Octofun

[godfather]

Hi all.
A while ago I introduced myself and mentioned I was planning to get a tank and octo in the near future.
Well today I bought my equipment : a 105 gallon tank, huge protein skimmer, decent heating, UV lights with a timer, live rock, seasand and an air supply. The whole lot gets delivered here next week, so I'll be posting some pics then
I plan on getting a RO kit in a few weeks, as currently everything totalled at 1000 Euro, and the RO kit would be another 250...

As you may recall, I was (and still am) having problems locating a shop that could sell me an octo.
My LFS could procure one and is planning on keeping them on display in the shop in a few weeks... but the species was "the blue one", which nearly caused me to have a stroke when I heard it.
A further chat with the owner of the shop reveiled it was not the blue-ringed octo, that it looked more greyish/light blue and would be imported from Indonesia...
Hmm, sounds like a good back up solution, but I want more certainty, so I gave the guys at www.fishsupply.com a ring, to find out they don't ship to Belgium.

So, what now? I'm going to call the US Fish&Wildlife department and check with them how to proceed to get a 3-177 document : declaration of import/export of wildlife. ( see http://www.kingsnake.ca/imp_exp.html )
Then I'll check with a shipping company that can guarantee shipping AND delivery within a day ( will come at a price, but it's well worth it )....
Just came here to give you an update on my progress, and frankly said, I need some cheering up too

The journey ahead is long, and difficult I imagine ( especially if you find things like "It's a bit scary to have someone opening your animals in the middle of their journey to your customer" (opening my animal?? but I want to import a LIVING octo ) on the US site, or on the BE custom's page "How to prevent problems? The best solution is not to import an animal" ( Written by yours truly, Captain Obvious, who would like bring to your attention that research has proven injuries suffered from car accidents dropped by a dramatic 99.9% by not leaving the driveway of your house. :P )

If this doesn't work out, my next solution is to go over to London, find an LSF with Bimaculodes, buy one and "smuggle" it back with the Eurostar... only a 3-4 hour train ride...

In any case, should I be able to export a bimac from fishsupply.com on my own, I'll post the entire procedure so it can be reused by Tonmo!

Greetz & expect more news soon

Roger "I'll have my bimac, even if I have to come and pick it up in CA myself"

 

[godfather]

found the documents online :

http://www.le.fws.gov/pdffiles/3-177-1.pdf
sheet 2 : http://www.le.fws.gov/pdffiles/3-177-2.pdf

This doesn't look too discouraging... maybe I'll be able to successfully pull this off after all

 

[godfather]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6 or 7 international calls later, I might have found the solution : http://www.pacpet.com/

I tried some other pet transporters, but they don't handle octopusses and were very reluctant to hear me out
Pacpet doesn't either normally, but they are willing to try it!!!
They'll even contact www.fishsupply.com to see how the octopus needs to be packaged and handled, how to keep it etc... and gather information on that.

I, on the other hand, have been able to confirm through my calls that the bimaculodes is not on the CITES list of endangered/protected species, and should just be declared using form 3-177 : declaration of import/export of wildlife at a designated US port for wildlife... ( http://international.fws.gov/animals/wildlifeport.html )
The friendly lady mentioned there was a port for wildlife not 20mins away from them, and that fishsupply.com is only 1h away from them, and they could go pick up the octo over there eventually beforing shipping it over.
And as they are an officially recognised pet importer/exporter, they should have no problems doing this

In general they seemed very caring, wanting to make sure the pet gets transferred alive and in good health.

So, now I have to wait for them to investigate these things and contact me back by mail, and eventually - if it works out - they'll be shipping my octo over here!!

My plans for octopus-owning are slowly taking shape.
Well, let's get back to my plans for world domination now...

Fellow Europeans, take notice for this might help ye in your quest for the elusive Bimaculodes - a tank raised one, for that matter !

I"ll keep you all posted

(and I'll try to post somewhat more briefly )

 

[tonmo]

Hi godfather! It's great that you're doing so much research... and you've definitely come to the right place, we have many experienced bimac owners here who can help (as I'm sure you've gathered).

We look forward to seeing the pics of your tank!