4-21-09
temp= 59F
pH= 7.2 (double checked!)
"Sedna's Center for Senescent Cephs" proudly welcomes new resident, Osgood. I got her from Tom"s Caribbean, she arrived in good condition but cold, and with 10 hermit crabs as a bonus! At first I thought she was dead, but she was just very cold. Then I realized she was HUGE, like "full-grown-and-near-death-old-age" huge. I placed a heating pad under the bucket as I acclimated- keeping very close attention to not boil her, and it still took over an hour to bring the temp up to 64F. At that point she began to "wake up" and began siphoning in the bucket- I'm glad the lid screws on tight and that I didn't drill a hole larger than the H2O drip tubing.
After 3 1/2 hours the water was within a few degrees of the tank but as warm as it'd get without a heater, and the pH only had to go up to 7.8 to match. Then I had to get her out... the best container I had (she certainly couldn't fit in the measly barnacle I first tried) was a coffee mug that is too big to drink from comfortably. After some gentle cajoling, she went into the mug and I plopped her into the tank as gracefully as I could. She hasn't been out of the mug since (that I've seen). At least there was no inking- I can only imagine what a mess an octo this size makes!
At first I was amazed to find her alive each day- she's that big and so I assume OLD. After the first few days, I began to worry that she hadn't explored out of the mug, there are much more suitable chunks of live rock in more secluded areas. I thought about trying to coax her out of the mug or rearrange the landscape around her. She doesn't seem very sociable, but then I realized that she's got a great view of the room where she is, and she can retreat all the way into the mug to hide when she wants. She can grab any shell in the front of the tank without leaving the mug (I have actually seen her move around a bit WITH the mug, but not out of it) and she rearranges the shells in front of the mug daily, sometimes repeatedly throughout the day.
She has only eaten the crabs Tom sent along, and not all of them, (although sometimes she arranges them and they sit all day until the red light comes on- I think afraid to move in fear of being eaten). I have offered her shrimp on a stick, she pushed it away with her arm. I tried again, and enveloped the shrimp and literally threw it out of her den! I gave her a mussel and found it rearranged with her shell collection, finally removed it after 2 days.
I have "day lights" on for 8 hrs and red for the rest of the day. During the lightest part of the day she is mostly in the mug, and mostly out of the mug during the red lights period. She is very shy and so far hides when I'm working in the tank. She is still fun to watch- my husband thinks she's the best octo so far despite the fact that she's probably very old. Her daily "shell show" is cool, and I'm happy just knowing she peeking at me from across the room. If physical contact isn't her thing, so be it!
temp= 59F
pH= 7.2 (double checked!)
"Sedna's Center for Senescent Cephs" proudly welcomes new resident, Osgood. I got her from Tom"s Caribbean, she arrived in good condition but cold, and with 10 hermit crabs as a bonus! At first I thought she was dead, but she was just very cold. Then I realized she was HUGE, like "full-grown-and-near-death-old-age" huge. I placed a heating pad under the bucket as I acclimated- keeping very close attention to not boil her, and it still took over an hour to bring the temp up to 64F. At that point she began to "wake up" and began siphoning in the bucket- I'm glad the lid screws on tight and that I didn't drill a hole larger than the H2O drip tubing.
After 3 1/2 hours the water was within a few degrees of the tank but as warm as it'd get without a heater, and the pH only had to go up to 7.8 to match. Then I had to get her out... the best container I had (she certainly couldn't fit in the measly barnacle I first tried) was a coffee mug that is too big to drink from comfortably. After some gentle cajoling, she went into the mug and I plopped her into the tank as gracefully as I could. She hasn't been out of the mug since (that I've seen). At least there was no inking- I can only imagine what a mess an octo this size makes!
At first I was amazed to find her alive each day- she's that big and so I assume OLD. After the first few days, I began to worry that she hadn't explored out of the mug, there are much more suitable chunks of live rock in more secluded areas. I thought about trying to coax her out of the mug or rearrange the landscape around her. She doesn't seem very sociable, but then I realized that she's got a great view of the room where she is, and she can retreat all the way into the mug to hide when she wants. She can grab any shell in the front of the tank without leaving the mug (I have actually seen her move around a bit WITH the mug, but not out of it) and she rearranges the shells in front of the mug daily, sometimes repeatedly throughout the day.
She has only eaten the crabs Tom sent along, and not all of them, (although sometimes she arranges them and they sit all day until the red light comes on- I think afraid to move in fear of being eaten). I have offered her shrimp on a stick, she pushed it away with her arm. I tried again, and enveloped the shrimp and literally threw it out of her den! I gave her a mussel and found it rearranged with her shell collection, finally removed it after 2 days.
I have "day lights" on for 8 hrs and red for the rest of the day. During the lightest part of the day she is mostly in the mug, and mostly out of the mug during the red lights period. She is very shy and so far hides when I'm working in the tank. She is still fun to watch- my husband thinks she's the best octo so far despite the fact that she's probably very old. Her daily "shell show" is cool, and I'm happy just knowing she peeking at me from across the room. If physical contact isn't her thing, so be it!
No clue what this means.
