My hummelincki, who I've had from a juvenile, seems to have just had a sharp spike in appetite. I have no idea how old he was when I got him, but he was about large-grape-sized, with 2 - 3 inch tentacles. 80 days later, he's now golf ball with 6-8 inch tentacles. I usually feed him fiddlers, and he gets one or two a day these days. In the last 24 hours he has eaten three crabs and two of his clean-up snails. :roll:

No change in temp, water parameters are fine (though I'm obviously going to have to keep an eye on this with the increase of waste), no real change of behaviour.

Has anyone else reported anything similar? Is a spike in appetite just a sign he/she is reaching maturity? And rather than feed him when I see him hunting, ought I keep him on a more regimented diet, in the hope of extending lifespan?

Sometimes there will be a big spike in eating for some time before egg laying. This may or may not be what you're experiencing.

Nancy

That's what I was afraid of. :sad: Ah, well, might have him/her for a while yet...

Just curious how you judge his appetite, because (like with my pugs) I believe if offered food every 2 hours he would eat it (although Im not going to try this). Is it that hes exhibitng more of the near the top on the glass begging behavior, or you used to drop crabs in and he wouldnt touch them right away? Anyways it might not be time to lay eggs, so I wouldnt worry yet. He sounds very healthy though.

Octovarium - some from column a, some from column b. He was doing a lot of hunting and begging behavior - and then leapt on anything I offered. And then went and ate some of the clean up crew. :hmm:

Sometimes if I feed him when he seems to be wandering around looking for food he doesn't attack and eat right away, but will happily leave the crab alone for up to 12 hours, so quite a notable difference!