I was cleaning up Ink's tank tonight, scrubbing walls, water change, etc., and she got a little freaked. and was balled up with all her suckers on the outside, as she couldnt' see what I was doing. She stayed in her cave and was touching very lightly the tools I was using but didn't grab them like she used to do. After I was done, she did come out and make the rounds, feeling everything. I moved some of the rocks but left her cave on it's side cause I think she feels secure when she reaches that spot. I had tried to give her a crab before I started cleaning because, I always would feed her in the past before I did anything with the tank, as that would keep her out of mischief. She was too freaked to take it from me, but She did find it when I was done.

The one shot, she had her arms out touching everything, just before she went to explore!

Carol

Thats good, Ink still looks okay apart from her colours being a little drab, Btw, where did the eyespots go? How long has it been since sesenence?

Hi Joel!

The eyespots are there they just don't change color any more. It was October 25th when I discovered her eggs, so Christmas will be 2 months.

Carol

Hi Carol,

I went back over your past posts and checked - you reported Ink's eggs on Oct. 10, not Oct 25 (the 25th is the date of the last posting in the thread). So it's been two months already!

Nancy

:shock: Thats pretty long

Has anyone ever kept track how long an octopus lasts in a home aquarium after laying eggs?? Just curious!!! Maybe Ink can set her own record!!!
(Hopefully) :)

She is still very active. Hunting almost daily again!
:mrgreen:
Carol

I think that briareus was about 10 days or so, cant remember but it wasn't long

Hi Carol,

Some useful informaton from Octopets concerning bimac eggs:
Egg hatch time depends on water temp. the warmer the
faster. It takes approx 2.5 months at around 65 F and
1.5 months at 75 F.

So, if Ink's eggs had been fertile, I think they probably would have hatched by now,although you said her water temperature was cooler now.

Nancy

Octopuses lay eggs only once, and after the eggs hatch, the mother dies within 15 months

Found this interesting bit www.panicresearch.com/octopus+zoo,+octopus&hl=en&ie=UTF-8] (http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:n2M4XwPcRXAJ:here[/b] and thought I'd note it here. It's the longest period of time I've ever seen noted for how long senescence can last. Everywhere else I've seen has listed weeks not months and especially not over a year.

If you already know this please pardon me, but I'm really interested in Ink's progress.

The octopus described is a Giant Pacific Octopus, and they live much longer than a bimac - up to 5 years. Note that they say the mother doesn't eat, but it turns out she is eating a bit.

I don't have information at hand about how long it takes her eggs to hatch, but I'd assume a long while.

Nancy

I went back through my pictures, and I noticed the size difference when I have included my fingers in the picture with Ink's legs! Several months ago her legs were 1/2 the size of my fingers. Check out the size now!!! She was listening or feeling me drum my fingers on the glass. Totally froze till I stopped!

The other shot you can see her eyespot now is either almost non existant, or black. She never gets that gorgeous blue anymore. She was out hunting, which she still does with a vengeance!!

Carol

Hi Carol,

So Ink is smaller than she was? Even so, she still looks OK. Does she prefer to stay purple?

It's amazing that she's lived so long after laying eggs, and that she still hunts. I'm glad for you and for all octo owners - good to see her doing so well.

I'll do another update on Ollie soon - she's followed a different path than Ink, but is also doing well.

Nancy

it may be that she has been living off the reserves in her body and therefore her legs seem to have shrunk.
interested to see if the muscle atrophy gets better

good luck ink :)

This puzzles me - Ink has been eating all along - is she not eating enough, or not processing the food? I thought if she were eating, there would not be muscle atrophy.

At this time, I don't think Ollie has muscle atrophy - her arms are still substantial.

Nancy

I don't know about senescent Octis but in many reproductively active squid any food eaten goes staight into reproductive material, not the so called somatic body parts (everything else!) and these lose condition (Just ask Kat about mature Moroteuthis!!

J

Hi all!

She does seem thinner to me, but not in her legs, but spots in her mantle. As to her legs, they are as big as my fingers now, as you can see in the shot :) ! I was comparing their size in a shot I took several months ago and they are deffinately bigger. The muscle thing, I don't think it's any worse, if anything, she is getting around more and better up the sides of the tank. I may have false hopes here, but I'll take what I can get!!! The new shot of her in the gallery, she was such a vibrant octopus in her day. This is such a different side of her to witness. I don't think I remember any of the other octopuses I've had over the years, ever hunting the way she is doing or even interacting with me however different it maybe from what it was! Hopefully she will be here at least till next year and maybe then some :) !

Carol

This sounds really positive, Carol - so Ink must be adding muscle. It was hard to tell from the photos. We all wish Ink the best!

How does she interact with you? I know she followed your fingers on the glass before, but now that she is blind, what does she do?

Nancy

Hi Carol,
if you compared your husbandry techniques to octos past, do you think that this would make an octo react differently to you and its environment?

do you think the enrichment you gave her, like lego bricks has given her a longer life span and greater likleyness to keep going or do you think that its just ink?

Hi Nancy!

As far as Ink interacting with me, she freezes on the glass when I start to drum my fingers by her, almost like she's feeling the rythem? Do octo's hear or just sense sound waves? She freaks some when I clean the tank probably cause she can't see me any more. She curls her legs around her body, so your see her beak. I quess this is this is their defensive posture? If she's in her cave and I drop a crab on her she grabs it immediately.

Colin - Thinking back, I don't thing I spent as much time physically bugging the other octos I've had in the past. It was more of a watch and observe what they were up to. Maybe this is why they all stopped eating after the eggs because I didn't have the kind of interactive relationship with them that I have with Ink and Lil Pumpkin. Then I think about Hermins last few weeks, and I played with him as much as Ink, but when he stopped eating it was a quick downhill climb. Could be Ink's personality too.

Carol

Hi Carol,

Interesting about octopuses and sound - Ollie certainly physically responds to tapping: Moving, changing color slightly, even waving. So even if she can't hear with ears, she feels the sound waves or vibrations.

Octopuses seem to like rhythm - the first I read of this was from cephjedi, who told of his rock band in the basement and the octopuses "dancing" to the music.

Ollie loves to sucker onto the feeding stick and then I tap out rhythms for her. I hum the song and move the stick just slightly to the beat. I think she would hang on for hours while I did this. Before she laid eggs, she used to be on the front glass and hold onto my finger while I moved it to the rhythms of the songs. I'm so glad I found this way to interact with her.

I guess each of us must find the best way to interact - one thing I'm going to do with my next bimac is to identify myself with a certain rhythm every time I appear. That would be useful.

Nancy

Hi Nancy!

Ollies' color is still good?? I think that is a very good sign!

I have never used a feeding stick with Lil Pumpkin and his latest new behavior is when he sees my hand, he swims to the front of the pethome! I also have been drumming my fingers on his tank and when he was smaller, I couldn't see where he was sleeping, I'd drum my fingers and out would come the "EYE"!!! Now he just swims to the front!

It's so interesting to hear how everyone interacts with their octopuses!

Carol