I hope I didn't come across as overly harsh either; in fact, the emphasized "this animal can kill you" part was really aimed at people who might be looking through the archives later for information to decide on whether to keep a blue ring or not. I'm not horribly opposed to people learning the details and deciding they'd want one with full knowledge, but I've now seen a number of sellers who either downplay or don't mention at all that if this animal bites you, it is far more likely to be fatal than, say, a rattlesnake or a scorpion. In 1987, I was looking into getting an octo tank, and the store I went to said "the one you really want is the blue ring, it's prettier." I was fortunate enough to know (in those pre-internet days) to ask "isn't that the kind that can kill you?" And he just had sort of a "well, yeah, but it's prettier, and most people aren't bothered by that." I really got the impression that some sellers care a lot more about the "pretty costs more" markup than they do about not killing their customers.
Anyway, if you, or any one else, have read all the articles like
Death in a Pretty Package: The Blue-Ringed Octopuses - The Cephalopod Page and want to keep one knowing that, I just want to help make sure it's done responsibly. (Pragmatically speaking, since that article says that 1000 blue rings are imported to the US anually, apparently they don't actually bite and kill their owners too often, so owning a blue ring is probably statistically less likely to kill you than riding a motorcycle, but trying to hedge your bets seems like a good idea if you're interested in either of those hobbies.) I actually thought the blue-ring video that Clownfish (I think) posted the other day was pretty nifty, but I don't think they're any cooler than any other octopus. And they're not agressive enough to put in the moat to ward off attackers; I think a school of humbodts would be much more effective as a burglar deterrent and to dispose of your enemies, so what's the fun of having a toxic animal if you can't dispose of pesky British agents trying to foil your world domination plans?
Actually, that does raise the question of what the appeal is for keeping blue rings... I know I'm fascinated by dangerous animals, but I don't have much interest in having them around my house. (But I do want to scrape together the time and money to dive with humboldts, so clearly I'm as much of a Darwin Award candidate as the next guy...) I'm curious what the appeal is, not just for Hobokin but Greg and Roy (and anyone else who's interested in them).