Brittle star arm alive and kicking after 2 days

So is the consensus still that the legs( yes plural now, I found another one), will eventually die? And no one has any idea of when exactly they will die?
 
i honestly don't know but i would suspect they would die eventually since they can't really take in any nourishment, right? still, it's just a fascinating turn of events! please keep updating (that is, if they don't escape from the tank and murder you in your sleep). ;)

Sk8r said:
If they were people, they'd have five minds and one skull.
Click to expand...

hmmmm, this could very well explain the voices in my head! :o
 
That explains a lot about the both of us then, it's obvious we are part starfish;). My husband is on leg duty this weekend, I have to go out of town for a graduation. I'm nervous about leaving, he has never been left alone with all the animals. The list of critters in my house is.... Extensive to put it mildly. Tank 1- mantis shrimp and her eggs that she laid yesterday plus 2 wandering star fish legs. Tank 2- main dt with 10 fish and an eel that is refusing to eat. Tank 3- brackish tank in bedroom with hungry, angry puffer fish. Plus a 10 freshwater snail breeding tank and a qt tank with saltwater snails. A tortoise. African grey parrot. And 2 dogs. It sounds really ridiculous when I type it out haha. He has been informed to
Keep a close eye on the wandering legs though.
 
you do have quite a menagerie there!

too many years ago to count, i left my late husband (well, he was still alive at that point) to care for my 55g fowlr tank. i left specific feeding instructions but i failed to tell him that the fish would beg incessantly for food but to just ignore them. they suckered him and i came home after being gone a week to a fouled up tank and all fish pretty much circling the drain. i couldn't get angry because he simply thought they were hungry. all. the. time. LOL! he felt terrible about it but i told him it wasn't a big deal (it was but i really didn't wanna hurt his feelings).

i have occasionally laughed to myself that it's a good thing i didn't have these great danes back then. left alone with gary, i woulda come home to a couple of dogs weighing 800# each and on the verge of exploding! i don't even wanna THINK about how fat my pot bellied pigs would be!!! <a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/user/Ninapearl/media/smilies/roflmao.gif.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Ninapearl/smilies/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt=" photo roflmao.gif"/></a>
 
Hahaha yeah I'm very nervous about leaving. He has been told to only feed once a day. Which shouldn't be hard because he mostly ignores the tank. I quizzed him earlier on what to do in case of x,y,z. But I have a feeling that I am going
To come home to 160 ppm of nitrate, and decaying food on the bottom. I bought ammonia badges for each tank and he is going to send me pictures everyday when I'm gone. Which is only going to be about 4 days, but by then I could come to the arm leg thing eating one of the dogs. So in nervous haha
 
Martini5788 said:
the arm leg thing eating one of the dogs.
Click to expand...

well, you'd have 1 less mouth to feed but then you'd have the arm leg thing to take care of and you'd definitely wanna keep IT happy!

have a good trip and try not to worry too much. :)
 
Update: as of last night the legs were still alive. My husband said they have found each other and stay close together. Haven't heard from him yet this morning but that makes it a full week that the legs survived detached from the body
 
<a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/user/Ninapearl/media/smilies/roflmao.gif.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Ninapearl/smilies/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt=" photo roflmao.gif"/></a>

i can see this turning into a lounge thread. ;)
 
i've been googling this whole scenario today and there are many different opinions. some say yes, a leg can grow into another whole brittle star. others say no, unless part of the central disk is still attached to the leg.

several people have said they've had detached legs "live" for several months.

crazy, weird, fascinating and kinda scary in a macabre sort of way. if i start having nightmares, i'm gonna hunt you down like a dog!
 
definitely keep watching. you don't want them to escape, especially in the middle of the night! ;)
 
i talked to michele last night and she will see if somebody at the shedd can enlighten her about this. i'll let you know!
 
Any news? One of them is still alive. The mantis shrimp got moved to a new tank, so the arm went back to the main display. I could not find the second one. I assume it died or got eaten by one of the crabs that I keep in xenas tank for food. The larger one is still alive though
 
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