A father and son found themselves in for a huge surprise after purchasing a pet octopus! Cameron's son Cal had always wanted an octopus since he was "about 2 or 3 years old," So when the father found an opportunity to bring his son's dream to life, he couldn't pass it up.
It took several weeks of research and even more time to set up a habitat suitable for an octopus. But after jumping through the hoops to purchase an octopus, they were surprised when, weeks later, it laid over 40 eggs!
Cameron had initially contacted a local pet store to figure out how feasible it would be to purchase a cephalopod.
"They told me it's not common. You have to make sure that it's done right and that you're responsible about it, but theoretically, it can be done," the father said. "So I got to work and did a lot of research, found some reputable websites, some experts and the rest is kind of history."
He also shared about his son's lifelong dream of owning an octopus. "He's always been infatuated with marine biology, especially octopus. For most birthdays and holidays, he would ask for a pet octopus," Cameron said. "We always laughed it off. We'd replace it with a stuffed octopus or a toy octopus, but as time went on, he persisted — over many years. We realized this wasn't something he was just going to forget."
More from LittleThings: Deep-Sea Diver Records Octopus, Then It’s As If It Disappears By Changing Colors
As far as setting up space for the pet octopus, it wasn't easy for the Oklahoma family. "The habitats required for these species aren't just your run-of-the-mill saltwater tanks. It requires some additional components that ensure that it's a safe, suitable environment for the octopus," Cameron explained.
"That alone takes a really long time, both to cycle the tank as well as acquire the equipment," he continued. "You have to read up on how to take care of them and find a suitable food source. You have to ensure that they are constantly stimulated and have all of the things necessary in order to have a safe habitat. That took us quite a while — about two months or preparation to be able to receive an octopus. So it was a lot of work, but certainly well worth it."
After preparing an environment, which is documented on the father-son duo's TikTok @doctoktopus, they finally purchased a two-spot octopus. Cal named her Terrance. The first two months were all about learning for them, but they didn't expect to be thrown for a loop when the octopus started acting strange.
"Terrance was very interactive and loved to be visible with us and involved in the action," Cameron said. "So for her to hide out in a cave for a few days straight was extremely unusual." It wasn't long before they figured out that Terrance was actually a female and had laid eggs. "It was pretty disheartening because we were under the assumption these eggs could not have been fertilized. After speaking to others who knew more about it, we came to the conclusion that these weren't viable eggs and that we would have several weeks after the eggs were laid until we'd lose her," the dad said.
But turns out, the eggs were fertilized. "We were not prepared to take care of so many babies, but at the same time, we were extremely surprised," Cameron said. "It's a rarity, I would say extremely rare in Oklahoma, to breed an octopus. I've come to find out it's been done in other places, but it's pretty rare to do so domestically." The family has been able to keep half the babies alive, which Cameron explained is very hard to do.
"The literature states that if you can get about a 5% yield of babies from the hatched eggs, and that's in favorable conditions. We initially managed to keep about 50 of the babies alive. We lost quite a few in the first few weeks, a lot of which had to do with transporting them and feeding them."
"Our plan is to re-home them to professional and suitable homes, to get them to people who can obviously take care of them," the dad said. "We have had great traction with bigger aquariums and research institutions. Some universities have expressed interest in them. And we've actually had a few that committed to taking them. The issue is, for now, they're just too small to be moved anywhere."
