Would it ever be feasible to have an octopus as a pet?

Not that good a pet as they all like to escape. , not just Inky.

Animals that enjoy living and being cared for by humans make good pets. Octopuses don’t seem to enjoy it at all.

It’s feasible, but it looks like they’re much harder to care for than fish. They need a big tank and you can’t keep them with other octopi or fish.

It would be cool though. I got a backstage tour at the Long Beach aquarium, and the octopus tanks were really interesting. Given the slightest chance they would leave their tanks at night and eat the other animals. The solution was placing Astroturf decks around the tanks, octopus won’t cross it.

It depends on how much money you have.

I think that would be cruel, actually. They are not domesticated, and it sounds like they would need much more stimulation than the average pet. Since I believe most dogs/rabbits/cats/birds lead lives which are way too boring, I don’t want to imagine what a lifestyle as a pet would do to an animal as smart as an octopus.

Reading “Alex and Me” cured me of wanting a parrot as a pet. We are very much used to the complacent creatures which were bred to be with us. We tend to forget that they were actually bred to quietly endure the periods of boredom ensuing whenever we’re busy. Wild animals need a real purpose.

That depends considerably on what you expect from, or more definitively, your definition of the function of a pet.

If you let me abduct you, we can “experiment” forever.

Octopodes are wonderfully intelligent animals that like to live freely in their natural habitats, and not be confined to a small tank to be “cared” for by some stupid human.

You can work at an aquarium that has octopi, or see what the job requirements are for octopus tender.

Or just get an aquarium pass to one that has octopi.

Only a hippopotamus will do

@ragingloli A classic with your name on it has just been released on steam.

Played it on my 486dx2 back in the day.

I’d agree they should be left alone in their natural habitats but many animals do adapt just fine to a life in captivity. From what I have read Octopus are solitary, primarily nocturnal animals and often close themselves into rock dens during the day. Kinda like brainac introverts. lol
A very small species might do fine in a captive environment, a larger species no.

Females die after breeding at 1–2 years of age otherwise they only live 3–5 years so this is not a long lived animal like a cat, dog, goose, horse, parrot or tortoise.
“Boredom” is not a concept animals understand nor think of. Boredom is a human construct. Yes, animals need stimulation to be their healthiest and happiest, and some animals more so than others. Rabbits not much, dogs and parrots a lot.

The thing I find fascinating about the octopus is that it is a solitary creature with a short lifespan, yet capable of feats one would associate with advanced intelligence. I mean the thing counters all the stuff I was taught about our excuses for sentience, beginning with the fact that it’s an invertebrate.

Wow, I didn’t have any idea they were so short-lived, @Coloma.
6 months to 5 years, depending on the species, is what I read. I think that alone would prohibit any of them actually becoming popular pets.

I agree with the general sentiment that trying to keep an octopus as a pet would be a bad idea.
However, I’d love to visit an aquarium as @jaytkay and @Zaku suggest, and experience them live. Preferably at least one that has met and interacted with humans, as Inky had.

@ibstubro Yeah, I was too and I also read that if they did have a longer life span, their learning capabilities would be off the charts, unsurpassed by any other life form, but, being so short lived their capacity to learn is limited. If we died at 3–5 years of age so would ours.

Maybe humans should be researching how to extend the lives of octopi, hoping they can dig us out of the mess we’ve made, @Coloma?

@ibstubro No sheet! They could be the master race no doubt. haha

lol perhaps if I had a big enough tank. But I think it would be hard to clean, but I think they are interesting water creatures.

@Coloma ’ “Boredom” is not a concept animals understand nor think of. Boredom is a human construct. ’

Are you saying animals can’t be bored? Do you have a source to back up that claim?

I accept that octopuses are intelligent, but I wonder what use it is for them in the wild. Other animals that are considered intelligent are highly sociable, like apes, elephants, parrots and dolphins.

That’s an interesting observation, @LostInParadise.

When it comes to aquatic life, we’ve only scratched the surface of understanding, for one thing?

Octopus as a pet would require a saltwater tank, which, from what I hear, is more effort than a regular tank.

@longgone I;m saying that applying that word to animals is a human thing. Yes, they need stimulation but a cat or dog or horse is not saying to themselves like a human, ” I am so bored.” They just sleep, stand around, gaze out the window but they don’t have a concept of boredom. Animals always just accept the moment they are experiencing without the mental fighting and complaining humans do.

Of course they can exhibit stress related behavioral problems and lack or stimulation can lead to destructive and neurotic/obsessive issues but our pets are not sitting at home clock watching and thinking to themselves ” OMG…she won’t be home for another 6 hours and I am so bored.” haha They are happy in the moment when you take them out for a walk or turn them out to pasture or whip out the laser pointer but they do not lie around ruminating about being “bored.”

Just fpound this! Inky has Escaped to freedom in the Ocean again. The artile says it is not because he was lonely, or bored or unhappy, as they are solitary creatures, but they have an insatiable curiosity. They are cnfident he will survive as he was taken from a reef a few years ago and had led a wild life. Yay Inky!

www.usatoday.com/story/news//world/2016/04/14/octopus-escape-artists--aquariums/83019170/

Link in the details, @Coloma? Ha, ha!

@ibstubro Haha, well, just in case someone didn’tread all the way to the end, what can I say, I am famous for spoilers. lol

I just thought of something terrible! HOW do they know for sure Inky made it to the Ocean and is not stuck in the pipe somewhere? Oooh nooo. I hope not!

@Coloma I’m worried about inky too.

There was a NY Times article about it (I actually posted it on the Fluther FB page prior to it being discussed on Fluther) and they said the employees searched the ducts and “behind the scenes” at the aquarium.

@jca Oh good, I’d hate to think the poor thing was stuck somewhere in the pipes or duct work or whatever.

@Coloma: I agree. I am guessing it wouldn’t be able to survive more than a few minutes out of water, like any other fish.

@jca From what I’ve read they can survive outside of water for a little while 30–60 minutes if their gills are moist or atmospheric conditions are of high humidity. I wonder if the pipe he escaped through had water in it?

They can crawl out of an aquarium, across the room, and into another aquarium for a hunting raid. So they definitely do better out of water than fish.

And here’s a story about octopus crawling between tide pools.

It mentions they might be OK for “several minutes” out of water in the salty spray on the coast.

Inky The Octopus’s Great Escape from NPR.