Thomas has stopped eating

[Black96WS6]

Hey gang,

Thomas is no longer accepting food. He hasn't taken any food the last few days. He just drops any shrimp placed on his tentacles.

This morning I went down and got some live hermit crabs and 1 shore crab. He used to love hermit crabs, now when I place them on his tentacles, he just lets them fall to the bottom of the tank.

I practically forced him to take the shore crab, I waited for him to check it out with a tentacle then moved it all around like it was struggling, which seemed to pique his interest. He did throw a few more tentacles around it, and pulled it into his den, however whether he'll actually eat it or not, I have no idea.

He's been active and out and about the last couple of weeks, his activity has actually increased a little during that time. He also seems to be getting thinner/shrinking.

So I guess I'll just keep trying to feed him until the end and enjoy him/her as much as I can!

 

[corw314]

Have you noticed "denning" behavior? How's your water quality? Seems to me you've had Thomas quite awhile so it could just be sensenance unfortunately. My thoughts on water quality is I think it was Inklet used to get extremely active, hanging by the waterline and always there was a water issue starting that would clear by a waterchange. He was the only one that would try to get my attention when something was going wrong. Just a thought. Good luck!

Carol

 

[Black96WS6]

Well Thomas definitely didn't eat the shore crab! After he came out again, I went back behind the couch and looked sideways through the tank and can see the crab just sitting there (obviously dead).

Otherwise he's perfectly normal, he comes out, crawls over the rocks, takes his time to put his tentacles in all the nooks and crannies just like he's searching for food, but instead of grabbing a hermit or shrimp or snail, he just moves on the next rock and then heads back to his den!

 

[Nancy]

Sorry to hear about Thomas. Keep trying, he might accept something yet.

The rest of you might like to know: Thomas is one of our longest lived captive bred bimacs (actually, he's one of our longest-lived bimacs). Not many make it longer than 10 or 10 1/2 months in our tanks. You become very fond of your octopus during that period of time.

I suspect he's not a female, or you would have seen eggs, fertile or not, by now.

Nancy

 

[Black96WS6]

Thomas is hanging out sleeping at the back of the tank right now, I was able to look sideways thru the tank and noticed the shore crab is gone, and Thomas definitely didn't eat it.

Couple that with these strange clicking/cracking sounds coming from the back corner of the tank, I think the Mantis Shrimp has taken the left-overs and dragged it back to his hole.

I can hear him right now trying to crack that shell: *CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*. Definitely a clubber, not a spearer. Well at least someone is enjoying the crabs I put in there

The tank is acrylic and the glass is THICK (since it's a tall aquarium) so I'm not too worried about him breaking out.

I think you're right Nancy, Thomas is probably a male, I guessed right! Otherwise "she" would have done the usual "denning" behavior where all of sudden you hardly see "her" and "she" stops eating, then later you see "her" again and "she" may or may not eat afterwards. He's always been around and never gone into hiding.

I wish OctoPets was still around, I don't know what I'm going to do with the tank when Thomas is gone

 

[bobwonderbuns]

Our hearts are with you blackie!! It's always sad to hear about an octo in this condition. We're with you!

 

[bobwonderbuns]

Hey Blackie, what's the news?