Who ate who?
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:30 pm
So, my turgdis decided to stop eating about a week ago and I just couldn't figure out why. I've been giving him his favorite food, nightcrawlers fortified with vitamins, for the past few months along with shrimp, a smattering of snails, and the occasional freshwater clam. I went on vacation for a few weeks and when I came back he was becoming more and more less interested with anything I presented him. I'm stumped, real odd behavior for the hoover of the puffer world. Well, today I was cleaning my fiddler crab tank and noticed that one of my crabs was missing a few limbs so I decided to feed it to one of the puffers, the turgdis came to mind first, just to see if he would maybe be interested....Heh, he was......
I carefully carried the crab over to his tank and held it on the palm of my hand outside the glass. From his cave he gives it a sidelong glance, slowly sizing it up and smiling. I lift the lid, he hunkers back further in to the crevice in the log he calls home. "Plop!" crab hits the water, puffer quivers with anticipation and I get the "Thank you my tall scary friend" look. This poor crab is now about half way to the bottom of the tank, Leon curls his tail and starts to rise....crab hits the gravel, I swear I heard "Beep! Beep!" as he did his best RoadRunner impersonation and took off, dust voriticies swirling behind him, eyes locked on target.... AND HE MISSED!!!! He was moving so fast that the crab was rolled over on to its back, remaining legs kicking for dear life trying to right itself. Leon did a 180 and took another shot, ZOOM! He hit the crab from behind while it was upside down. (I'm laughing my buttocks off right now, I've never seen him move with this much agility before) Well, he hit the crab so hard that it flipped over and landed on his face, just out of the reach of his beak, grabbing on with his remaining limbs, pinchers grabbing skin by the gills, clinging for dear life.
Leon paused for a moment and then it sunk in that he had a crab stuck to his face....The mouth starts moving. He starts swimming backwards. The crab gets this abject look of terror on its tiny little face as it realizes it's got a death grip on the business end of a mortal enemy. I swear I heard both of them yell, "Son of a Batch!" and it was on! The action that went on for the next few seconds (I think the crab made 8 seconds) would have made a bull rider weep with joy, it was the perfect ride for both the rider and the ridee...Leon zigged left, he zagged right, he went up, he went down, he puffed with all his might but the brave little crab wouldn't let go. He finally took a dive for the space between the filter intake, the crab was too wide to fit, it got tipped forwards over Leon's mouth. Both gladiators sighed, one in relief, the other in defeat. The crowd went wild...victorious crunching sounds could be heard all through the room!
After all was said and done, Leon came swimming back to the glass, shook himself to clean off the crab remnants, and with the big crab claw still stuck to the side of his face gave me a look that could only be interpreted as "Thank you kind Sir, may I have another? Claw? What claw? I don't have a claw stuck anywhere! Stop laughing.....wait a minute...Oh that claw...crunch...."
I carefully carried the crab over to his tank and held it on the palm of my hand outside the glass. From his cave he gives it a sidelong glance, slowly sizing it up and smiling. I lift the lid, he hunkers back further in to the crevice in the log he calls home. "Plop!" crab hits the water, puffer quivers with anticipation and I get the "Thank you my tall scary friend" look. This poor crab is now about half way to the bottom of the tank, Leon curls his tail and starts to rise....crab hits the gravel, I swear I heard "Beep! Beep!" as he did his best RoadRunner impersonation and took off, dust voriticies swirling behind him, eyes locked on target.... AND HE MISSED!!!! He was moving so fast that the crab was rolled over on to its back, remaining legs kicking for dear life trying to right itself. Leon did a 180 and took another shot, ZOOM! He hit the crab from behind while it was upside down. (I'm laughing my buttocks off right now, I've never seen him move with this much agility before) Well, he hit the crab so hard that it flipped over and landed on his face, just out of the reach of his beak, grabbing on with his remaining limbs, pinchers grabbing skin by the gills, clinging for dear life.
Leon paused for a moment and then it sunk in that he had a crab stuck to his face....The mouth starts moving. He starts swimming backwards. The crab gets this abject look of terror on its tiny little face as it realizes it's got a death grip on the business end of a mortal enemy. I swear I heard both of them yell, "Son of a Batch!" and it was on! The action that went on for the next few seconds (I think the crab made 8 seconds) would have made a bull rider weep with joy, it was the perfect ride for both the rider and the ridee...Leon zigged left, he zagged right, he went up, he went down, he puffed with all his might but the brave little crab wouldn't let go. He finally took a dive for the space between the filter intake, the crab was too wide to fit, it got tipped forwards over Leon's mouth. Both gladiators sighed, one in relief, the other in defeat. The crowd went wild...victorious crunching sounds could be heard all through the room!
After all was said and done, Leon came swimming back to the glass, shook himself to clean off the crab remnants, and with the big crab claw still stuck to the side of his face gave me a look that could only be interpreted as "Thank you kind Sir, may I have another? Claw? What claw? I don't have a claw stuck anywhere! Stop laughing.....wait a minute...Oh that claw...crunch...."
A great story!
Really enjoyed that read!
