Kalypso (O.briareus)

[Keith]

sweet. congrats AM. Kalypso is a savage.

 

[gholland]

Octopuses should have a birthday every month!

It seems more like every month for a human should be 6 years for an octopus!

That would make Kalepto at least 36! W00t! Here's a birthday (crab)cake to celebrate!

 

[DWhatley]

It seems more like every month for a human should be 6 years for an octopus!

I am not so sure about going with that route of thinking. You may reconsider this kind of posting in 20 years Having kids around that long is not high on my list. Love the cake though.

AM, I was sure you were going to say Kaylepso pulled an Octane and was really curious on how you would decide to return him to the tank. Glad is it was just the magnet. It will be interesting to see if he "calls you" with this technique in the future.

 

[gholland]

Errr... that probably wasn't the clearest statement I've ever posted...

Let me try again: If we keep an octopus for one month, then the octopus has "effectively" aged something equivalent to maybe 6 years for a human. Does that work better? At one real year old, they would effectively be "72 in octopus years."

I know it's not scientific... just funnin'.

 

[DWhatley]

Errr... that probably wasn't the clearest statement I've ever posted...

Let me try again: If we keep an octopus for one month, then the octopus has "effectively" aged something equivalent to maybe 6 years for a human. Does that work better? At one real year old, they would effectively be "72 in octopus years."

I know it's not scientific... just funnin'.

Oh, you were clear enough . I was just taking the thought (or my train went in that direction unbidden) out of context. But seriously, I don't think the "dog years" thing is good for anything but calculating how long an animal can be expected to live. Sexual maturity and intelligence growth don't seem to fit the generalization too well, even for dogs.

 

[Animal Mother]

Not much of an update really, but Kalypso's tank has looked like crap lately. Main reason I haven't added any new pics and video. Everytime I try to use the Mag-Float, Kalypso takes it away from me. Right now it's underneath a rock somewhere in the tank. Again.

I've resorted to using a scraper which means my hands have to be in the tank, which means my hands are also targets for Kalypso. I'm gonna have to come up with 8 different objects to distract him with I guess. I tried feeding him. But NOOOO! He just collects the food and comes after my hands. I tried offering him a big plastic tub with a lid, full of silversides to entertain him. That didn't work. Too many arms! He just collects everything I give him, wraps it up, sticks it in the center of his arms, and proceeds to harass me.

I swear today he was just taunting me. He took the Mag-Float and went to the back glass. He sat there with it, moving it around, rearranging it every few seconds. I watched him for several minutes waiting for him to let it go so it would float back up. Never happened. I gave him food. He just rearranged the scrubber so he could eat the food and still hold on to it. After about 30 minutes of waiting I walked away. When I came back, the scrubber was nowhere to be seen. Last time he did that it took a week before it popped out and I found it stuck to the Koralia magnet base.

He is quite the hand full. He hasn't grown much more, but he easily covers half the front glass arm-tip to arm-tip, without stretching out.

 

[DWhatley]

nine magfloats?

 

[Nancy]

I am enjoying your Kalypso stories. You're clearly Kalypso's entertainment!

Your experience with the magfloat reminds me of how Ollie, a bimac I had a few years ago, handled the cleaning magnet. She learned to pull off the 4 inch cleaning magnet, which was larger than she was.

Then she made it a game - she would pull it back into her den (with a spatial understanding that few baggers at Kroger's have!), then dangle the magnet out on one arm, one sucker. When we would reach for it, zap! back into the den. She would repeat this as many times as we wanted to try to get the magnet. Hours later, she would release it.

Does Kalypso summon you by detaching the magnet?

Nancy

 

[Animal Mother]

Sounds like Ollie was "fishing".

If I leave the mag-float on the glass and stand there he usually doesn't do anything with it. Then when I walk away I hear it hit the floor, or the dogs bring it to me. Here lately though he just jumps on it every time I try to use it.

Grover on the other hand runs away from it.

 

[gholland]

Dude... we really need some videos of Klepto taunting you! Don't worry about cleaning for our sakes... we're all slobs too!

 

[Animal Mother]

The whole time I was watching him do his thing I was wanting to grab the camera but I was too enthralled by his activities. Just when I think I know him he does something new.

 

[DWhatley]

Of all the things that are said about possible octopus' intelligence, the primary behavior that makes me think they are smarter than fish (I won't go so far as to say cat or dog) is the constant, self-initiated change in their interaction. Even as 'Tane is obviously getting old (he rarely changes color now and will only play for short periods before he needs a nap) he keeps changing his escape the tank game. I truely think it is a game and not a real desire to escape the tank as he will only make a serious effort where I have my hand. He will swim to the other side and surface but if I refuse to put my hand over there, he keeps his arms inside and then comes over to my submerged hand and starts trying to climb. I wish I could capture the "game" part on film but, as you have noted, I am afraid I will miss something if I stop and fool with the camera, especially now when he prefers very low light for his play time.

 

[Animal Mother]

Kalypso is missing half of his front right arm. He was completely intact yesterday. I don't see the remnants anywhere, not in the Koralia, not stuck to the skimmer pump. He has been digging quite a bit recently. I'm thinking perhaps he moved a rock he shouldn't have and got an arm stuck.

Appetite and color appears normal though.

 

[gholland]

 

[DWhatley]

Keep an eye on him. 'Tane ate his but only after being out of the water for too long. It was obvious after the first day because he kept putting them in his beak. I suspect they were damaged and eating them was a way to remove the dead sections but that is conjecture (and misery).