Out for a stroll

DHyslop

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A while back I promised some photos of Mr. Octopus spending some time outside the tank. He very much enjoys coming outside, perhaps in the same way Captain Nemo enjoys taking an excursion outside the Nautilus.

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outside.jpg


In these photos he has taken hold of my me and is trying to pull me back in the water. Typically when I open the lid he will poke a few arms over the rim and the outside glass to see if I'm there. If he finds a finger he'll pull himself out onto it like shown. If he doesn't find a finger, often he will hoist himself up out of the water and sit on the trim anyway. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that right now--usually when he does this I'm keeping my hands cupped below him in case he takes a spill toward the floor. Sometimes he will lower himself down and crawl around on the outside glass.

He isn't very adept at supporting his own weight, so usually these jaunts end with a bit of a fall. Now that I'm expecting this I always catch him before he reaches the floor. He'll slither his way out of my hands, but usually not until I've brought him back up over the tank. The first time he landed on the carpet he was pretty surprised and was difficult to catch because he was squirming.

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As you can see he became much more confident with the floor after ending up there a couple times.

I try to be very good about making sure these trips don't last more than a minute or so, since I don't want the little guy to asphyxiate. He sure likes coming out, though!

Dan
 
These are fantastic pics! Many of our octopuses have done this, but you're the first one to get decent photos. (We are still looking for a pic of an octopus escaping!)

Jean has commented before about their octos crawling out and away. I believe she stated that the larger the octo, the longer it was able to stay out. One of their large octopuses was actually headed up the stairs before he was caught!

Bimacs do sometimes crawl between tidepools, so this isn't totally strange behavior.

I hope he doesn't try to make this little trip on his own someday - is your tank tightly sealed?

Nancy
 
Oh, it's sealed. Mr. Octopus lives in his own private Gitmo.

The return line is a spray bar with 1/8" holes covered with 1/32" fiberglass window screen. The spray bar comes in the tank through a bulkhead in the glass. The overflow is also through the glass, with 3/4" holes covered in the same screen. Having everything through the glass means there's no gaps in the lid, which is secured to the trim with hot-melt glue. The hinged parts of the lid are held down with patio blocks.

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It was nice to see those pics. I enjoy interacting with my bimacs in the same way. I'm down to 24. Several of my tanks have no tops but the water level is a few inches from the top- this seems to discourage them from climbing all the way out before they are aware they are out of the water. Of course all the outlets to pumps are octo-proofed. Mr. Octopus will be 1 year old on August 5. I wonder what the best birthday present is? Zyan
 
zyan silver;97946 said:
It was nice to see those pics. I enjoy interacting with my bimacs in the same way. I'm down to 24. Several of my tanks have no tops but the water level is a few inches from the top- this seems to discourage them from climbing all the way out before they are aware they are out of the water. Of course all the outlets to pumps are octo-proofed. Mr. Octopus will be 1 year old on August 5. I wonder what the best birthday present is? Zyan

Mrs. Octopus?
 

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