octopets question

[reefer911]

Been doing alot of research on bimacs and octopets seems like the best and most affordable place to purchase them.(if not please inform) But do there prices include shipping. Because i didnt see any mention of it on their website.

Thanks,
Drew

 

[Jakxx]

No, the prices don't include shipping & handling since they depend on the weight and destination

But if you are interested in buying one, you probably could e-mail Jim from octopets. He might be able to help you about your shipping fees questions.

 

[Mizu]

One Bimac plus 200 clams is 40$ shipping from California to Pennsylvania
if that helps

 

[Jakxx]

All of you living in the US can call yourselves quite lucky in terms of being able to obtain an octo+food so relatively easy (and cheap)...

Here I even have the hardest time even finding a (live)food supply that doesn't involve buying species that are meant for keeping instead of being used as food, meaning they cost a helluva lot (too much to afford feeding an eight armed eating machine which only picks the best parts and leaves the rest :|)

Getting the octo is another thing, seems like there is no other way than to import one, which will also cost me a small fortune.. But oh well, I guess you have to spend some money for the things you like eh? 8)
(I'm not whining, I'm just a wee bit jealous I guess.. )

 

[Nancy]

Well, at least your octopus will eat thawed frozen shrimp, most likely.

And you might be able to find live mussels and fresh scallops - useful, provided you have an octo that eats these.

Then you can supplement with occasional live food. Are you near the ocean?

I'm really inland (5 hours by car from the Gulf of Mexico), and when my bimac was full grown (and she was a large bimac), I spent a LOT on food every week. I had live crabs shipped in from Florida. But, only the best for Ollie.

Nancy

 

[Jakxx]

Well, at least your octopus will eat thawed frozen shrimp, most likely.

Frozen food is no problem, but I doubt it might be a good idea feeding only frozen stuff (as you already suggested in one of your other postings)

By the way, I did read that it is almost sure that a young octopus (especially if he just was moved into his tank) will not accept anything but live food. Do you know if this a theory or a prooven fact?

Then you can supplement with occasional live food. Are you near the ocean?

Unfortunately, no, im not really near the ocean. Although I live in north germany, it is still quite a drive to the north shore from here (Given the fact that I have no car, which makes the whole thing a bit more complicated).

I had live crabs shipped in from Florida.

I actually am thinking about shipping in live animals (but I really should calculate the costs as I don't think that I'll get away cheap), but if I'm lucky the local museum can help me out (they have live saltwater fish for display and if I remember correctly they even had an o. vulgaris. The saltwater section got renovated though so I don't know if they still have one) Someone at the pet shop suggested me that if I talk nicely to the right people there I might be able to get some live food through them but this still is just a theory yet... Don't really know how they will react when I'll ask them. After all they are no fish market

I plan on going there tomorrow.
After all, if I don't find an affordable and reliable source of live food, I might as well forget the whole thing. What is the use of a car with no gas station around :|

I'm really inland (5 hours by car from the Gulf of Mexico), and when my bimac was full grown (and she was a large bimac), I spent a LOT on food every week.

Do you remember how much approximately you spent per week/month? I know the prices on food will differ between where you live and here, but it would be helpful to have anything like a scale that gives me a rough grasp of the costs. Considered that these are the frequent expenses I should calculate this part through the carefullest of all.


-sorry for the long (quite offtopic) post-

 

[Nancy]

It's nice to see you looking into all the aspects of keeping an octopus before ordering one.

It's true that young cephs eat only live food. When they're 3 months old, or even a little younger, they begin to accept "dead" food. I would doubt that you'd get an octopus so young that it had to be fed only live food. It must be fed as it's making its way to you. It would be good to have live food on hand for its arrival, as well as some shrimp in the freezer.

The crabs I ordered cost a little over $1 each, and they weren't large. I used about a dozen a week. I must say that crabs are easy to keep at home, in a bowl with some shells and rocks and some water. My husband has now set up a sand "beach" with a pool (in a plastic container) for fiddler crabs and they love it. So I think you could get many at once and keep them.

But do try to see if some institution near you that is feeding cephs or other animals that eat crabs and shrimp would share some food with you. Good luck with that!

Nancy

 

[Jakxx]

It's nice to see you looking into all the aspects of keeping an octopus before ordering one.

Heh, given the fact that I never had an Seawater Tank before I really have to be careful as everyone keeps telling that it is anything but cheap. And since I have to add food, water test kits, salt and even equippment that might needed to be replaced into my calculation, nothing would be worse than noticing that you are suddenly running out of money AFTER the tank has been established. After all a hobby should stay a hobby, not something you risk your life for by tryin to accumulate enough money to simply keep it running

 

[tjohnson]

reefer, when I saw Jim yesterday, he said average shipping cost is normally 30 dollars.

 

[Jakxx]

*sigh* I've just come back from our Museum. Ok they still have saltwater fish, but the only ones they have are a few doctor fish besides some corals. So there is no real live feeding involved I guess... I still have to talk to the person who is taking care of the fish as he already had finished work today before I came there.
Well, but I'm not very optimistic :|

So it's back to search I guess
(who thoght it could be this hard to find live food...)

 

[tjohnson]

Sorry you are having such a pain locating a live food source.