[Octopus]: Sylvester

[meekerz]

Sylvester vs Superman 2: Making friends?
The first 15 seconds feels likes something Hank from Finding Dory would totally do.
It's a bit long, and nothing exciting after that, just Vester eating. He does change colors (30 sec mark) and tries to dig (1 min mark)- I think someone approached the tank to watch. But that first 15 seconds just makes me smile.

 

[DWhatley]

Too funny and precious. NatGeo is looking for octopus stories and I forwarded a link to this video to the journalist doing research. I am not sure what type of material he is looking for (hopefully not jar opening tricks) but this is too cute and Disney timely not to mention. I'll let you know if he gets back to me requesting permission to use the clip.

Your "clam" looks more like a scallop to me but I am not well versed in mollusks. It may have been slow to close when you first acquired it because it was kept on ice.

 

[meekerz]

Thanks!

Definitely a local clam. We cooked some. They are priced differently too (about 1/3 price of scallops). They weren't on ice when I bought them tho, the vendor had them in shallow water. But then again you have a point, they may have been in ice prior to getting displayed in the market.

Just sharing, our local (Philippine) scallops look like this. (Card for size reference)

 

[meekerz]

Screenshot from above video.



"Supes? Yeah, I know him. We're buddies!"

 

[meekerz]

I don't know why it took me this long to realize that Sylvester seems to have a pretty BIG appetite. I caught him last night eating one of the big turbo snails (unfortunately, I didn't see him hunting, just saw the chewing bit). And I had just fed him a pretty big piece of shrimp yesterday morning.

And then I remember there are now 3 eaten clams, and another 3 snails, a possible missing pistol shrimp, and 2 semi eaten shrimps. Um yeah. Food slave needs to be whipped into shape.

But it's good that he's hunting, right?

 

[DWhatley]

Eating is always good but, overeating is often a prebrood sign or a sign of stress. Let's hope for the later as it will subside once he/she is convinced that food will be provided.

 

[meekerz]

I hope it isn't too much stress

He dislikes water changes a lot. I've noticed he would hide for 2-3 days following a water change. He'd still hunts and would accept food, but just doesn't like to be seen.

 

[meekerz]

Pokemon master wannabe attempting to catch an Octillery

 

[meekerz]

I finally caught an Octillery! *Pokemon master!*

Okay, I'm having way too much fun with Sylvester

 

[tonmo]

- posted to Facebook:
TONMO.com: The Octopus News Magazine Online - Timeline | Facebook

and tweeted:
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[meekerz]

I added two Nassarius snails yesterday. Sylvester promptly ate one, and I found the empty shell of the second one this morning. I'm now inclined to think this is a favorite munchy (rather than stress eating) as all the other snails and clams are all still alive and well.

 

[meekerz]

Sylvester died today

A freak accident I think. He got stuck in/under the pot he uses as a den. He likes digging a lot, and I'm assuming he was digging around, and the sand may have shifted and collapsed the pot and rocks around it. He was still extremely active Monday, but was missing Tuesday. He tended to have one or two days in hiding, so I didn't think too much of it. When he didn't come out for breakfast today, we knew something was wrong What a horrible end to such an amazing guy.

 

[meekerz]

28cm from top of mantle to longest arm.

 

[DWhatley]

Cause of death is always difficult to determine when an octopus is still eating regularly. Sometimes senescence is clear for several heart wrenching weeks and sometimes symptoms are not obvious but there seems to be no other explanation. It would be very unusual for a healthy animal to become trapped but we have a few reports where this is the suspected cause of death.

 

[meekerz]

My other theory is stress from the water change. We did a water change last weekend, and he hates that. But he still ate those snails (and deposited the shell right smack in the middle of the tank again) after the water change, so I'm thinking it couldn't have been that bad.