Rumpus asks
You like pictures of octopi. Is there a consideration of buying one? Or is that too expensive, too much work, too cruel, whatever? It creeps me out how well they can camouflage…and that video of one grabbing a shark was freaky. I’m not sure I’d let one in the house, I hear some like to play pranks.
#1: I do not want to buy one. They are too smart for me to keep as a pet. They are escape artists and very curious. Also, running a saltwater tank is muy expensive and lots of hard work.
#2: Too much work for me. Kittehs are about where I’m at.
What do you all think of octopus ownership?
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
November 25, 2011 at 6:38 am
Saltwater tanks are a *massive* f*cken pain in the ass. If I had one, I wouldn’t bother with octopuses, though. I’d get a bunch of those really colorful clown fish and shitte.
November 25, 2011 at 11:35 am
You can see I agree with you about the saltwater tank. (With friends like those, who needs anemones?)
November 25, 2011 at 5:15 pm
yuck yuck yuck :-)
November 25, 2011 at 7:44 am
I would want an octopus that could predict sports events (e.g. el Pulpo Paul) or the academy awards.
November 25, 2011 at 11:35 am
That would be awesome!
November 25, 2011 at 2:41 pm
What you and CPP said: salt water tank is too much work, very expensive, and more of a heartache (I would think) if something as awesome as an octopus were to escape and die on your watch. Freshwater tanks already take a goodly chunk of time to keep going strong.
November 25, 2011 at 5:18 pm
That would be sad. :( #2 doesn’t even have houseplants.
November 25, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Oh, that would be sad. I don’t have houseplants either. For the sole reason that I inadvertently kill them despite my best efforts. I would like an octopus friend, though. Then I could go visit his garden in the sea and be warm under the storm.
November 25, 2011 at 5:12 pm
I would like to dress my kitteh up as an octopus.
November 25, 2011 at 5:15 pm
ROFL!!
November 26, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Yeah, good one! Way more fun than the reply that jumped in my head, which is that just because something is awesome doesn’t mean you have to own it. (But owning a costume of it, in kitteh size…)
November 26, 2011 at 4:31 pm
I totally want a penguin. Hubby tells me the dogs wouldn’t be down with that. After seeing “March of the Penguins” I’m guessing a penguin could hold his own against our elderly doggies.
And I love the idea of octopi(?) playing pranks.
November 26, 2011 at 4:34 pm
We just finished Mr. Popper’s Penguins the other night. :)
November 27, 2011 at 7:58 am
ooh, good book! I love kids books so much that I am, uh, rereading them even though we don’t have kids. I keep telling myself I’ll be extra prepared when the kids finally come around :-) I use kids books as my bedtime reading because they are relaxing and easy on the brain.
November 27, 2011 at 8:23 am
It was fun reading after rereading Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, because Anne Fadiman is also an arctic-phile (not the actual word).
November 27, 2011 at 1:22 pm
I really want an otter. Actually, a lot of otters. For which wish, PiC calls me Veruca Salt. The nerve. Octopi…. well, they seem cool at first but then I get all sucked into watching them and then I start getting creeped out by the thought that they could come heaving out of the tank and grabbing things and adventuring which might be cool for a minute but then it could really all get out of hand.
November 28, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I think octopi are muy cool, but I wouldn’t keep something that smart in a cage. DH wants to set up a reef tank as his retirement project and we are thinking more along the lines of those fancy clams. Similar colors, similar molluscitude, but wouldn’t give a person a guilt trip.