An Oklahoma family is documenting their experience raising baby octopuses after learning that their pet octopus unexpectedly laid fifty eggs.
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Cameron Clifford,36, and his wife purchased a California two-spot octopus named Terrance for their son Cal for his ninth birthday in October but didn’t know that the octopus was a female and expecting to lay her eggs soon. The family discovered the dozens of eggs two months after Terrance was brought home. According to the Daily Mail, they made tiny octopus homes and an aquarium to ensure the babies survived.
Cameran said it was difficult to transport the baby octopuses because of their low survival rate and high sensitivity to water conditions, particularly temperature. Half of the babies survived, and the faily reportedly spent thousands of dollars on marine food and repairs for the octopus habitat.
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Additionally, the couple purchased the octopus for their son because he had been fascinated with the animal.
The family also documented their journey on Tiktok where they can educate others on taking care of octopuses despite some backlash from viewers. One user wrote on X(formerly Twitter), “Octopi are extremely intelligent, sentient creatures that should never be kept confined by humans as pets or lab experiments.” Another wrote, “OK but what the hell kind of person keeps an octopus as a pet?! I’m sorry but that should not be allowed. Nope.”
Despite the opposition, the family continues to navigate the complexities of their aquatic undertaking, they remain hopeful about re-homing as many of the octopuses as possible, sharing their experiences to educate and inspire others about the demands and delights of caring for such unique pets. So far, they have 400,000 followers on Terrance’s official TikTok page.
