Varys' babies (O. mercatoris)

[Animal Mother]

The dark spots are hearts. I know that much.

 

[gholland]

Nailbiter...

Woke up at 4 a.m. Decided to make the most of it and gave the 'podes another shot at the crab jar... almost dropped the new video camera on multiple occassions! Here's a frame grab and link to a short compilation of the harrowing footage that followed...

 

[gholland]

Inside: Tarzan
Outside: Beluga

 

[sorseress]

Wow!

 

[DWhatley]

Great film capture! Is Tazan a lot larger than Beluga? I noticed with Octane (no really with the mercs) that if he tried something that scared him, he would go into hiding the next day to recover but then "decide" it was not all that bad and proceed to do it again and again etc. Specifically, climbing out of the tank but touching was the same way.

 

[gholland]

Great film capture! Is Tazan a lot larger than Beluga?

No... Beluga is larger. In fact, Beluga is largest. Always has been and thus the name. Beluga got her own crab shortly after Tarzan ran off with the one in the jar. Here are a couple more pics of Beluga shortly after the "incident"... still plays "ET" with me.

 

[DWhatley]

How many do you have now (4 or 5)?

 

[gholland]

It should still be four... I'm not sure if the one I saw in the cave the other night was actually Quattro, but I definitely have 3: Shelby, Tarzan, & Beluga.

 

[DWhatley]

Current Cephalopods: 4 tank raised O. mercatoris (hatched 3/2/08)

I went back and reviewed the video AND reread your notes. I ass u me d that it was Beluga inside (in spite of your caption - chalk it off to my dislexia) the container and could not imagine that the angle would reverse the sizes.

If you can dig up another one of those little jars, I wonder what would happen if you put two in next time

 

[gholland]

Well... that could've been out of date.

 

[monty]

 

[gholland]

6 months!

Well, the gang turned 6-months old yesterday (9/2/08) but I still haven't seen more than 3 at any one time. Sex is still a toss-up on them, although Beluga seems to be much more visible than the others. In fact, Beluga spent a couple of hours in the middle of the day (noonish) watching me while hanging half-way out of the shell on both Saturday and Monday. I think I had left the light with the red filter under it on one occassion, but not the other? I did add two more sheets of vellum, so their light is even less bright than before. I think that's something like 8 layers now? Beluga also seems to show an interest in the cats. All 3 indoor cats are white (and show up well against the dark green carpet) and when one of them would walk up to where I was sitting in front of the tank, Beluga would do the "head-bob" and reach toward the front glass. This happened 3 or 4 times. Especially when a cat tail was waving around.

On another note, I've often noticed the mercs "flaring" or "bulging" their eyes (for lack of a better description) when they get excited or are watching prey. The iris (does that term apply?) seems to expand and the overall impression is that the eye seems to glow for just a second. Has anybody else noticed this? D? AM?

Below is a short vid of Beluga showing off with another "crab grab" after I let Tarzan have the one in the jar during that previous clip. This never ceases to amaze me.

 

[DWhatley]

Greg,

Nope, I never noticed the eyes doing/showing any particular expression or reaction.

I would worry about Beluga being out during the day but Sisturus would concern me with it too long before he died. I have suspected that their eyes have difficulty with light and may be the reason for never acclimating to daytime but Beluga and Sisturus may have/had slightly less light sensitive eyes from the beginning. Trapper only came out during the day for her last week and she stayed out all the time then so I have revised my warnings to read, "if you see a merc staying out in the open for an entire day, it is at the end of its life" rather than if you see a merc out in daylight.

 

[gholland]

Beluga isn't actually out in the light... there's still the edge of the shell above, casting a shadow down. Might make a difference. I'll try to get a close-up clip of the eye thing.

 

[gholland]

Just wanted to compile a few photos to give a record of some relative sizes. In my mind, Varys was bigger than she appears in photos... It's funny how time plays with your memory! I've tried to resize each photo to give approximately the same scale...

A. Varys just prior to death. She was definitely larger prior to egg-laying.
B. Hatchling at a few weeks of age.
C. Tarzan(?) at ~5.5 months... Beluga would be a bit larger than Tarzan is here.

So, maybe they are on-track to reaching "full" size?