Ink Update!

[corw314]

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

 

[Nancy]

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

 

[Colin]

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?

 

[corw314]

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

 

[Nancy]

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

 

[corw314]

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