[Octopus Eggs]: Trappers Grandchildren - Tank Bred Mercatoris

Were you able to confirm that Wiley is a male?

Other than guessing on behavior, no. I have never seen him for more than 5 minutes (more like 3 minutes) at any given time and it is a long time between spottings. He was so indignant about finally being captured, I don't know how long it will take him to be seen even in the smaller tank - no luck so far trying to spot him in the LR :roll: but I can't find the crab I put in the tank last night so I think that is a good sign that he is acclimating in spite of being scooped up carried across the house out of the water and unceremoneously dumped into a new home. I had no time to observe him since the last time I tried, he vanished. It was a now or never kind of transfer and I could not even guess at his health. He was all white when I spotted him but that has not been unusual for this group under red light.
 
Wiley is still alive. I never see him and he is not eating well but if I remove his doorway shell, it gets put back. I did see a couple of arms yesterday after I removed his shell and put a shrimp in it. He did not take the shell or shrimp immediately but by the evening, the shell AND another were back blocking the entrance. Wiley might be Wilma or just comes out when I am not around. If brooding, the eggs would not be fertile. Wiley was 11 months October 17th.
 
Wiley started to accept food from a long pipette earlier this week. I have hand fed him maybe five times during his 11 months and each time he would relocate and never return to the place I found and fed him. He is now in a much smaller tank and has stayed holed up in the back for months. I had been putting a food offering directly in front of his den and most of the time he has (assumably) eaten it. Earlier this week I noticed that he has relocated slightly (probably because I kept removing his snail shell door to see if he would put it back, thus verifying his living existence) and that I could actually see an arm and sometimes an eye. When I put the pipette almost on top of him (or the small hole directly above him) arms start flailing and the shrimp was quickly located and taken down into the hole. Tonight I tried to give him a half dead crab (after he had taken his, now nightly, shrimp) but he blew it away. When I tried again he actually touched my finger and kept a curious arm there for a few seconds (quite a change for this little guy). When he released me, I offered another shrimp, this time from my fingers and he accepted it. The only times I have seen Wiley, he has been white but the arms that he is flailing are a healthy red. He is 11 months old now so the behavior change is likely the beginning of the end but I expected him to just disappear so this little bit of interaction is most welcomed.
 
I was determined to get a photo or video of Wiley and the leak in his skimmer/overflow required a temporary filter and removal of the black top along with his red light. I set up the camera and was pleased to find I had enough lighting then hoped that he was accustomed enough to the feeding routine to expose his arms :roll: The video actually captured more of him than I normally see!

 
Belated Happy Birthday to Wiley

Really thought I was getting senile for a few minutes. I was sure I posted a note announcing that Wiley was officially a year old and that he was now taking shrimp nightly from my fingers but looking back a post, the note is not there. I did locate it in Gregs thread though (a lot of good that does this journal) in response to some of Beluga's antics so I am not over the hill yet, just easily confused :old:)
 
Beginning of the End

Well, it is getting close to the sad time. Wiley would not take his supper last night but wanted to play with my fingers. Tonight I found him half out of his den (he only shows his arms normally) and when I put my hand in, he wanted to climb on it and did not want to be put back on the live rock. His grandmother acted similarly in her last week. I was able to take some pictures and video before I installed him an a barnacle shell (because it has smoother sides and Trapper would stay on the pump during this time). So far he has stayed in the offerred shell and taken the typical merc defensive posture when I peeked in so I think we have a little time left if I can get him to eat the cyclop-eze.

Trapper was constantly hungry during this time and Wiley kept trying to byte my hand (he did not want to leave it though). I felt a little sting at one point and later he did manage to draw a pin-prick of blood from my thumb so I was not quite correct when I told Greg that they could not break human skin.
 

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Videos

The videos finally uploaded to Photobucket. New keepers please note that as exciting as it may seem to have your octopus prefer your hand to the live rock, it is a definite sign of the end. You are likely (but not always) to see more of your octo in his/her last week than in the last several months as they seem to be able to tolerate more light (note the almost black eyes) at this stage and seem to prefer smooth surfaces to the rock.

Links fixed :oops:

The first is Wiley climbing up on my hand



The second shows him trying his best to bite me but not trying to flee



And the final clip is his ejection on to the live rock after my hand was turning into a prune.

 
cephaloholic;130187 said:
The links are working for me. And D i have a newf too. arent they the best dogs ever

I had to fix the links but they should be fine now.

Newfs are terrific but I will not have another. Part of the problem may be that we live in the south and it gets too warm for them. We have had various problems with Chew Bear that we had never had with other dogs. Most of them we have conquered (his coat has not looked this good for almost two years - thank you Revolution!) but the slobber (which was tollerable until he was about two - he is either nine or ten now :oops:) is a considerable problem and he has to go out when we have people over, even the kids winch and grab for the ever present slobber towel when he comes over to them for attention (anytime you sit down). Terrific personalities but high maintenance.
 
I offered a finger to Wiley tonight (he has stayed in the barnacle) and he came out immediately to sit in my hand. I had a hard time convincing him to go back inside and let him sit on the glass and the the bottom substrate for a few minutes. He is well into sesenence and cannot manuver well at all (he can only use the suckers close the body to hold on to the glass). One arm is curled but it doesn't quite look like what I termed the "stroke" that Sisty and Dusa were both affected with (where one side seemed paralized) but his behavior is similar in that he does not seem to know upright from upside down. Eventually, I convinced him the shell provided something to hold on to in most directions. I think he is still eating as he took a very small shrimp and offered his beak for cyclop-eze while on the sand but I know the end is very near.
 
RIP Wiley Nov 17, 2007 - Dec 23 2008

When I checked on Wiley tonight, he failed to wave at me (something he had been doing since inhabiting the shell) so I knew to look further. When I turned him out of the shell, I could tell he had not been dead long but it also appeared that he may have eaten one of his arms (possibly a bristle but I did not see any clean-up critters in the shell and the arm looked like a string). I previously noted that Trapper (his grandmother) seemed insatiable at this stage. I dropped a tiny shrimp in his shell last night and he may have eaten more than the shrimp. I still wonder if infection is part of the arm eating. Trapper died far more peacefully than her children and still lived much longer than most post brooding females. Octane ate his arms after being over exposed to air and I could see that his mantle was discolored. Certainly this is circumstantial but I am determined to try the tetracycline when OhToo shows signs of sensenence.
 

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