Sleipner doing better

[DHyslop]

We came home from work today and as soon as he saw us come in the room Sleipner lept off a rock and swam to the glass to meet us like a lonely puppy. When we put our hands in he reached out to them with his arms and was happy to entertain us with a little tug of war session.

I picked up an Oregon crab that seemed very recently deceased and slipped it into his arms. He engulfed it and is happily munching on it as I type.

While we've seen a bit more of him over the past week as he switches dens more often and will once and a while be out on the rock or glass, but this is the first social behavior he's shown since a couple days after arriving. I know he's been eating snails over the past few days as I did a detailed shell inventory, and while searching the tank for him yesterday I saw an arm reach out of a hole and drop an empty shell onto the sand below.

Here's a picture I took the other day. He's got two little knobs on the "forehead" of his mantle above his eyes.

 

[Animal Mother]

That's great news! Glad he's finally come around.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Awwww, what a cutie! So glad he's interacting with you.

 

[Nancy]

So pleased that he's doing better. Some bimacs are more shy and take longer to interact, but Sleipner seems to be coming around. Nic pic!

Nancy

 

[sorseress]

He sure took his time about it, but I'm so glad he's finally eating and deciding to be friends. Whew! We can celebrate now.

 

[Donnerboy]

Sleipner?

Dear Space Pope,

Are you a norse mythology fan?

 

[Donnerboy]

Norse fan...

Because with a name like that...

Here is something for fans of the Norse gods: The game the Age of Mythology. I had put it in another thread on symbolism, but in the game you can be the vikings and use the Norse gods in your wars on other cultures like the Greeks and the Egyptians. As a viking, you can summon the Kraken and it will grab ships crack them open like a tasty mollusk and drag them under.

 

[DHyslop]

Donner,

Its my wife who's the Norwegian. She gave up quite the Norse name when we were married.

I've played a bit of Age of Empires but never tried Age of Mythology. Is that the game's premise that you can harness your group's mythos and use it against your enemies?

 

[Blueschist]

I read D'Aulaire's Norse mythology as a kid, I'm glad to hear someone else is a fan! I didn't give up my name, I just moved it to the middle. In Norwegian, Valaas means "whale hill" -it's worth keeping.

Enough of my Nordic aside, I am happy Sleipner is being much more social. I came home on Thursday and he was chasing down a fiddler which did get away but he came right up to the glass to look at me and we interacted for some time before he wandered off again. I look forward to some more tug of war, too.

 

[DWhatley]

Dan,
PLEASE keep posting your progress/failures with Sleipner. It is the darndest thing but Trapper seems to be following Sleipner by about 2 weeks. I keep thinking Trap is a pygmy and I KNOW he is not bimac but now have some hope that he is juvenile because of this strange parallel (they even look a lot alike in spite of the known difference and the fact that Trap is very nocturnal). Thanks for all the posts!

 

[Tintenfisch]

I got D'Aulaires Norse Mythology for Christmas this year and finished it yesterday! Small world. Especially with the last names - mine is actually a small settlement near Voss.

But more relevant to this thread, I just wanted to add encouragement from the non-owner faction - following Sleipner's progress has been very interesting for us too, so yes, please keep posting your experiences!

 

[Donnerboy]

Of course!

I just remembered...

Didn't the Sleipner horse have eight legs?

Clever... It ranges on the edge of lexifanacism, but then so do I. My dog is named Donner, and not after the reindeer, but what the reindeer is named after.

 

[monty]

I just remembered...

Didn't the Sleipner horse have eight legs?

Clever... It ranges on the edge of lexifanacism, but then so do I. My dog is named Donner, and not after the reindeer, but what the reindeer is named after.

I have no idea what "lexifanacism" means except from context, but google doesn't seem to either, which makes me feel a bit better... so, um, ???

Does it mean "obsession with Norse myths" or something?

 

[DHyslop]

Bad luck

Sleipner expired sometime this afternoon.

We're disappointed because it seemed like he was starting to be a bit more social with us, but I suppose the signs were still there: he wasn't eating much, occasional snails and a crab about two or three weeks ago. He still had that bumpy, underfed shape to him and he clearly hadn't grown much in our custody. As always the tank water is pristine.

This time we're in a bit better financial position, so we won't hesitate to try Sleipner II if Z still has some available. Otherwise we're sure Baby A will lay some more eggs this Saturday!

Dan

 

[cuttlegirl]

I was soo hoping that Sleipner was going to make it. So sorry to hear...