Posted on 04/14/2024 2:51:31 AM PDT by Morgana
An Oklahoma family had no idea that a birthday gift for their nine-year-old son would lead to the birth of 50 octopus babies, numerous water tanks that took over half of a bathroom, and thousands of dollars on food supplies and water damage repairs.
Cameron Clifford, a 36-year-old dentist, said his son Cal had been obsessed with octopuses since the age of three.
'Every birthday, every Christmas, every holiday, he would always say: 'All I want is an octopus,'' Clifford told the New York Times.
In October, Clifford made a call to a local aquarium store and acquired a female California two-spot octopus for Cal's ninth birthday. They named her Terrance.
Terrance turned out to be larger than expected and soon began laying eggs. Clifford documented the journey on TikTok, where his videos amassed millions of views from 400,000 followers.
'Do not get a pet octopus unless you're ready to lose sleep and your kids' college fund simultaneously,' he told USAToday, jokingly.
When Clifford told his son that they could order an octopus from a local aquarium store, the nine-year-old immediately burst into tears.
'His ultimate dream, his cloud nine, the greatest thing that could ever possibly happen in one's life had just become a possibility, and he just broke down,' Clifford said.
'My friends and family, of course, all, as you probably imagine, said to me, 'Well, now you have to get it for him. You can't just dangle that in front of him and then turn around and just flatline that dream.'' the father added.
The father and son began preparing for the arrival of the pet octopus, which they named Terrence.
Clifford ordered a saltwater tank, a water cycling system and food supplies for Terrence, mostly from Facebook marketplace. He thought it would cost around $600.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Eat’em, they are a good food source.
There is always a burial at sea.
Flush.
Sometimes I wonder whether it is only westerners who have these tiktalk lived.
Embarrassing to watch
Exactly. Westerners have gone mad.
Or get him a stuffed animal???
These idiot parents should be sterilized. Giving a child whatever they ask for just never works out.
Wow. Preemptive solution? “No. You may not have an octopus for a pet”. After the fact? Flush the 50 kids down the toilet.
Growing up we had a rescue scotty, 1 cat which disappeared, and a borrowed compound Guard dog while living in SE Asia. After that and we returned stateside dad said nope, no more pets. I was a little pissed. But he was right. Got kids, no pets. There were better things to do than walk the kids dogs and empty cat boxes.
I’ve had a few dogs and cats afterwards but during life, and now I realize that at my age that although I would like to have a pet, it’s kind of nice not having a pet.
I have thought about volunteering at the local SPCA but all they have is pitbulls in there and I don’t really care for that breed.
“Stupid for getting the Octopus in the first place but now he has 50 of those suckers and does not know how to be rid of them?”
Keep the mother, use the children for sushi.
Someone this stupid will drop it into a sewer or lake and destroy an ecosystem.
Octopus was a mainstay of my grandfather’s seven fishes supper on Christmas Eve. Worked for him. Not me they remind me of squid which we used for bait!
Mom and dad should have learned how to say “NO.”
***Wow, it’s like Cal Worthington and his dog Spot, only different.***
I remember his advertisements in the 1970s!
I like to eat baby octopuses cooked in a spicy Korean sauce.
Sell them or give back to the store that they got the first one from.
“There it is you all, the stupidest thing I will read all day and it’s only 5:52 am”
That they named a female octopus Terrance is all you need to know about them. And yeah, it’s right up there re: “the stupidest thing” all day.
They should have gotten him the Hippopotamus instead.
“The story is almost another illustration of open borders.”
Gives new meaning to the term “anchor babies”.
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES!
I visited a wolf sanctuary last Summer. They have a wolf that was a gift to a teenaged girl from her parents. The girl was obsessed with wolves but was angry with the parents because she knew what was necessary to care for one. She immediately had them hire a contractor to build an enclosure that exceeded the standards used by wolf rescues. She also spent time with it every day.
When it was time for her to leave for college she arranged to donate the wolf to the sanctuary. At first they said they didn’t have any room so her family donated the money (about $40,000) to build an additional enclosure (they’re kept individually or in pairs). Then they said they couldn’t ship the wolf so the family flew it from Montana to Texas on their private jet.
The wolf has a trust fund.
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