Ollie - New O. briareus

[DWhatley]

Yes, watch the video more closely, definite poop 39 seconds in.

Dad gum that looks so familiar to the area where I grew up so I would have guessed NY or PA but I see that you are in IL. All similar in heritage I suspect. I too, remember sleeping in the livingroom while we were renovating our first house and is why I insisted we would not redo the second (so, OK, we added a bedroom in the basement and enclosed the porch but the main living area was not molested). When my son first married, he lived here while we were still constructing but at least the main bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining area were not part of the effort. We finally said NO MORE ROOMS and had the outside stuccoed but now it needs a roof and new drive way and I would really love Corian counters and New cabinets ... You are right it never ends.

 

[Lmecher]

We remodeled the kitchen 3 years ago, seems like yesterday. We were hanging cabinets when it was 100+ degrees with no air conditioning. I had a dungeon kitchen for so many years, it was ugly, cold and drafty and impossible to cook in. I was rewarded with an upscale kitchen. I have soapstone counters, a slate topped island w/2nd prep sink, big windows, 3 skylites, a dishwasher ( my very first) my own computer and my baby a Viking range which I love, love, love. I guess my favorite things are my tanks though. I have my 50 on top of an antique oak ice box, it is really the focal point of my kitchen. I needed it to be my space, I spend 90 percent of my time in here.
I am completely worn out from shampooing my carpets, we have 3 levels plus furniture ugh, I think the chemicals have leached out what little energy I had left.
Do to the condition of my hands, my daughter prepared Ollies dinner tonight. She handled and fed him. He was denned up so I had her hold it close. She was a little too close, we only got to see one arm tip and that was enough to snatch the shrimp and it was over. Poor Sam, she felt bad but I assured her she can keep trying until we get him to come out. I think I like someone else to do the luring and I can take a picture, too hard when I am trying to do both. I have a new cover for my tank. It is made of lexon, a very thick plexiglass. I have an access door now, YEAH. My husband didn't exactly follow my directions, as usual, he never listens to me so I should have expected him to make it how he wanted to. I don't care for the anit-warp supports he added, think they look silly. I guess I don't have to go on, I am sure you have the same problems occasionally. I will post a photo tomorrow, too dark now. The one good thing is the screw down door, it is very secure which is the most important thing.
I am in the city of Chicago. I am on the far NW side a neighborhood called Old Norwood Park. It has charm, lots of old houses on big lots, it is triple the size lot and house I grew up in and ha ha, taxes to go along with it. It has a suburban feel. Oh and why we chose to live here is it is a wonderful place to raise kids, good schools and IMO relatively safe, although I never feel they are safe enough unless I can see them but we have to let go at some point. It's hard isn't it?

 

[Lmecher]

New tank cover is working out wonderfully.
Love the material, no warping means no gaps, I am feeling so much safer. Here are a couple shots.

Access door w/screw down lock.

D- I saw the elimination, thanks, now I will know what to look for.
I have read they will shed their suckers, Ollie was cleaning his den the other day, shooting sand out in spurts. There were little round disks floating around, I assume these were the shed suckers, am I correct?

 

[DWhatley]

You got it! I have not looked in the camera yet but I tried to get a picture of KaySoh rubbing her arms on the Koralia to remove the shed. I was very much impressed by what she had figured out to do. I am not sure how clear it will be on the video but I will post is sometime this week if it comes out. I wish I could have convinced Neal to put on the braces. He insisted the plexi was thick enough not to need it but it is not.

 

[Lmecher]

That is the only part of the cover I hate. I wanted the braces underneath and I dislike the holes. I am going to have him make air circulation holes in the removable door but we are in the midst of several remodel projects. Relatives from GA will be here Saturday so we are in a time crunch.
Would love to see that video when you make it

 

[DWhatley]

From whereabouts in these parts come y'all's relatives (note my location) that require carpet cleaning and bathroom fixin' ?

 

[Lmecher]

From whereabouts in these parts come y'all's relatives (note my location) that require carpet cleaning and bathroom fixin' ?

They are from Roswell GA. oh yeah, I see you are in GA as well. My brother in law is a big deal, he works at the White House in DC. The cleaning and bathroom work needed to be done other wise I'd have 10 people using my bathroom and dirty carpets.
I am not out to impress, although that would be pretty hard, they're house is unbelievable, just want to get a few thing fixed, up and running to accomodate the masses and to make me feel better.
Now if I could just find time to go Christmas shopping....

 

[sorseress]

When we lived near DC I knew lots of people who worked at the White HOuse for various administrations. Some of them may be impressed with themselves, but believe me, they are just like any one else. The ones who are too impressed with themselves need to be taken down a notch, and the rest of them are not going to be put off by a less than perfect house. I've been in some of theirs that are considerably less than perfect. Don't worry about it.

 

[Lmecher]

It's been a long time since I posted so here is an update. Ollie is still very shy. I can lure him out with a shrimp but he has prefected the snatch and grab, some days I only get to see an arm or two. He has a good appetite, he eats a chunck of raw shrimp every day with a fiddler now and then. I was rather sad when my daughter (home from college) informed me how Ollie was out slithering all over the rockwork and on the glass for quite a while at 2:00 am one morning. I was mad that she didn't wake me up. It has been near impossible to photograph him. I stuck a shrimp on a zip tie attached to a ping pong ball tonight in the hope he will come out for it. He came out, saw me, I snapped this picture and he went back in. All in all everything is going just fine.
I have several peppermint shrimp in Ollies tank, the other night, we had an event. There were hundreds of itsy bitsy baby shrimps. I shined a flashlight on them and my daughter took a video, it was quite a sight. However....when the other shrimp saw them they went to town and feasted. I have never had them spawn in a tank before, pretty cool. I will try and put up the video buit need to learn how first. (my daughter was supposed to put it on youtube for me but you know how busy kids are these days) I will try to post a link soon.
Here is Ollie this evening~

 

[Lmecher]

Okay, I am trying to post the shrimp video via photobucket, hope it works. Warning....I just for the first time watched it with sound YIKES. You forget the camera records sound. Disregard the TV, barking dog and us talking.

 

[DWhatley]

I have only seen one peppermint shrimp spawn too. I caught a few but they did not survive and the ones in the tank became food for the mandarins (non-ceph tank). I only have one pep in there now and your video reminded me that I want another because the fry do provided occassional food for Harry (Dini, his mate died a year or so ago).

I wish I had some suggestions on how to change their time reference but mine are pretty nocturnal as well. KaySoh has stopped eating and rearranges the tank at night so I suspect she will be laying infertile eggs soon. Creepy has shown up slightly more willingly these last couple of days but is still pretty much a ghost animal and Puddle (not briareus) ONLY comes out between 3:00 and 7:00 AM. At least Sleazy (nocturnal dwarf) finally made an appearance and has taken residence in a barnacle, likely to brood though.

 

[Lmecher]

Just as soon as I finished posting, I saw Ollie out exploring for the first time. I grabbed my camera and here is what I got.
You can finally see he is definately a he.

I decided to remove the shrimp from the ping pong ball and feed him~

Back into his den~

 

[DWhatley]

I'm glad you are starting to see more of him! Hopefully you will get to watch him move around on the glass soon. Their motions are so slow and graceful that I classify them as the prettiest of the octs I have kept.

 

[Lmecher]

I have a stupid question but I have to ask. What is the front of an octopuses head, the eye side or the mantle side? Just the other day someone said Ollie looks like an old man with a huge nose and it got me thinking. Ok, yeah, I am kind of dumb but don't hold it against me, at least I am trying to find answers LOL

 

[DWhatley]

The mantle is not the head at all but is the body (where all the organs are housed). The actual head is from the eyes to the mouth. In essence, it would be like having your head between your stomach and legs.

I have seen references to a "neck" but am not sure if the term is a translation effect or if some part is actually considered a neck structure. In their cousins the term, long necked clam, refers to the siphon.