pictures we took below

 

[RCLasley]

@tonmo It says the video file is too large. I will PM the video to you if you don't mind posting it for me! I am not tech savvy in the slightest

 

[RCLasley]

Day 20:

Octavia continues to come out and see what is going on during the afternoons when we get home from work! When I am in the kitchen cooking dinner she will come out and watch and then when we are in the living room she will dance all over the aquarium. The feeling you get when the trust starts forming is pretty amazing!

She is still holding out on not taking thawed shrimp. I think she just doesn't care for them. Much to my displeasure- and my cats delight- my husband and I are going to go this weekend to the local bait shop to see if we can get some more live shrimp She seems to just hold the clams hostage without eating them now and we are blowing through fiddler crabs like crazy! I also had to place an order for more hermits and snails as she has all but wiped them out!

 

[tonmo]

@tonmo It says the video file is too large. I will PM the video to you if you don't mind posting it for me! I am not tech savvy in the slightest

side note; I'm researching this one - not an easy solution so far... I do have a YouTube channel (which itself has 4.1k subscribers), which is what @sedna uses for uploading content. Looking into options!

 

[AuroraVK]

One behavior I’ve noticed her doing a few times since she got here is is sticking an arm or two inside her- syphon? I’m not sure on the correct terminology. I attached a video of what part of her body she is doing it at. Unfortunately I have not been able to get the action itself on video as she is still in her den and by the time I pull my phone up to get it focused she has stopped. Is this normal?

I just got a ruby octo 3 days ago and last night he (current guess) was putting his arms in his siphon/mantle too. It made me super nervous but sounds like it might be usual since we both observed it so quickly? Would love anyone else to weigh in. (I’m going to put together my journal this weekend.)

 

[sedna]

Arm tip in syphon is something I’ve seen lots of times before- never signaled any problems. I’m not certain- but I equate it with scratching your inner ear with your pinky…

 

[RCLasley]

I’m glad others have noted this behavior as well!

 

[RCLasley]

Day 21:

I am amazed at the difference in her over the last few days. She went from cowering and hiding in her den when we were around to full blown dancing along the glass in the evenings! I attempted yet again to offer the table shrimp and scallops all to no success. She did briefly hang on to the wooden feeding stick exploring it and lightly with 2-3 suckers touched my finger for a split second. It almost feels like sticker burs at first? It was a fleeting moment and I wasn't going to press her. We let everything happen on her terms

Day 22-25:

We added several bait shrimp to the tank over the weekend and she had a ball with these guys. I was again reminded of my distaste for these creepy things. Octavia enjoys them though and that is what matters most to me. It was a busy weekend so I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I'd like but things will be back to normal this week.

 

[tonmo]

We added several bait shrimp to the tank over the weekend and she had a ball with these guys.

that's great! How long does she spend hunting and preying before clearing the tank of them?

 

[RCLasley]

that's great! How long does she spend hunting and preying before clearing the tank of them?

I have added 6 both times since they are huge and she has both times eaten 1-2 per day. There was one shrimp left yesterday morning when I left for work. My husband was home yesterday and said the last shrimp made her work for it. He said of all the times we had watched her eat that was the "best" one to watch. Sadly, he did not get it on video though.

 

[Hadla]

I never thought I’d stoop so low… I have resorted to spending the last half hour showing her videos on my phone of people playing with with octopus She appeared unamused with me.

Sigh… the waiting continues

Rotfl!

Her: “and your point is?” *yawn*

 

[RCLasley]

Rotfl!

Her: “and your point is?” *yawn*

Yes, that was exactly what it felt like she was trying to convey!

 

[RCLasley]

Sweet girl has been doing great! Sorry for the lack of updates- things have been insane around my house recently!

One thing I want to note is she really loves to watch TV! If we put it on something ocean related or a super action packed show she will come out of her den and sit in the corner of the tank to have the best viewing angle possible lol I wish popcorn was an acceptable snack because this girl is turning into a movie buff!

Last night my husband was working on replacing one of the doors in the hallway by her tank and she was hyper focused on everything he was doing. She is so aware of everything going on in the house it is comical.

We have family coming from out of town to stay with us this weekend and I am so excited to show her off!

Sharing some of my favorite pictures from this past week