blue ring

[flyboy18]

i know what your gonna say, your gonna say im gonna die. But besides that i want to know where to get a blue ring octopus.

[Sloth]

your gonna die

[squidlips02]

They are the prettiest things your ever likely to see, I have thought about it a few times myself, I could go collect one myself, its less than an hours drive from where I live, but my wife is'nt ready for a tombstone just yet. by the way your gonna die?

Steve

[Freed]

There was a blue ring in Octopussy that jumped on a guy and killed him when the tank broke that it was in. That's what'll happen to you. Don't do it or yours will jump on you and kill you.

[downset]

Blue Ring Octo > Noob

[Dell'Oro]

Are you in the States?

If so, I don't like your chances as it is very very unlikely you would be able to import them.

The good news is, you're far more likely to live longer this way.....

An LFS not too far from me, used to have a couple in a small species tank, beautiful critters but I wouldn't want one in my house.

[moggyhill]

He can buy them in the States, they sell them to stupid people who have more money than brains. Oh well Darwin at work again. And by the way, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.

[MR.MORAY]

pm.d you but there bad news

[Gonodactylus]

Squidlips02,

I spent most of last year searching areas around Brisbane including Straddie and did not find a single Blue-ring. I did find a new species on Lizard, but the population in the Brisbane area seems to have crashed.

Roy

[flyboy18]

It doesnt matter anyway, i have a terminal heart condition that at best only gives me about two years to live. within at least a year i will be bed riden and will have to stay at home. While im still able to enjoy life i want to, i have taken up diving and hanggliding, i have also gone skydiving a few times. i have no fear of dying any more and i want a blue ring before i die. If i get bit, then so what, i have less than two years anyway. so if you know where to get one please let me know.

[flyboy18]

just kidding, im not really going to die, i had a heart condition and all, but im not going to die from it. i've been researching blue rings for sooo long and i know the risk, i know exactly what needs to be done and how long i have to do it if bitten, i know EXACTLY what i'm getting myself into and i know what it takes to house them. so, beyond the "you're going to die" comments, i would really like to know if anyone can set me up with one or knows where to get one. i am in the states, illinois, and im willing to pay. so anyone who can be straight with me, please respond with any info you have, everyone, dont bother. thanx

[Gonodactylus]

This is a bad time to try to find a blue-ring. Almost all of them that come into the U.S. market are from Indonesia and a combination of bad weather there this time of year, the holidays, and the fact that many of the H. lunulata are juvenile means that they are not showing up. Things will pick up in February or March.

[Brad524]

Good Luck
Let us know if everything goes ok.
and if any one has a pic of one I'd like to see it.

[Brad524]

Check other blue ring post

[tanksalot]

Years ago, while in Utah, I saw a sign on an aquarium that said "blue ring octopus $24.99". I couldn't see anything, so asked the clerk where it was. He stuck his hand in the tank, picked up a rock and shook it. The octopus came out, and turned a variety of colors in front of my eyes. Very, very neat. I thought the clerk was playing with death at the time, and further research proved that to be "somewhat" true. They ARE deadly, fairly timid, but most fatalities occur from beach visitors (in Australia) when they pick one up to look at it.

It's not an agressive, deadly killer (from what I had read), but still (to me) an unacceptable risk.

[flyboy18]

yea i know, they aren't aggresive. everyone thinks they know everything and are just like "you're gunna die", its not like that at all, u have to **** it off first, then practically grab it. even when its mad, u can put ur hand in the water and be safe, it doesn't just attack. thank you Gonodactylus, im really lookin to get it about then anywaz, so thats perfect, if u get any info on where exactly to track one down when feb/march rolls around, let me know, thanks

[bigworm616]

your gonna die, pretty ocotpus but your gonna die. If i had one in my apartment id kill it with a stick. Hope you find one.

[Gonodactylus]

I'm walking a fine line here. A few years ago I wrote an article for FAMA discussing blue-rings. My major purpose in publishing that article was to inform people of the danger of keeping a Hapalochlaena. This was based on my own experince seeing a person who probably died from a blue ring bite and having exposed my own daughter to an encounter with a blue-ring which could have been fatal.

On the other hand, the extreme paranoia that I see on sites such as this regarding keeping blue-rings is bothersome. They are generally not aggressive and someone who knows what they are doing can probably keep one quite safely. The problem is that when you put a blue-ring in an aquarium, you cannot guarantee that anyone who has access to the blue-ring knows enough to stay clear of it. That is why I always ask if you can be sure that the neighbor kid down the block won't reach into the tank when you are out of the room.

Even more troublesome is the fact that they are unpredictable. Almost always I can feed my blue-rings with a feeding stick with no problem. However, occasionally they attack the stick with unusual vigor and more than once I have had to drop the strick as the blue-ring charged up it towards my hand. Always the impulse was to push it back into the water, but that would mean coming in contact with it and that is something you do not want to do. I've kept blue-rings for 15 years and even this year I have come unintentionally close to having one grab on to my hand. Every time I deal with them I remind myself of the danger and what to and what not to do. Can you say that a visitor to your home who simply wants to see the pretty octopus while you are getting a Coke from the fridge will do the same?

Roy

[squidlips02]

Gonodactylus
I have heard there are a few in the caloundra area around the rock pools near Kings beach, I have never realy looked for them, but I did happen upon a very large bright orange octi that scared the bejesus out of me one afternoon up there, I mistook it for something else and I touched it, it was out of the water in a large rock with I presume water in it, any way to get back to my story I touched it to feel the texture thinking it was a sponge or something any way all of a sudden there were these big eyes looking at me, and its tenticles started moving well I'm not sure which of us got the biggest scare me or the otupus, I let out squeel and took off like a girl, i'll never live it down.
You must have spent some time in the area to know about straddie and that, holliday or work, some nice sots near Bunderberg.
Steve

[flyboy18]

Gonodactylus-

to address the problem of someone else entering the tank, it actually cant happen, because of the way the tank is made. its glass top is sealed 100% around the edge and the olny spot to open it is thru a small door that is hinged in the glass w/ a fraction of a centimeter around the door. the latches are so taht nothing from the inside can ever push the door up, so he cant push his own way out, and as for the people on the outside, they cant get in without knowing exactly what ur doing with the latch. plus the tank is on a dresser, so the actual top of the tank is a good 5 feet or so off the ground, and i live in an apartment so no one but me and my roommate will be there and he knows more bout salt water krap than i probably do, he has a 75gal reef. plus on top of that, my bedroom locks, so for the purposes of a party, no one can get in w/o me anywho. so i think as far as other people doin something to it, i think its covered.

now you say it runs up the stick at you? what do you do, obviously drop the stick, but if the stick is sticking out of the top, he could potentially climb out of the tank. what do u do? net him? with a longggg net? also, how long is this feeding stick? i planned on throwing live emerald crabs and junk in there. if you are feeding with a stick, are the crabs u feed them dead? should they be fed dead? thanks
J

[squidlips02]

I was talking to an aquarium dealer here in Bribane about your planed blue ring, and was told about a local woman who was caught by one a few years ago, she was moving a rock in her sons tank that had fallen, and it was under the rock,she thought she had been stung by an anemone. The doctors at the hospital that were treating her had an inkling that this was a lot more than an alergy to an anemone, when the son arived at the hospital and was asked if their was anything other than an anemone in the tank he told them about the blu ring, apparentley she only had a very small puncture the size of a pin, but was in severe pain and was treated with morphene, any how she survived, so maybe you aint gonna die after all, I love happy endings don't you

Steve

[Gonodactylus]

We typically feed live shrimp and stomatopods to our blue-rings. Most do not take to frozen or dead prey to readily, although some will. Because we use fairly small sealed aquaria, I have to be really careful about uneaten prey. They are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrite, so I have to remove uneaten food and exoskeletons promptly. Obviously this means working around the animals .

Roy

[Gonodactylus]

It is interesting that some blue-ring bites are reported to be painful and others apparently are not. This could be a species phenonomon, be related to the location of the bite, the amount of venom entering the wound, or the reaction of the person's immune system. There are not a sufficient number of detailed reports to sort this out.

Roy

[faylor]

so basically all i am wondering is what do these things look like how much would one cost and how would one go about never accidently stepping on one at the local fish store (i live in bumsville iowa never gonna happen) basically i just want to see a pic of one cause i wanna know what it looks like if it can actaully kill me

I personally am a zoo farmer and i have to wear vets gloves when im in my tank to the their poison and what not dosent get to me the first time i touched one i couldnt move my right fingers for about 3 days they got that stiff anyway i digress a pic would be nice and flyboy i wish the best in finding this creature seems like anything on this planet that demands that kind of respect and care should be taken very seriously and it seems like your ready for that commitment:)

[OctoMonkey]

I think it is also worth mentioning that many of the imported specimens that i have seen have died within only a couple of days of import... they dont seem to travel well

[dcoufal]

faylor:

A quick Yahoo search revealed over 100,000 results. Here's a pic for you:
http://www.earlham.edu/~sheedjo/blue-ringedoctopus.htm

P.S. Punctuation is your friend...;)

[JohnHenry]

It always raises eyebrows when someone wants to get a blue-ring. But should it, really?

Statistically, it's probably not much more dangerous than keeping, say, a loaded Uzi, a hair-trigger shotgun, or a kiddie-sized pistol around the house!

And on a side note, it might be reassuring to remember that natural selection is generally a very slow process, but that occasionally, under special circumstances, it can do rush orders, too. :rollface:

[merlin3]

blue ringed octopus's aren't that hard to find if you really want one. About 7 years ago when I was still working at an aquarium shop I ordered one in not knowing what it was. I actually used to get it out of it's cage under water and play with it and hold it. A few days later someone "higher" up in the company found out I had ordered it in and immediately came and got it. I would like to eventually get one but I definitely wouldn't handle it knowing what I do now : )

[scolex]

Man your lucky!

I live in CA and saw one about 6 months ago at my LFS for only $30 I didn't believe my eye's! I did have a Cobra @ one time so I know where he is coming from. Be safe and don't get distracted!http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/509/73572snake2.jpg

[Absint Reefer]

is'nt their venom in their beak so it would be really hard to get poisoned unless you tried picking it up

[scolex]

All it takes is a little bit that you might/ might not feel from the beak. I would just be worried about stepping on it in the middle of the night! :)

[goby1]

"That's my little octopussy." -Octopussy

[Aquaguru]

Beautiful creature only i'd be afriad of it bitting me and I not know. Have you gotten a hold of one yet, if you do let us know on how its doing.

[Sabah]

:mad2: I'm a diver, please leave these wonderfull creatures under the water for me to look at and photograph. Hasn't man already taken enough from the oceans!!!!!
If you want to take anything-TAKE PHOTOS

[Mason Dixon]

I've heard nitroglycerin patches can stop all spider venom in its tracks....are octopuses related somehow? If they are, maybe the nitro patches would work on the BRO's venom

Also, does anybody have a video of the BRO changing colors?