[Octopus]: Shelby - O. Hummelincki

I've seen this kind of walk with other hummelincks but have not caught it on video. I am not sure Shelby is only using two arms but he definitely is walking upright without the assist of the live rock for part of the video. @mucktopus ?

 
Shelby had started to recognize the "play" corner and accept my fingers when I had to leave for a week to stay with my dad (valve replacement procedure went very well but he was not allowed to drive for a week). On my return, Shelby wanted nothing to do with me for weeks. Fortunately, something changed his mind in the last couple of days and he has again started to go to the corner and shown interest in exploring my fingers

 
Now that he is returning nightly to our "play corner" (he was totally avoiding the corner after I came home), Shelby is showing interest in being "petted". We have seen that several species seem encourage a light stroke between the eyes or on the front of the webbing. Not shown in the video, is an earlier contact where he placed himself under my finger and rubbed the front of his webbing against it. It is not clear if there is a "friendly" attachment or if their skin itches and a gentle rub acts as a scratching post (the later may be more the case as it seems to be more common in older animals). Why they seem to enjoy the interaction is not clear but establishing trust is required and takes a lot of patience and daily reinforcement.

 
Shelby is back to being antisocial :roll: but he did take an interest in the new clams I placed in his tank. These are larger than I like to get and very difficult for him to open. So far he has managed to open one after several days of trying but did not eat it. This is the second one that caught his interest and he spent a lot of time with it today but never opened it.
eatingClam_02.JPG EatingClam_01.JPG
 
Shelby presents all kinds of color variations all the time. With other hummelinckies the color changing stops once they have become accustomed to the tank and they stay a rather boring brown. Not so with Shelby. I would like to get a shot of him in his all white with bright eye spot but this means he is mad and I usually don't have the camera out when he decides to be pissed off.
 
Unreadable as ever. For almost a week he would come up to the play corner when he would see me. When I put my hand in the tank he would let me pet him and sometimes even come up and rub on my finger. The next week (ie THIS week), he stays on the side of the tank and wants nothing to do with me. I tried to get a video of him voluntarily rubbing on my finger but he has been in his, leave me alone, mode ever since I made the attempt. I don't think the camera is at fault for the behavior shifts but am not totally ruling it out.

He is eating slightly less and is getting picky. Now I have to offer a live crab every other day. After he catches and eats the crab, he will also take a small piece of shrimp. If the shrimp is offered first, he pushes it away. On the day after the live crab feast, he will take half a medium shrimp with gusto.
 
LOL, of course the day after I say he is being awkward, he goes to his play corner and wants to be petted. As I have mentioned many times, I think this behavior has something to do with "itchy" skin and sucker pad shedding. I never see it in juveniles but frequently see adults seeming to enjoy rubbing or sitting on hands. During Shelby's last (before today) interaction, he had partially shed some of his sucker linings and did not flee from my finger when I touched the suckers that still had part of the lining attached. Slight sucker pressure on my fingers completed the removal of the dead skin. I have seen two of the O. briareus use the Koralias to accomplish sucker skin removal but don't remember others that were quite as clear as Shelby's use of my finger to groom.
 

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