Octavia - O. hummelincki

[DWhatley]

My sweet Octavia continues to eat well and continues to show signs of senescence without brooding. She has her own signature difference now in that she wraps partially around my arm when I am cleaning her tank. There is no aggression in the contact but the only times I have been nipped have been with senescent octos (no envenomation and possibly only one prick of a skin break). I have not chased her away when she does this. Perhaps I should but the nips I have experienced where while trying to put the animal back on the LR and not while they were allowed in my hand.
Her other signature difference from other octopuses I have kept is her frequent observations with her eyes above the water line. The photo does not show it too well and I would like to get a better shot as she does this most days. Sadly, I fear she will not be here when we return from our vacation.




The photo of her gray color is not representative of her constant color and she still can display distinguishing pattern. However, she does not show much three dimensional patterning now and is usually a dull brown.

 

[Level_Head]

Thank you for keeping us up with developments. May you enjoy your vacation with a light heart, look to the future, and hope for the best.

 

[DWhatley]

Both octos came out to greet us when we returned from our almost 3 week vacation. I was surprise Octavia was still with us. She looked quite grey and there is a place on her mantle that is not coloring and one arm has what looks like a bruise. The skin on on section of the arm is blueish and loose as if not properly connected. I opted to try a little antibiotic and put some tetracycline in her food for 3 days. Within a day of the first dose, her color was very strong but I could not tell if there was any effect on the arm. I had not done the planned return from trip water change as I should have and last night she spooked and inked her tank. I think her own ink startled her and she completely filled the tank with black "smoke" with numerous heaving inking. We have seen this only a few times and always at death so I had little hope but removed her from the pollution to a bucket of clean salt water with only a quick temperature adjustment (the water in the bucket was cooler than her tank by quite a few degrees). We left her in the bucket for about 10 minutes to minimize the chance of additional inking and then transferred her to the unoccupied tank (roughly the same volume as her original tank). She jetted and inked once in the new tank but has been behind the LR and alive through out the day. At supper time she did not emerge but touching her suckers to a crab leg produced capture and eating.

It is most odd that she has not brooded and, again, I wonder if O. hummelincki will not produce eggs if they don't mate. The two other females I have kept did brood but we never had hatchlings so this is unlikely. However, both the other females had a different look and were considerably smaller. This is the first O. hummelincki female that looks the same and is size comparable to my two prior males (Octane and OTwo). The ligula, specialized tip of the hectocotylus, is very small and the channel very hard to detect on O. hummelincki but my prior males clearly had enlarged suckers and kept the hectocotylus rolled. When she dies I will take a good look at her third arm to be sure I have not miss pronounced her sex but she has neither enlarged suckers nor keeps an arm curled.

 

[DWhatley]

Inking and Simmers

I did not think to get a picture of Octavia's tank after her inking event but I did take a photo of the skimmer after the water change and wanted to post it for future reference.


Since the event, she has remained in the second aquarium. She dens where we can easily see her, camouflages well and will still take a shrimp at night (no longer takes her favorite crab legs though) but is very shy and wants little to do with us. She comes out a little in the early mornings and can occasionally be found on the glass or in the back corner of the tank but her sweet and interactive personality has vanished. Mostly, she just wants to be left alone.

 

[Tentacle Toast]

Do you still have her on antibiotics?

 

[DWhatley]

No, she would only take them for 3 days (normally I would do 10). I don't think this is a reaction but can't be sure. After the first day her color returned to normal (not something I have seen before) and has stayed that way.

I also meant to record that she has, what I call for lack of an understanding, the hiccups. This is something I have seen during senescence before but have no clue what it means. It look like a pain reaction or something you would expect to touching something sharp or unpleasant. With hummelincki, we often see an odd behavior that looks like they keep changing their mind about going somewhere or doing something. Sort of a two steps forward, one step back movement, particularly when approaching being touched. This looks a lot like that but she is not actually moving around. Trying to observe it more closely, I can't tell if she is only doing it when she knows I am there or if it occurs at other times. Her mantle is quite full in the back, suggesting eggs but she still does not show normal brood behavior.

 

[DWhatley]

Octavia has surprised me with her lifespan (especially after the inking event) and is still with me. The bad arm swells and then goes back to almost normal off and on but has not reswollen to the extreme we saw originally. She will come up to the petting corner for a little attention about once a week but she is always visible and relatively active (for an old lady). She has started swimming the length of the tank now an again, something I rarely see in an adult. It is not often enough or clear why she decides to take a swim so I have not been able to video. There is no panic in the swimming just sort of a relaxed glide the 4' of the tank. She often sleeps in the open and I wonder if the swollen arm makes the rocks uncomfortable.

She will only eat one live fiddler every other day (sometimes every day) now and refuses any form of dead we offer. She has done this before but went back to eating her regular fare of shrimp and crab claws so we offer dead before the fiddlers about once a week. Earlier in the week I tried to place a piece of shrimp directly on the suckers around the mouth (I have had some success with this approach with a fasting octo before). She squirted me with her siphon (but did not swim away) and refused it. Granted this was after several refusals of the offering . I found an almost dead fiddler tonight and offered it by hand. She took and ate it but then showed no interest in an additional offering dropped in the tank. Her coloring is often pale now but she can still show strong color when she chooses. Because her appetite is decreasing and not increasing, I don't think she will lay eggs. I have relooked at her third right arm often to be sure I have not missed something and have wondered if the swollen arm (4th right) is one of the odd cases of a hectocotylus being misplaced but he mantle has thickened in the back as if she is creating eggs so who knows. There have been cases where the optic gland is missing and animals did not sexually mature and can live longer lifespans. I can hope this is the case but don't expect she will double her life expectancy.

 

[DWhatley]

Octavia's Final Photos

Octavia stopped eating last week and by Sunday we knew she was not going to be with us much longer (almost 10 months - long for a female hummelincki). I put out a breeder net for her on Sunday and easily coaxed her into it but she did not like the restriction (she tried to swim) and crawled out after awhile (it was several inches below the surface. On Monday she went into the net for awhile on her own but again decided she wanted more freedom. Sadly, the brissle worms started gnawing at her arms in her little corner. She moved to the back wall for awhile but they had cleaned the outer skin and suckers for about an inch and a half on one arm and the tips of several others. By Tuesday night she was content to stay in the netting and died sometime during the night. It is going to be hard looking at her empty aquarium. She was always very sweet, visible and interactive. Even when she did not like a particular pat, she would just squirt you but not leave. Sometimes we wondered if she would squirt for the fun of it and perhaps it was not meant to be a negative reaction (we noticed this with LittleBit (vulgaris) too but not others.

One oddity I noticed when taking her final measurments (I keep trying to remember to weigh them but can't seem to think about it when they die) is how stiff and solid she felt. I don't know if they experience rigor mortis but she was as solid as if she had been placed in formalin.

 

[Teacher Kim]

Wow, D, didn't you just go through this a week or so ago with another one?! How many octopuses do you have, or like to have at one time? Wish I could keep more than one! I am getting hooked on the "challange" of figuring each one out!! So sorry for your loss though! I ahve to ask.... I saw a pic at beginning of this journal of scubadiver with net. Was that you? If so.... I am soooo jealous!!! Way cool!!! By the way, my pic in Orange's journal came out in a zip thing again instead of the pic. Sorry!!! I have NO idea why that it happening!!!

 

[DWhatley]

No, the scuba diver is Philipp (the P in K&P Aquatics, formerly SealifeInc). They collected her for me and sent the picture before she arrived. I am licensed but am so out of shape that only very shallow (snorkel depth) would be all that I would attempt today.

I usually keep two and sometimes 3 at a time and have lost three in as many weeks. I prefer to have them age staggered but that is not often under my control. I had hoped to get a new one last week but that no longer appears likely. Sadly, with Octavia's passing there are none in the house (most unusual and I don't remember the last time this happened).