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octo puffing water at me(mad octo?) help please. student speaking

lemon2

Pygmy Octopus
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Joined
Sep 6, 2007
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10
Hello fellow octo specialist that are second to none in the world of cephalopod studies,

I am here before you today to ask a question. Our octo and I have been getting to know each other very well. We hand been playing with toys together and so on. I did notice that every time I touch him he gets very excited and trys to engulf my hand. When he goes to the top of the tank next to the lid, he'll squeeze his tenicals out of the tank and flail them around in a failing attempt to grab me. If I do let him grab me he'll try to pull my hand in and sometimes in the process pull his head out of the tank,but still under the lid, But my main question is sometimes in the process that I explained he will start squirting water at me. Sometimes I'm not even touching him and he will squirt water in my direction.:confused:

Is this a good sign or bad?
Is he mad or not?

I probably have some spelling errors, but this is not and english class.....I hope.:wink:
Just to let you know I worship you guys:notworth:
 
There is probably nothing wrong with you or him, he's just showing his personality, when he pulls your hand in, he is probably just examining it, as for spitting water at you, a little while ago, there was a girl who made a post about her octo that had just died and a little memory, and it said, and I dont remember exactly, that whenever somone walked by the tank, the octo would spit crab guts at them, it also spat crab guts at the wall over night, and it wouldnt let anyone touch it except her dad, so, your octo probably just has some atitude, try floating some pills for ADHD in the tank, it might calm him down...Just kidding:wink:
 
Hi lemon2

it could be that he's trying to get your attention! We had one who used to squirt staff as they passed his tank (if the doors were open) especially if they'd forgotten to play tugs with him that morning!


But if he does it when you are interacting with him, he is possibly irritated. Always let him approach you and make sure your hands are wet (our skin is too warm really for an octopus and may injure their skin). It may pay you to stop handling him and give him some "toys" to play with mollusc shells, lego bricks, fishing floats/lures (minus the hooks!) air filled bottles have all been used.

good luck!

Jean
 
Hehehehe! I got to watch the GPO at the Dallas World Aquarium get his lunch one day. I walked off and about 10 minutes later I saw some women standing in front of the tank, and WHAM! Fish guts splat on the glass. Awesome.

I pulled my little Einy out one day (den and all) and looked in the shell and he shot me right in the face. Pretty good blast too, just like a water gun.
 
...

i'm new to having octo's. i just got mine last week. when i took him out of the bag and began acclimating him he shot water at me and he did it like 3 times.
 
i've read about octos that shoot at their people to get food, especially when the octo was fed at a specific time and the food was running late. i've never touched mine with my hand, and none of them ever squirted at me, but it must vary betwwen personalities.
 

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