bought an octopus, but what kind?

[corpusse]

he's starting to come out right away when expecting food. I was in a rush to feed him this morning and he complied by coming right for the food.

 

[corpusse]

It took some coaxing but I managed to get him to come out with the lights on for dinner.

Sadly my camera battery died at the worst possible moment. It's weird because I never charge it and it's always good to go.

He has gotten way stronger he moved some big rocks which I ddin' think would move. The rocks are held together with rods so it won't collapse entirely, but he did move the entire thing and it shifted.

Also I don't think he will bite. I held the shrimp in my hand with my thumb and allowed him to grab me good. He crawled over my hand to get to the shrimp when he easily could have started to eat my hand instead. Here are a couple of teaser videos.

On saturday or sunday night I will try again. He only eats every 2-3 days at least when it's big shrimp.

 

[DWhatley]

He is still a good bit smaller than Cassy and Tatanka. As much as you had originally planned to just "watch" the octopus in your tank, you have to admit it is fun earning and gaining their trust

 

[corpusse]

Of course it's fun, I just wasn't looking for a play with pet when deciding to keep an Octopus. Just something to observe like other reef inverts or fish.

Anyway I'm 99.99% sure he will not bite. The fact there has not been a recorded bite with this relatively common species, the fact he didn't bite my hand when it smelled like shrimp and he crawled over it to get to the shrimp and now this :

Originally I was planning on feeding him tonight since he now does come out during the day with coaxing but I was vacuuming and he came out to see what all the commotion was so I got out the camera and took some videos. I also noticed I still have a ton of crabs which I rarely if ever feed.

First I got this video of him swimming around.

Then I decided to see what would happen if I put my hand in without food. After a few seconds he came over to explore pulled me a bit let me touch him as well and did not show any signs of aggression. I was pretty sure he was hungry as it had been a day and a half since he ate.

After the video I went and grabbed one of my crabs, put him in a jar and put him in. I didn't think it would go by this fast but the 42 second video came out great!

I will lookout for a jar with a lid this weekend. I'll also try to wait until sunday night to feed him again, Since the crab was a lot smaller then his usual meal of large shrimp he may even come out tonight for a feeding.

 

[DWhatley]

I just wasn't looking for a play with pet when deciding to keep an Octopus. Just something to observe like other reef inverts or fish.

So you have mentioned and is why the amount of time and result of your originally unintended experimentation is what I refer to as "touched by an octo" There is something special about the way some of them interact and for those of us that get addicted, the gentle touch never loses its excitement. There are people who don't react this way but most aquarium keepers understand. Even people who have good experiences but decide not to keep another usually come back announcing they are looking or have restarted an octo tank.

If you eat mayonaise, in the states anyway, the jars it comes in seem to be excellent for your use. They are either glass or plastic with plastic lids. I am looking forward to more video

 

[corpusse]

So I used little plastic containers, you know the things toys come in from vending machines.

He was able to open them in about 1-2 minutes. The first one was actually the fastest so speed may be a matter of how bad he wants the food now how smart he is.

At first I was unsure if he was actually eating the crabs or if he was opening it and then they'd escape. The 3rd time I put a piece of shrimp in which he quickly went for and when he reached for it I could see he was still holding one of the crabs. I have fed him more then one crab at a time before but typically when he eats one of these large uncooked shrimps he will not eat again for 2 days. The piece of shrimp was about half of one and he still went for it with the crab in his grip.

This helps prove my initial thought that he actually prefers the shrimp over the crab. I took several videos but to be honest I'm not overly happy with them. Still this ones not bad.

 

[DWhatley]

So, how many quarters did you have to spend to get the claw to drop the toy in the hole?

I have some easter eggs in the attic I think but they are opaque. I may try an experiment with them with the thought that I think the O.briareus hunt more by touch and sense of vibration than sight. If the crab will move around in the opaque egg, the octopus should detect it (I will try it with no water in the egg I think). If Tatanka or Cassy detect the crab, I will see what Monty does.

 

[corpusse]

He actually went for the one with the shrimp just as fast if not faster then the ones with the crabs.

These have holes in them so there is water inside and some smell. They still somewhat float though. He wouldn't give me back half of one container so it's still in the tank.

A long time ago I spent like 10$ trying to get a Millhouse key chain at this Simpsons vending machine. I just found a bunch of them the other day and figured this would work good.

 

[DWhatley]

Everytime an octo is sited for stealing something (tooth brushes, turkey basters, etc) I always think of the tales of dragons hording treasure and wonder if the midden piles are more than a garbage dump.

 

[corpusse]

I've tried a few times to get better videos of him opening the container. Problem is when I'm properly setup he can't do it. His success rate is about 60-70% but as time goes on he seems to have problems. This is because he discovered his arms fit through the holes he can grab the crab rip off its legs but can't pull it out. Think of trying to pull a pop out of machine without paying.

I did get this successful attempt but the quality is not the greatest. It does show him doing it in about a minute

I did move the light right under him but of course he couldn't get it open. I tried to offer to help but he didn't want my help. Still haven't been bitten but when he's not starving he will chose play of lunch.

 

[DWhatley]

I really like the second video! I don't know that he was trying to open the container. Two of the briareus I have kept would play with the floating plastic ice cube we would use to hang shrimp from (the food was always a good 8 inches from the cube so there was no confusion about trying to open or get inside anything). They would use is something like a float and this looks similar to what he is doing in the second video.

He seems to be playing more and more

 

[corpusse]

What he was trying to do was pull the crab out through a tiny hole. He took most of the legs off this way.

He doesn't go completely nuts over food unless he's not fed for 2 days in a row.

 

[QueenB]

Interesting. Makes you wonder what their actually thinking when their trying to open it. "Open Says Me!"

 

[DWhatley]

I saw the crab legs through the holes in the third video but missed them in the second. It his his more or less floating around with the "egg" under his webbing that made me think of the ice cube.

 

[corpusse]

Another new video