One Oklahoma family is growing after its pet octopus laid 50 eggs late last year, according to the Clifford family’s TikTok account @doctoktupus.
In October, Cameron Clifford, lovingly dubbed “octodad,” bought his son an adult female Bimac Octopus from California and named her Terrance. In December, Terrance laid 50 eggs that began hatching in February.
Clifford has been documenting the family’s journey on TikTok.
“Surprising my son with an aquarium so he can fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a pet octopus,” Clifford wrote in a March video as his son tearfully thanked him for the surprise.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Terrance arrived at the family’s home in a clear plastic bag inside of a styrofoam box. The following videos on their account show the Clifford family setting up and taking care of Terrance’s new home.
“Terrance is one social cephalopod—she requires lots of daily stimulation/attention to stay healthy and happy” one of the videos is captioned.
Just two months after the family had welcomed Terrance, she began laying several eggs. According to the University of Chicago, a mother octopus lays her eggs and then begins to stop eating, causing her to die before her offspring is born.
On March 26, the Cliffords posted an update saying they expected Terrance to die in the following weeks. Much to their surprise, Terrance is still thriving.
“We had always stayed in constant contact with our bimac experts, one of which had cared for dozens of bimacs through the years, and none of them had ever laid fertile eggs,” the family explained in a clip. “Even educational and research facilities struggle with hatching them in captivity but this occurred 3 feet from my son’s bed in Central Oklahoma,” the post continued.
Soon enough, Terrance’s tank was full of octopus toddlers.
Their video diary chronicles the lengths the Clifford parents went to take care of Terrance and her offspring, including extensive research.
Although not all 50 hatchlings were able to survive, the family welcomed Pearl, Melinda, Jay-Sea, Sea-yonceeé, Rocket Larry, and a few others to their growing family.
Terrance continues to be fed by hand for now while the babies stay with a local reptile scientist, Clifford told the New York Post.
The family is looking for professional care for the hatchlings.
