[Octopus]: Wink - Octopus Digueti

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Just cleaned out the Fiddler crab tank and 2 males left. I tried to take off part of his claw, and he shed it. :rolleyes:

I grabbed 3 legs and tried to hand feed her, BOOM! she snatched him right up and my finger to. Scared the freaking crap out of me how fast she did it. I squealed like a stuck pig. My heart is still racing. My Husband spit Mt. dew out his nose, and is still laughing at me. :oops:

Holy crap is she strong! I knew they were strong but the way she grabbed my finger to and pulled, I did not expect that.

I'm actually going back out to find a thicker piece of plexi glass to fit for on the top. I have a nice size piece on there now that blocks her to the front, but It's not the thickest piece I can get. It was all they had in when I stopped the last time so I settled for it. I'm just picturing her flexing those muscles and saying "Watch this!" as she pushes her way out with that piece of plexiglass.

I bought, cut, and placed more coarse carbon sponges in the back to. I get the nice water flow I want, but she can't slip into the back to get sucked into the pumps as easily. I've got them fitted in there good.
 
:roflmao:Even when you expect it, a quick grab makes it very hard not to jump. Too bad your husband was not filming but the mental image with the soda gets a big grin :wink:
 
She took another fiddler tonight from my fingers. I was expecting her quick snatch and grab this time. I had to go out and grab some fiddlers from the LFS because I was down to 2 fiddlers. I picked up 7 more for $4.99 each. But their just to tide me over till my order arrives from Paul Sachs. The one I gave her today was a large one. They only had males, and yes he shed his claw when I tried to disable it.

She has been still patiently sitting at the entrance to her den, although I moved her den so she is facing me kind of. Our big screen TV is across from her tank and I'm wondering with all the activity if it's not spooking her to stay inside. So I am experimenting a little to see if she starts to explore.

I've been puting my hands in the tank on and off, removing shells legs, pretending to and her curiosity is getting bigger. She spits the leftovers over her front porch (ledge) onto the substrate, but sometimes the legs get caught up on the ledge. So I take those out last, and when I do, I do it slow. I got a touch tonight doing it, but I think it was more like her flicking me off like she does the blue legs. But I'm not complaing it's a start, and I have to earn her trust just like she has to earn mine.

Is there a page on specie bites? Which specie rarely bites vs one to be extremely careful with. More so then normal caution.
 
We just happen to have :biggrin2: a thread recording octopus bites. This is not by species and not an instruction manual for what to do but you will find it, at worst, entertaining. Be sure to read the airplane adventure by Neogonodactylus (envision a remake of the movie Airplane while reading for the best effect). Bites are rare and different species have a different toxins. As far as we know ALL octopuses and likely most cephalopods have some kind of toxin but not necessarily one that is delivered by bite. Only two (and there is some proof needed with one of them) delivered by bite (and by consumption) are a known lethal danger to humans. However, most are not fully tested. Any can react differently on different people (like bee stings). As you will note in the bites thread, when toxin is delivered (it may not be delivered with all bites), the bitten is usually aware of it for more than a day and it is painful.

I have anthropomorphically determined that octopuses do not like their dens moved or messed with. That being said, it does seem that they are more active after a rearrangement or tank transfer, seem a bit bolder and none the worse for wear. I have wondered, but not experimented with to observe, if moving things around in the tank might actually be an enrichment if only minor pieces were moved once a month.
 
Thanks very much. It was a very informative and great read. I'm going to keep it handy for a "Just in case."

I'm not allergic to shellfish, but am allergic to Bee stings and recently discovered a allergic reaction to Anemone Stings. My left hand while cleaning the tank I bumped a 4" Mini Carpet Anemone. It gave me hives, itchy, trouble breathing, severe burning sensation for weeks. I felt bad, but had to return my rock Anemone and Mini Carpet. I have not yet been bitten by her, but will try to avoid it at all costs yet be prepared for if and when it does happen.
 
I knew she was coming out on her own when I wasn't in the room when the lights were down, I just couldn't catch her. I've been anticipating it since the night I brought her home. Those first couple of days was awesome she was very nervously curious, but mainly because of the new environment in my opinion. I haven't seen her come out since that first week. I know she is an adult ( seems to have gotten bigger I think comparing photos ) and wasn't expecting much more then a month or so more with her. I stay up till wee hours of the morning watching her and the past few days I've had flu like symptoms and have been going to bed a tad earlier around 2-3 am. I had stuck an unused clean pink plastic ring in there when I originally moved her into the bigger tank. It supposed to be used on a build your own bird toy. I have about 10 of them various colors, but figured to plop just a pink one in for her just to see if she was curious or would play with it.

The red photos are from the previous night. I use this as a cover at nighttime, but during the day I take it off for feeding and cleaning. (fiddler body parts, blue leg shells, ect) I'm mainly using them for size and activity comparison. I think she has gotten bigger, but this is what I see on a daily/nightly basis with her. She does come to the very front of the den much closer and the majority of the time now. She used to squeeze her little body all the way up inside so that all I could see was barely her eye and an arm up over. Now it's right against the den door.



She has been eating 1 fiddler a day now. Still refusing shrimp, going to try a different store today to get some fresher shrimp to chop up. I just want to make sure she's getting enough to eat. DWhatley you told me before that there was more meat on the shrimp pieces then the fiddler, but she doesn't seem to want to eat the shrimp now so I don't want to deny her any nutrients. I even try to fake her out and wiggle it. But she just bites at the shrimp like a dog does a stuffed toy, then spits it out once it stops moving. She really likes the live fiddlers. lol








I took a photo of the pink ring from 3 different angles so no one can argue that I just stuck it in the hole. You can see her suckers are really
stuck to it.

Isn't this one of the first signs of brooding? Blocking the den door?
 
Crabs are a good food but do try a small (tiny) piece of shrimp from time to time (SOMETIMES shell on makes a difference but since she has eaten it shell off, probably not). It is common for octopuses to keep a door even when not brooding. My mercs did not block their dens but many of my other species did. The female mercs (the only dwarf I have kept) did not go on the scavenger hunt that my larger females did (gathering small AND large rocks) to make their brood den. However, each animal is somewhat different. Some behaviors are an Ahhh HA, this is about to happen but you will not see them in every case. You mentioned reangling the rock so you could see her better. The new angle may allow more light into the den and she may be trying to block it. If you have some empty snail shells (or bits of light weight rubble), try placing them on the substrate in a pile in the front of the tank and see if she picks one as a door or gathers all of them to her den. In my best guess, if she takes one, she is just blocking light but if she takes all of them, she may be close to brooding.

I believe this may be a large egg species and she was likely old enough to have mated so you may have a unique opportunity to attempt raising hatchlings if she broods soon.
 
I've been leaving the Red hood on except at feeding time for about an hour. I just tugged at the pink ring a bit to ease a piece of shrimp inside. She took it and released the ring. But I left it on her ledge so she could pick it back up again. Gonna try one more piece and then try to give her the ring back. Will keep u posted.
 
So tonight I was cleaning her tank up from fiddler legs (darn things hide everywhere :hmm:), scraping purple & green algae off her glass, adding a power head back in there for flow, and doing a 5 gallon water change. She watches me as usual o_O, but doesn't come out of her den. The Jaws theme kept playing in my head as I was cleaning the tank. :sink: I couldn't get the story out of my mind when you said one of yours used to sneak up on you when cleaning and I kept stopping every few min to look to make sure she was still in her den. (I'm a BIG WUSS even though I want that touch and go action and more curiosity)

Looking back Wink seemed pretty interested in the pink ring the other day so I figured I'd toss a few more in there for some movement. Mainly to see if they would get her attention and maybe a reaction of some sort. I'm including a series of photos that I had Mathew take as I wanted some decent close ups and my videos kind of turn out crappy on my iPhone 4 I think. The camera is even worse on my iPad 4 which I find kind of odd.
Mathew was also taking the photos so I could be more prepared for another scare. :cephdevil:

So with the power head and the rings floating pretty good and just spiraling around the tank with the water flow.



They really got her attention. After about 10 min she was going a little crazy. Arms going in and out of the holes again, and I decided to see if she would play. So I grabbed an orange one and stuck it near the den. Yup she wanted it hence the cool touch and go photos! This went on for about 5 min, we kind of played tug of war. She kept touching me, and I'd wiggle it a little, she'd pull it tight against the den door, and I'd wiggle it again, then she'd touch my finger again. It was definitely a very cool interaction with her tonight. I didn't see her cloud over color change while doing this. She was inside her den and I didn't want to stress her out so I stopped. I'm gonna try it each feeding to wiggle and try to get some interaction with her. I might put a zip tie on a plastic ice cube (like DWhatley did) and one of the rings to see if I can get a little action there as well.


Sorry for posting so many, but I couldn't resist and I love photos.
















 
What do the rings "feel" like? Are they are hard rubber feel, soft rubber or more like hard plastic? There may be something to the texture that is important that we have overlooked when trying to identify toys. Wink seems to repeatedly take an interest in this item so recording more detail may be helpful in the future.

I can't wait 'til you keep one that soaks you :sagrin:. That will be another very interesting journal!
 
These are a smooth hard plastic ring. She can really grip them! I've been kind of playing tug of war with her again. I just wiggle it or push it a tad to the side and arms galore touch and go. I can't remember exactly where I purchased them though. (scratches head)

I also bought some Seashells 2 Conch and 2 Clam shells that I'm cycling now and going to put in there later. I don't have any spare LR pieces to toss in there, as they all have corals on them. I'm avoiding any stings or harming her in any way. I'm going to trade them for some LR pieces the next time I go to our LFS that is about 1 1/2 hours away. So when I get up there I'm gonna be scouring their tanks for some great pieces. I plan on attaching a bunch of pieces to make one big formation in that tank. I'm gonna keep the RSM the main Octo tank and keep the white one set up in case of some sort of emergency or if my husband gets his way as a 2nd Octo tank.

Interesting a soaking Octopus? Wet T-shirt contest! (not meant to be dirty but funny) I was actually squirted by a puffer when I was a young girl. It was the only fish in the tank and would follow their fingers and come to the top and eat right from our hands. I used to go there on a daily basis after school and watch and help feed it. One day it discovered it could spit water. Imagine me peering over the side with a piece of food hand feeding and pow right in the kisser. I laughed the whole way home. (feeling old right now :old:)

What other Octos could I house in a 36/38? I've admired Briareus, East Red Pacific, Hummelincki, but think my tank is too small for those. I would love one that is diurnal, but am happy with my nocturnal Wink. She's my late night can't sleep for crap so we catch up on TV shows buddy.
 
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The fiddlers got a new rock/food bowl for their tank to. I'm worried as they like to bury themselves. Do you think it's too big? It's hollow, but I'm worried they might drown or get stuck. I'm gonna remove it clean it and refill the food daily, and make sure no dead fiddlers are in there. Believe it or not there are 20 fiddlers in that tank. Very good at burying and hiding.

 
I like that rock a lot for a fiddler tank and may have to look for something similar. I would not worry about them getting suck but I would remove the pebble substrate. Just the rock and water up to the feed bowl line should make it easier to keep clean, easier to find the fiddlers and easier to give them food. Just keep the tall part away from any tank sides or you will be running after them in the house.

LOVE the idea of a wet t-shirt contest. Will have to think about a t-shirt design around the thought.
 
I keep the lid on except when cleaning, feeding, or sacrificing. LoL

She refused Shrimp and fiddlers today. I'll try again tomorrow.
 
Be sure the lid is not sealing the tank. Fiddlers breath top air. I have read conflicting reports as to whether or not they can extract air from the water and have never been able to clarify. I have also read that they go deeper into the ocean to lay their eggs but, again, have a hard time validating (I have also read that they don't shed which is NOT true). They are basically a land animal that need to keep wet and can actually live in anything from freshwater to saltwater but I have best luck using full saltwater. You can even use the water you remove from a saltwater tank when doing a water exchange.
 
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