My Very Interesting Pet!

Can you guess the most exotic pet I've ever had?

A spider...nope!

A snake...wrong!

Try again...

A cricket...nah...sorry!

The answer is an OCTOPUS! (ปลาหมึก = Pla -Muek)

Yes, a live octopus with tentacles. This is the same creature that is served as a delicious dish in Thailand! Have you ever eaten octopus? Does my pet look delicious?

Eddie, the octopus, was the pet my husband and I had when we lived in Thailand. I named him after Eddie Murphy, the movie star. He had a funny look that reminded him of 'Eddie'. Look at his picture on the left, then you will see what I am talking about.

Per Wikipedia, octopuses are highly intelligent, probably more intelligent than any other order of invertebrates. They are intelligent enough to escape from secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure. Eddie tried to escape from the tank, too. Fortunately, he was not successful due to how our aquarium was built. When the octopus escape, they can't find their way back to the tank. They are usually found dead on the floor. What a sad way to lose your pet.
Have you lost a pet in some sad way?

Keeping Eddie was a lot fun. We provided him with different types of homes. Lucky him...I only had one home...hahaha. He didn't stay at one place for long. He liked to relocate from one home to the next. One of his favorite homes was my dad's whiskey glass. His second favorite home seemed to be a clay pot (see the picture on the left). It was actually made to be a bird house but it was perfect for Eddie.

See the pictures below. Looks like he was moving again. :)














One thing about Eddie that fascinated me was every time he moved to his new home, he always moved his "belongings" with him. What am I talking about? Well, Eddie collected quite a few empty shells. He used them to decorate his home. He was very particular about how placed the shells. He would rearrange them until he was happy about it. Isn't that funny?

We fed Eddi a live fish sometimes and let him hunt his own food.
He was a good predator. Here is a picture of him grasping the fish
with his tentacle.







Have you ever pet the live octopus?

It's very cool that Eddie let my husband pet him. He was very smart and figured out that my husband's hand was neither food nor his predator, so he didn't try to attack his hand. It was scary to think about it now because the octopus can bite you and inject you with poison and digestive enzymes if he feels threatened.

The octopus has a short life span. On average, they live about one year. We had Eddie about 6 - 7 months or so before he died from old age. He was a great and cool pet we've had!

If you would like to see Eddie's video, please visit the links below. We posted 2 of his videos on sharkle.com 3 years ago.

Part I Eddie the Octopus, My Interesting Pet

Part II Eddie the Octopus, My Interesting Pet

How about you? Tell me about your pet.

What is the most unusual pet you've ever had?