my octo keeps blowing these little white things out of her den i haven't seen it in 2 days because it went into it's den and pulled a shell over the opening. i don't know what it is so can someone please help me?

Probably sand? Mine hides in his den sometimes using the shells of recent victims as a "door". Theres lots of sand particles on my live rock that he always kicks up when he moves.

quite posibly just going to the toilet... normally whitish in colour and often stringy...

he didn't come out today for feeding. he didn't come out to get food yesterday either. there's plenty of snails in there so he won't starve but he usually comes out for feeding time. any idea what to do? should i just wait?

Doesnt seem like anything to worry about at this point, just let it be. Have you seen him eat any snails? What have you fed him before?

i feed him snails, hermit crabs, and fiddlers. but i haven't seen him eat anything. only a few hermit crabs yesterday. and he seems scared of me because he doesn't come out when i out my hand in the tank anymore.

Fishkid,

Is this your hummelincki or a merc? I can't quite remember which one you have.

-D

i have a hummelincki.

try some shrimp or scallop piece on a skewer stick and approach him slowly with it, mine attacked almost immeadiately.

yea but my octo is deep in his den and i can't even see him. and he won't eat unless he sees the food.

it's still blowing the white things out of it's den. some of them look like little broken capsules. it's been doing this for over 2 days now.

Could it be sheding?(A question to those in the know)

Octos shed their sucker linings, which look like little white or clear floppy disks of skin, but usually not all at once... I don't know what the "white capsules" might be, but maybe your octo is cleaning the den to lay eggs, or maybe laid eggs, and some weren't viable so she's getting them out of her den, or something like that? But I'm really just guessing here, I don't remember anyone reporting anything that sounds similar. It could also be that there were egg shells or similar from some previous resident in the live rock, and your octo wants to get rid of them to make the den more comfortable...

if it's shedding her suckers then that would explain why some of the white things are circular but could that be why it hasn't come out of her den in almost 2 days?

if it's shedding her suckers then that would explain why some of the white things are circular but could that be why it hasn't come out of her den in almost 2 days?

They sound like sucker linings. Possibly...possibly not...sorry don't mean to be obtuse! ours happily shed where-ever! But yours could be different! Sometimes they just like to be alone for a bit, if she's an adult female she could be egg laying too. Has her appetite dropped off? Yes I see it has, this could be another sign that you have an adult female who has denned up to lay eggs. (edit-should read posts thoroughly-:roll:) Females quite often disappear and refuse to eat at this stage. dwhately had some success getting her Merc Trapper to feed after she had laid by giving her cyclop-eeze, maybe you should pm her and get some advice on this method!

Good luck

J

so she could be laying eggs?!?!?!?! the only bad thing is she's a hummelincki so they lay small eggs. is there any chance even a few of her babies will survive? and if there is a chance what is the best way to keep the babies alive if i can't see them.

unfortunately, it's pretty much impossible to raise the small-egged babies, we've never had any success by hobby-level folks, and even the people who are at professional institutions like universities, public aquariums, and research labs only rarely are successful. I'm not saying not to try, but plan to be disappointed if you do... and if you manage to make it work out, please let us know and encourage us!

There haven't been too many hummelinckis around TONMO until very recently, so any information on them is helpful, even if the babies don't make it. But because we don't know, maybe hummelincki paralarvae are more survivable than other small-egged octos... there's a lot we don't know!

but how can i give them the best chance to survive? should i just leave the tank the way it is? or should i change stuff? any information on any small egg species will be greatly appreciated!