Does your LFS carry Blue Ringed Octopus?

PeterEde · Jul 6, 2023

Rocktron1 said:
Beautiful scary creatures. Not sure on legalities of having one. Over here in Perth I've pulled my Cray pots and had them fall out onto the floor of boat , some as small as your thumb nail. They're the ones I'm scared of , especially since I don't wear shoes on the boat

My local got a load of new stock one day while I was there. 2 octopus hitch hikers. One very small which fell into the floor. I picked it up. Pretty sure it was not a BR though.

revhtree · Jul 6, 2023

Keep this thread on topic please. A few posts removed. Thanks.

PeterEde · Jul 6, 2023

Joj said:
Saw one last week my LFS. Kept a in those betta cups (just the bigger version of those cups). I’ve seen 3 or 4 there through out the years at that LFS. I assume it’s getting sold and not just for the shock value. I’ll look at it but never care for it because of the venomous reasons. I’ll ask next time I’m there why they sell them if I see it the next time. There was no written warning of it being venomous on the glass or cup or waiver or anything. I just think it’s such a liability to have one since you aren’t selling it for very much. Now thinking about it, they are smart animals and it it escapes it’s cup and get out onto the floor and I step on it, etc - it’ll be bad (of course very low risk of that…but never know).

Not that good for the animal to be imported just to die in a store.
Blue Rings are native to Australia up to Japan.

Zartan · Jul 6, 2023

I love octopus! Probably my favourite aquarium pet so far! I almost bought a blue ringed when it came in a box of Tonga rock. Unfortunately It didn’t survive to the next day.

MBinNY · Jul 6, 2023

My LFS usually has 1 or 2. Not my forte but to each their own.

Slocke · Jul 6, 2023

MBinNY said:
My LFS usually has 1 or 2. Not my forte but to each their own.

Let’s hope your LFS has some good lawyers then….

BubblesandSqueak · Jul 6, 2023

They had one in James Bond Octopusy. It landed on the guys face and bit him when the tank broke open.

Blue-Ringed Octopus | Pete's Aquariums & Fish

The Blue-Ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena) are octopus that live in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from Japan to Australia. Their primary habitat is around southern New South Wales, South Australia, and northern Western Australia. They are recognized as one of the...

petesaquariums.com

Alexraptor · Jul 6, 2023

The venom of Blue Rings does not scare me one bit.

But the fact that those venomous salivary glands are connected to an exceptionally high intelligence however, terrifies me!

b1llvance · Jul 6, 2023

Rivers to reefs for the win. Aaron gets the best stuff in.

Anemone_Fanatic · Jul 6, 2023

That's going to be a no for me... I also keep snakes, and any venomous species is treated with great care. Nobody gets them unprepared, and most people train with a mentor for a year or so before buying them. They frequently "practice" handling defensive snakes before buying anything that can kill you by keeping mean snakes, such as mangrove snakes and imported rat snakes.. If you can go a year without getting bitten, you MIGHT be ready to buy a native snake from a responsible breeder. Many states/countries have strong regulations over them, frequently banning non-native species for which antivenom isn't commonly available. From that perspective, the idea that you could walk into a store and buy a BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS for 70$ with no expertise is terrifying. Don't buy this thing. Just don't. Even public aquariums rarely keep these, and if they do, they take great precautions.

PeterEde · Jul 6, 2023

MBinNY said:
My LFS usually has 1 or 2. Not my forte but to each their own.

That BR is there because it wants to be there. That hole looks bigger than it's beak would be and that is the limiting factor in how small a hole an octopus can get through.

Nick Steele · Jul 6, 2023

My LFS had one once. It came in a livestock order unexpectedly. They had it in a breeder box trying to figure what to do. It actually escaped into their coral frag system and the worker was excepting to fine it one day while fragging but it actually showed up in an overflow about 3 months later. They lost countless clownfish and small tangs.

PeterEde · Jul 6, 2023

Anemone_Fanatic said:
That's going to be a no for me... I also keep snakes, and any venomous species is treated with great care. Nobody gets them unprepared, and most people train with a mentor for a year or so before buying them. They frequently "practice" handling defensive snakes before buying anything that can kill you by keeping mean snakes, such as mangrove snakes and imported rat snakes.. If you can go a year without getting bitten, you MIGHT be ready to buy a native snake from a responsible breeder. Many states/countries have strong regulations over them, frequently banning non-native species for which antivenom isn't commonly available. From that perspective, the idea that you could walk into a store and buy a BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS for 70$ with no expertise is terrifying. Don't buy this thing. Just don't. Even public aquariums rarely keep these, and if they do, they take great precautions.

Poisonous snakes in the USA. Hold my beer.
In Australia we have the worlds deadliest from the mulga (king brown), eastern brown, taipan, tiger. All can kill you and all aggressive. Never heard of anyone keeping these snakes as pets. Zoos only.

Slocke · Jul 6, 2023

PeterEde said:
Poisonous snakes in the USA. Hold my beer.
In Australia we have the worlds deadliest from the mulga (king brown), eastern brown, taipan, tiger. All can kill you and all aggressive. Never heard of anyone keeping these snakes as pets. Zoos only.

I once found a snake called a tiger snake. Hearing it was harmless from my cheetah keeper (at a local rescue) friend I decided to show it to my students to show them that snakes weren’t evil. Later I googled tiger snake just to find they were in fact deadly snakes and one of the most dangerous in the world.

A bit farther down I noticed they were endemic to Australia and I was in Southern Africa. It was another species called a tiger snake. At least the African species looks like a tiger unlike the Australian but that the one that comes up on google. Scared the heck out of me.

Anemone_Fanatic · Jul 6, 2023

PeterEde said:
Poisonous snakes in the USA. Hold my beer.
In Australia we have the worlds deadliest from the mulga (king brown), eastern brown, taipan, tiger. All can kill you and all aggressive. Never heard of anyone keeping these snakes as pets. Zoos only.

Unfortunately, many in the U.S. want to keep snakes from your country as pets. We've got a few people with coastal taipans and brown snakes, but I can't say I've seen any of those other species anywhere except in zoos and in the collections of people who really know what they're doing. Given the wildlife export laws in Australia, I expect that many were smuggled in. I don't get why somebody would keep anything that will kill you before you can call an ambulance. The staples over here are monocled cobras and western diamondbacks, which will at least give you time to finish up your will. Every year a few people get bit by captive snakes, it's all over the news every time. Luckily most hospitals have antivenom, but it'll cost you.

I can see why people want to keep venomous snakes, but I doubt I ever will. I'll stick to pythons and rat snakes, thank you very much.

PeterEde · Jul 6, 2023

Most people who die of snake bit or get bitten are trying to kill the snake. Best off NOT trying to kill them.
We are taught to watch where they go and call a catcher if the snake is living in a dangerous place. ie home, school or other place in close proximity to people