o. briareus II ! even smaller then the last one total impulse purchase

[corpusse]

Look how strong he's gotten. He held onto the jar as I pulled him up for a good 30 seconds and was still trying to pull me down + grab the crab!

Sorry the picture sucks didn't have the camera setup properly and obviously only one free hand

 

[DWhatley]

Better the jar than the LR, Little Bit is constantly rearranging the rocks when she grabs us. I swear Neal is on to something about our hands being the perfect sucker exfoliater. Beautiful webbing, she will likely be very photogenic in a month or two if she follows Cassy's lead and starts gliding around the aquarium with the lights on.

Edit
PS Best trick shot yet

 

[SabrinaR]

I cant wait to get my other tank set up... as soon as I do I am SO getting a o. briareus. She is SO cute!

 

[corpusse]

The colour changes in this video are very impressive. The fact he couldn't get the crab not so much.

I took some more videos I will upload shortly. I tried the plastic container from vending machines again. The first time he was successful in getting it. The second time he struggled and never did get it. Of course that's the one I got on tape.

 

[DWhatley]

Of course that's the one I got on tape.

Great color changes. YouTube viewers will insist you are changing the lighting

 

[corpusse]

New photos followed by a bunch of new videos. They are uploading now.

Still doesn't like doing tricks for the camera. He did eventually take the crab but wasn't super hungry. I think I have to starve him for 3-4 days if I want him to do something neat and capture it on camera.

Another interesting thing is those plastic vending machine containers I used in the past. I put an entire shrimp in and somehow he got the shrimp out and most of the shell without opening it. Either that or he opened it and then close it after removing the shrimp. I am really perplexed on that one. There are holes but very tiny.

Other then growing to close to full size not much has changed. Very occasionally out during the day, out every other morning or night. When well fed hardly seen. I did worry a bit about getting bitten as he had a really good and long grip on m,y hand today but still no bite

 

[corpusse]

 

[corpusse]

So a couple of interesting things lately. She has been out more and more. I am thinking this is a female but please correct me if I'm wrong. Every few days she will come out during the day. Usually when hungry. Yesterday while defrosting a shrimp I held it over the tank and she crawled out to get it! I guess I shouldn't be teaching this kind of behavior, as neither Octopus I kept ever showed even the slightest inclination to escape.

After she went back in she let me pick her up right out of the water. She then proceeded to squirt water and I put her down. Lots of photos. Lots of videos and finally I got a decent video of her opening up this plastic container :

 

[CaptFish]

Great Photos!

 

[corpusse]

Thanks. Here's another quick video

 

[tonmo]

Great corpusse! Added one of the photos above to the homepage slider!

 

[DWhatley]

Guess again

I am thinking this is a female

Now go here

and click on the second briareus photo (clicking twice will enlarge to oversized). Roy has an aculeatus arm on the second page that also shows the channel similarly. If I am not mistaken, more masculine music is in order

 

[corpusse]

So it's interesting to note how fast HE will open up the container to get the shrimp when hungry and how much slower he is when not super hungry.

I shot these with my iphone 3gs but the quality is still decent.

The second video was just shot last night. I got a little scared when he tried to envelop my hand, still have never been bitten and I know there are no recorded cases but you never know... Of course he grabbed onto the one rock that wasn't zip tied together.

It was a full 5 minutes before he took the container behind the rocks to open and eat the shrimp.

 

[DWhatley]

He certainly knows the little ball is a food container, I would not want to try to get it away from him

On thing you can try that usually works (at least until they are very familiar with your hand, and then they are USUALLY quite gentle) is to manipulate your fingers to the back side of the arm. I know this seems difficult but with a little expemimenting you are not as out numbered as you think. You might not get fully released but you will less likely have your fingers in the center as he concentrates on reattaching rather than pulling on your fingers.

 

[Cuddlycuttlefsh]

I have heard that octopuses taste with the tip of the arms. So maybe he was more interested in your hand than the food because he did ignore the food container floating around for a bit. "Ahh I'll just get that later"