another local - Situ Two(O.gibbsi)

You are pretty much on your own with long term in situ behavior :biggrin2: but with the hummelincki just firmly resisting has worked since they were attached to something other than my have at the stage of gaining trust. The briareus seem to be more aggressive though and I have not trained one to play. I am hoping Kaysoh will be more interactive than SueNami but she does not come out while we are in the room yet (fortunately, she is eating well but stays behind the rocks).

Terrific idea with the two volunteers. Perhaps we will be seeing them here after the experience :rolleyes: You are doing far better than I am with recruits. I can't even get Ken to take a small interest. When we were in the Keys this summer he shortened my attempt by saying that he did not like octopuses, would never like them and would I please stop trying to change his mind :hmm:

GHolland wants you to find an O. superciliosus (if you have Norton, page 284 bottom). Tiny, cute, diuranal and large egged but likely cold water. I wonder why they don't export the gloomy since it is very common and a much safer pet than the blue ring. What would you guess was the arm length on Situ the last time you saw her?
 
These are probably the worst pictures I have taken, my excuse is that I made a thicker stronger Perspex “false front” and it gave me untold grief with flash back and distortion.

Anyway the cropped images show that Situ Two’s new arm has grown and is now close to 1cm long. I will see If I can do better next time.
 

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I find it amazing that you could stick your fingers up under the new arm and get a photo! Have you thought about glass instead of plexi for the front lens? What about using a clear or polarized filter?
 
Another trip back to see how Situ Two’s arm is going, it’s growing so quick….. I reckon it would be close to 3cm now. That’s nearly doubled in the last 4 days.

She was not in a playful mood today so I only spent half an hour in the pool with her, she did come out but not for long. So I took these few images and a little video but she wouldn’t let me get my finger in the picture to show as a comparison. Ahh well there will always be tomorrow.
 

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In the video it doesn't look like she is using the arm yet and is protecting it by keeping it mostly curled. I am trying to remember when Octane or SueNami started using their new arms normally but don't think I thought to pay attention.

I noticed she had a shell covering her beak again. I wonder if that is defensive (you would not think the mouth would be particularly vunerable), they are always eating (but you have a picture of her holding a sponge) or if it is an emergency door.
 
trading shells......yes .... she will do that, well she did it once. I will try it again next time.

As for her new arm, it is a bit short to use properly and it is curled up most of the time but she has "used" it or put it onto the back of my hand the otherday.
 
I commented on the fact that I was surprised the "let you" put your hand near the growing arm so it is interesting that you note she is the one to position herself that way.

This whole carrying around a thing has me facinated. If you get her to start trading with you, you might try to locate something shiney, something smooth, something bumpy ... and see if she shows a preference. I am betting on the shiney but I am not sure what you would use that can be left in the water and is octo safe. If you do get so far as to get her to "pick" something then it will be interesting to see if she keeps it. Since you are going into the summer, there is lots of time :razz:

I am reading a nice Roger Hanlon article that is giving me a lot of hope that Maya is a young animal - puts me in a very upbeat mood as I am getting very attached to her.
 
What about a highly polished shiny rock from a lapidary shop? A piece of hematite maybe? You might also try one of those polished shiny round glass baubles they sell in crafts shops and florists supply places to put in the bottom of vases.
 
Today I found that Situ Two’s birthstone is not Amethyst or she just doesn’t like purple…

I went armed with….

1 piece of tumble amethyst not polished, which means that it was rounded but not smooth about 3cm long and 2cm wide (similar to a small egg in size and shape).

1 piece of CD cut and heated until I was able to make a domed shape also about 3cm across, it too was a purplish colour.

1 piece of tumbled and polished smoky quartz about 3cm roundish.

1 shiny plastic Christmas ball, a tad bigger than 2cm round on a piece of string.

And a bird toy, made from a wooden dowel about 5cm long with a wooden ball attached on either end. To this I added a few weights to one end so that it would just be enough to make it sink.

I started the same as other visits by just taking a few pictures and you could see that she had at least 2 pieces of rock that she was using as protection. I did try to remove one of the rocks but she held on to it.

Then I gave her the piece of domed CD, she felt all around that and quickly discarded it within 20 seconds. I gave it back to her and she again pushed it out of her den……. No interest at all.

Next was the piece of Amethyst, pretty much the same result. She ran her arms all over it and then pushed it out, so I put it back and touched her arm with it. She again wrapped her arm around it and pushed it right out to full arm length and left it there.

A few minutes later I tried the polished quartz, she grabbed that and immediately took it and hid it under her mantle. She still held onto both pieces of rock.

Next was the shiny plastic ball on the string, this too had a small weight just enough to stop it from floating away. At first she showed no interest so then I “pushed” some water to make it move again no interest. But when I lowered the ball a little she grabbed it … and rolled it around and around, then it was gone. I tried to pull it back off her but the knot pulled out of the ball and she would not let it go. At this point she allowed me to take one of her “protection” rocks.

I then introduced the wooden toy, no interest to begin with. Again I pushed some water to make it wobble around she soon wrapped her arms around it, feeling it all over. I too became like a new toy and wouldn’t release it, so I tried the second of her “protection” rocks. It was a trade, she let me take that one also.

She still reached out to have a play with my hand but there was no way that she was going to part with any of her new found toys. We were expecting visitors later this afternoon so I had to leave, but before I did, I fed her some fish that I had taken from the fish cleaning table next to the boat ramp as I walked past on my way to the island. Even with the free food she did not allow me to take back any of the new items, she did allow me to rub her on the head and arms while she sat outside her den busily eating.

More images to follow...
 

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