Hello all,
I have an octopus health/behavior concern that I'd like to share with the group for a diagnosis. My classroom octopus, which was a wild caught bimac on 10 July 2003, has been hand-fed a crawdad each day for the past two months by my students. The octopus loves to eat crawdads and readily devours them before our eyes. For no apparent reason, it has refused to eat crawdads for the past four days. If we actually drop a crawdad on its tentacles or a crawdad crawls into the octopus, it will use it's tentacles to push the crawdad away unharmed. The bimac does not appear unhealthy in coloration or behavior, but has rounded up and carried a few large shells into a back corner in it's aquarium. It has never tried to hide before in the past two months, nor has it ever passed up a crawdad during this time. So my question is this, Do I have a pregnant female, and is she preparing to lay eggs?
I obviously have read on this site and elsewhere that females typically do not eat while rearing eggs and dies shortly after their hatching. However, is it "common" behavior PRIOR to laying eggs to gather up "nesting" materials and go without food.
Again, I want to stress that the bimac looks normal and healthy and FORCEFULLY pushes the crawdads away. It even turns dark brown/red in anger when I try send the crawdad back its way! My point is this, the octopus is not weak, white, and shriveling up like an old, dying octopus might portray. It is vigorous and healthy and still moves around the tank, but is simply not eating and has dragged some shells into a back tank corner where it frequents more often than not?
What do you think?
Thanks for your concerns and comments in advance!
Regards,
Dr. Idso
I have an octopus health/behavior concern that I'd like to share with the group for a diagnosis. My classroom octopus, which was a wild caught bimac on 10 July 2003, has been hand-fed a crawdad each day for the past two months by my students. The octopus loves to eat crawdads and readily devours them before our eyes. For no apparent reason, it has refused to eat crawdads for the past four days. If we actually drop a crawdad on its tentacles or a crawdad crawls into the octopus, it will use it's tentacles to push the crawdad away unharmed. The bimac does not appear unhealthy in coloration or behavior, but has rounded up and carried a few large shells into a back corner in it's aquarium. It has never tried to hide before in the past two months, nor has it ever passed up a crawdad during this time. So my question is this, Do I have a pregnant female, and is she preparing to lay eggs?
I obviously have read on this site and elsewhere that females typically do not eat while rearing eggs and dies shortly after their hatching. However, is it "common" behavior PRIOR to laying eggs to gather up "nesting" materials and go without food.
Again, I want to stress that the bimac looks normal and healthy and FORCEFULLY pushes the crawdads away. It even turns dark brown/red in anger when I try send the crawdad back its way! My point is this, the octopus is not weak, white, and shriveling up like an old, dying octopus might portray. It is vigorous and healthy and still moves around the tank, but is simply not eating and has dragged some shells into a back tank corner where it frequents more often than not?
What do you think?
Thanks for your concerns and comments in advance!
Regards,
Dr. Idso
