I am looking for a little help, I have a 4 year old son named Dylan who is without a doubt (dont all parents say this, ha ha) the most brilliant kid I know. He is so interested in any ocean life that it nearly consumes him. I even had to pain a deep sea mural on his walls with at least 8, -yup you guessed it- squid. He will pass up toys any day to have someone read him a book on ocean life, and knows many of the squid species. Anyways, thank goodness for tivo because Dr. Stephen O'Shea is his idol and we watch his discovery documentary at least once a week. At this point, I feel I have found everything I can related to squid and octopi that I can, we have bought frozed squid parts and used his microscope, DVD's , figurines, and of course books on cephalopods, but I know there is more out there. I am wondering if anyone can tell me where I may find other cephalopod materials. Maybe a preserved specimen ( i have found an octopus, and a shark, but no squid, supposedly these are already dead and arent killed just for preserving which I would'nt want) or a beak, ( i would have no idea where to find one of these, from what i have seen none of the local markets around here carry whole squid) even a nice print for framing or an anatomical poster would be fascinating. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated:)

Carolina biological supply company sell them

https://www2.carolina.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10101&langId=-1

Also there is a book from NZ called Karunui's Tentacles which is filled with squid and octopus stuff www.otago.ac.nz/marinestudies and there are some downloadable resources on the site too.

If you get really stuck pm me and I'll see if I can at least send a beak.

Cheers

Jean

Thanks so much for the resources Jean, with the information you have provided, I am sure to find something new to stimulate the little ones brain with (or mine that is now overloaded with fish and squid, ha ha) Anyways, I really appreciate it and thanks so much for taking the time to respond:)


-tina

Anyways, thank goodness for tivo because Dr. Stephen O'Shea is his idol


Oh, like he needed that ego boost. Now, there'll be no living with him!

Seriously, what a great kid Dylan sounds like, refreshing to meet young people who have a something grander in their life than the next xbox game.

Be sure to post a lot !

Greg

Hmmm. Sounds like a 4 year old I used to know....

Sorry for the huge ego boost! Anybody who works with squids or other marine life is a hero in his eyes, and honestly, his interest in the subject has helped him dramatically overcome his fear of water, a year ago, playing in the ocean would have been out of the question, but now that he knows all his little fishy friends live there, we couldn't drag him out of the gulf of mexico! Sorry, but we gotta boost O'Shea's ego here, fantastic work, very excellent program, (although I could go the rest of my life without watching it again, Lets say I have seen it more than once, ). I think that it is important that we let children get involved in things they show interest in as early as possible, so as to encourage a passion very early on for what they love, and hopefully they will be more likely to pursue it in the end, perhaps it is O'Shea's hands - on approach that intrigues Dylan, or the fact that you can see that he truly cares what he is working on, either way, Dylan has developed an accent, (We live in Ohio, we don't have accents, ) and keeps telling me how many meters long things are, I keep trying to figure out how to convert units in my head! Ha Ha, So Thank you so Stepen O'Shea, and everyone who is trying to make marine biology fascinating again, and I am still looking for for squid-tastic items if anyone has any suggestions! Thanks

Just don't let Dylan learn about Steve's other passion........Neil Diamond :roll: or you will NEVER be able to turn on the stereo again without "Sweet Caroline" or the like blaring out.........:yuck:


J

Dylan's music choices are obviosly influenced by what we listen to, but, no Neil yet, but you never know, he does seem to favor some "older music" especially jazzy music, Oh my, I'll have to make sure I don't play too much Neil around him! I wasn't aware of Dr. O'Shea's love of Neil Diamond's music, but what an interesting tidbit. Thank you all for being so kind and continuing to reply, it has been tremendously helpful to meet people with similar interests who are willing to share their time for our little boy, Thanks again

Tina

If you need a giant squid light switch cover for his room - I sell them on my eBay store or just email me at thickets@uniserve.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/Giant-Squid-Light-Switch-Cover-architeuthis_W0QQitemZ170074376767QQcmdZ ViewItem

I'm no O'Shea ;) , but I can probably send you a preserved squid (Loligo pealeii). I am a marine science educator and they tend to die in our trwal anyways . . . . email me @ conal DOT okeefe AT gmail DOT com if you want me to look into it.

p.s. I have a squid tattoo that is posted somewhere on this sire; I know the attraction to the squid . . . :)

.conal.

What an amazing show of thoughfulness I have experienced on this website, I can't thank all of you enough for all you help. I am wondering if anybody knows how I may post a little picture of Dylan somewhere for you to see if you are interested, I have a few cute photos of him with his microscope and our recent study of grocery store squid parts:) Also wondering if anyone knows where I might find a plush of stuffed animal of a squid. He is wise beyond his years but still likes something to cuddle at night. Right now it is his blue-ringed octopus by Wild Republic (yup I found one of those, but no squid yet!) I read him an article recently about hobbyists selling blue-rings for aquarists not knowing what they were and Dylan got all in an uproar and said "mommy they can't do that , those are poisonous" . He is very fond of his stuffed one though! He has a giant octopus, but it is far too big to sleep with! He has asked numerous times about a squid, but i haven't been able to locate one yet. Thanks so much for the post about the lightswitch covers, I am going to get one, it will make a wonderful addition to his squid-tastic room. ( I am no picasso, but I thought I did an okay job painting the squid unil Dylan started pointing out my mistakes!) Also Still looking for a neat poster or print of squid if anyone has suggestions on where to find one. Thanks again so much to everyone, you guys have been a tremendous help:)

tina

I got one a plush squid for valentine's day: http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?p=87677&highlight=plush+squid#post87677

It looks like that particular one is no longer available from Amazon or TheBigZoo, but there's a new model:

http://www.thebigzoo.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=13617

or through amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Cuddly-Giant-Squid/dp/B000PBPPMC/ref=sr_1_4/002-8966416-6128831?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1180537175&sr=8-4

If you're really feeling over the top (and rich), you can go here for a handmade life-sized giant squid:

http://www.modernsquid.com/

Thank you to Monty for reccommending sites for squid plush, I don't know how over the top I am feeling for that huge archi, but I will wait for a reply as to what the cost for such a beast is, and I will let you know. Of course Dylan can't sleep with that big thing! He can sleep on i though! The one from the big zoo is absoloutely perfect, I am throwing it in the shopping cart! This is great, he reminds me of Loinus from Charlie Brown with the blanket the way he carries around his blue ring, now he will have something new to carry around (he takes these things everywhere, even the grocery store:) Thanks a whole bunch, Ill keep you updated on that bohemouth squid, it is pretty cool, I will be curious to see how much they want for it.



Thanks
Tina K

Update on the stuffed Giant squid search. The squid from the big zoo is definently coming home, but the other REALLY GIANT squid, will have to wait for Donald Trump to adopt him! Some of Archi's smaller friends are more reasonable, so we may look into those, they also do custom orders, so we may also ask them to quote a smaller squid, maybe 3 feet instead of 15! and he is 4, so it doesnt need to be made out of $50 a yard fabric, so it may still be a possibility. Thanks for the help!


Tina

Anyone have any ideas on any DVD's on cephs? I got nothing. Dylan's got blue planet, and IMAX deep sea, thats about it. I have Steve O ' Shea's special and Kubadera's special and killer squid(I didn't win the spelling bee , please forgive me if I botched his name) on tivo, but thats all i can find. I found something once mentioning a PBS special, but never was able to find anything on it. I also can't find one prgram specifically on octopus. there are octopus here and there on some of the programs, but none specifically dedicated to them that I can find. Just curious! Thanks as always, you guys are all great!

Anyone have any ideas on any DVD's on cephs? I got nothing. Dylan's got blue planet, and IMAX deep sea, thats about it. I have Steve O ' Shea's special and Kubadera's special and killer squid(I didn't win the spelling bee , please forgive me if I botched his name) on tivo, but thats all i can find. I found something once mentioning a PBS special, but never was able to find anything on it. I also can't find one prgram specifically on octopus. there are octopus here and there on some of the programs, but none specifically dedicated to them that I can find. Just curious! Thanks as always, you guys are all great!

Here's a good starting point, where Toren collected a bunch of ceph documentary info:

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5952

thanks monty! Im new to the site, and had i spent a little more time looking, I may have found that thread on my own, but it was much quicker with your assistance:) there are quite a few on there he may not have seen, still a sadly short list though isn't it? I think O'Shea needs to make another one, ha ha. He sure hooked Dylan at "CAT scan" :) thanks again

Tina,

I have purchased, received but not viewed :oops: this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Indonesia-Mating-Cuttlefish-of-Togian-Island-Video_W0QQitemZ200112943916QQihZ010QQcat egoryZ1300QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQr dZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Very nice guy that made it but I can't recommend it for sure yet until I take the time to view his photography. He has travelled a lot and makes the videos as a sideline hobby. He can ship the CD without the case for about half of what it costs with the case and will include the paper case cover if you choose the cheaper shipping method. You can email him through eBay (fortunately, he has no problem with English).

Scott Cassell also makes appearances on TONMO and is an expert on the Humbolt (try searching scott cassell and/or posts by gonetobaja). This is one link that mentions a couple of videos on these agressive squid:

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6141&highlight=humbolt

whenever you are able to watch that one, if you have time, let me know how it is, i will look in to those on the humboldt, dylan just loves those its his 2nd favorite squid (behind archituthis of course) favorite octopus, grimptoteuthis, he loves dumbo and has a pitiful "almost" one painted on his wall. ( hey, i tried:) any thoughts on where to find anything on that elusive little guy? "the deep " segment of blue planet mentions him, but very briefly, may be due to the fact that not much is known about him? even that 80 pound book "Ocean" has like 10 sentences on dumbo, any thoughts?

Check out www.seaofdemons.com it is the story of how we started to dive with squid.

its a great video and has lots of U/W footage of Humboldt squid. there is a trailer on the website.

GTB

here is a picture of our little ceph-head, this is one of his favorite pictures with an achor on madiera beach, he was so excited to see one, I just don't know why:) thanks again to all of you for your posts, I have been grateful to find the items you all have suggested, still looking for a neat poster to frame for his room if anyone has any ideas, also, has anyone ever seen any bedding that is ceph realted? I know thats a long shot but I guess it is worth asking, thanks again, I will be sure to add a picture when he gets trapper if everything goes okay:)

while I am at it, may as well add a picture of "the room of squid" as I like to call it, it is Dylan's room and was supposed to be all kinds of sea life, and it has become a little overtaken with squid, all 4 walls are painted although in this shot you can only see 2, AND NO LAUGHING AT MY ARTWORK,

I love the deep sea creatures! And no one will ever laugh at your art work, what a fun room!

For posters, check out this thread...
http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5990

or sometimes on ebay you can find prints from old texts. I know Tony had picked up a few neat engravings that way...

Ugh, it won't let me edit my previous post, so here is a link to some engravings on ebay.

:hmm: Here it is... maybe some smart staff member can combine my posts...

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&catref=C6&fcl=3&from=R10&satitle=octopus&sacat=10168%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=2&fsoo=2

Way more creative than the undersea wallpaper mural I put up in the grand kids bedroom!

at least the wallpaper in the grandkids room has identifiable fish on it:) well at least dylan knows what i was trying to paint anyways, he picked all the crittters to go on there, the only one I thought looked okay is the vampire squid, but that's on another wall, but at least you can tell what it is! Well he seems to like it anyways, i told you guys he was a little strange! He also likes the deep sea creatures too in addition to cephs ( i know guys that the hairy anglerfish looks like something a squid threw up but I tried) The coolest thing about it is that at night, the deep sea creatures and the firefly squid glow, i found blue glow in the dark paint online, and painted all the lures and any other bioluminescent body parts and the copepods in the glow in the dark paint so its neat at night (when you can't see all my boo boo's, he he)

wanted to post this and say thank you to member dwhatley for all her help, Dylan is overjoyed and is very happy to have trapper.

dwhatley - So thats what your preservations questions were for!!

Trapper went to a great place!

Paradox,
Yeah, I wanted to try preserving her since I had some stronger formaline than I like using but couldn't quite feature keeping her around. This gave me an opportunity to try a procedure and give Trapper to a budding marine biologist.

Thanks again for all the help! I was amazed how much the body felt like a rubber toy after the formaline soak. Does straight alcohol do the same thing?

Pretty much, but it can discolour the tissues, also...you did the right method.

Neat room ! I think your mural is fantastic.

cthulhu- I am not sure about fantastic, but that's what he wanted, thanks so much for the compliment

Now, we just need to stock his shelves with tomes by HP Lovecraft, Robert Block, and Derleth...

Very nice decoration, the wall looks great.

Bullyland, a German toy company, manufactures very nice heavy rubber models of ammonites, belemnites and trilobites. They crop up on e-bay quite a lot, but here's a link to the company for you:

http://www.bullyland.de/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=50&Itemid=26

These are heavy duty things but educational at the same time. There are plenty of pictures of them lurking about in my older posts in the fossil forum if you want to know what they look like, and I used the belemnite in the 'Belemnites 101' video. I think they'd fit in in very well in Dylan's room.

cthulhu- thats the next thing! Some shelves for all the books he is collecting, hopefully, he will learn to read soon, i am sure he will be even more of a book-monger when he can, he is immensed in them already, and has great pronouciation skills and word recognition abilities :) however his only other interest besides marine life is Nosferatu- Does that make any sense? he is absoloutley fascinated by that character, saw him on a you guessed it- spongebob episode , favorite cartoon go figure, favorite character---squidward:)

Phil- Any thoughts on if the site you suggested has an link in american? Can't translate but definently like the figures, thanks for the help:)

Scroll all the way down this page (if you can resist the cool archosaurs) and check out the neat inverts!

http://www.baystatereplicas.com/models.htm

Nice stuff, and reasonably priced, too.

Blue Oyster Cult did a song called "Nosferatu", fairly nice, actually. So, he's into the living dead and cephs. I see a future Tonmo staff member !!!!

cthulhu77- ooooo...... very nice, you found an american website that sells those, I am thinking the whole set would be nice, very detailed little figures aren't they?? Yeah, Dylan is an old man is disguise I think, his favorite sport is golf, how many 4 year olds really like golf?? No interest in other sports, actually lost a french door window over this hobby..... he has a good drive:) Not familiar with the song, but I will have to download it on limewire, I will bet he likes it, He's funny, his favorite song is "rock me amadeus" , yeah, little strange, but I will bet he likes the nosferatu song, yup, living dead and cephs, you got it, ooops, and sea monsters too, had him a great book shipped from the U.K. from amazon on sea monsters, he will not listen to m when I keep trying to tell him they aren't real, but it does have a nice section on "real sea monsters" that has the humboldt and giant squid, very good reading:)

Perhaps you should join the Cryptozoology Society ! Quite the bunch, with lots of interesting articles!
Glad you liked the ceph models, I thought they were brilliant. Hey, I like Falco too !
Good golf swing? Heck, I'd run with that one...Tiger Woods isn't so bad off ! :)

cthulhu77- Yeah ya know? we told him we would only take him to the driving range if he hit his first ball past the first flag, blew it out of the water, so now we take him all the time, between that and putt putt, he's ptty good, almost too good, ($300 french door good), we have a big backyard, but he has a long drive and he hits entirely too hard, we can't even go to Dick's Sporting Goods without him rounding up the staff there and showing off his putting on the practice green. I don't know if he will roll with it though, I think its just a hobby, albeit a good one. Books and aquatics are his focus right now, if I didn't have to work, we would be at tonmocon for sure, I was born and raised in Sarasota, I still have family there. We used to go to Mote on field trips to see the Manatees:) (Do they still have the manatees there?) Make sure you eat somewhere on St. Armands Circle, great food all around, lots of outdoor dining too, and if you like Mexican, El Adobe is the place to go, if it is still around, (and if you like margaritas:) . Yes thanks again for the site on the figures, they are neat, how do you join the crypto site?? that would be like nessie and all things non-existent right?? btw, what is the "coming soon" site at the bottom of your posts?

Scroll all the way down this page (if you can resist the cool archosaurs) and check out the neat inverts!

http://www.baystatereplicas.com/models.htm

Nice stuff, and reasonably priced, too.



Upside down models :lol:

Upside down models :lol:

Not necessarily. Maybe they are models of extinct Antipodean species?

:wink:

whats the final verdict?? upside down or extinct?? it says each model comes with educational information on the creature does the website offer any information into this?

whats the final verdict?? upside down or extinct??

Oh yes, ammonites and belemnites are most definitely extinct, unfortunately. Both disappeared about 65 million years ago at the same time as the dinosaurs. The website has got the models upside down as the shell would have floated above the body due to its bouyancy, the posture being the same as Nautilus. I was just being silly in that maybe they represent Australian fossils (not that this poor joke makes any sense in Australia).

Interestingly, Bay State Replicas sell a reproduction of Proteroctopus, our Jurassic primitive octopus friend.

http://www.baystatereplicas.com/invertebrates.htm

it says each model comes with educational information on the creature does the website offer any information into this?

I'll have a look later today to see if I still have the attached cards, but I may have got rid of them. The info was just a couple of sentences and a timeline if I recall.

Not necessarily. Maybe they are models of extinct Antipodean species?

:wink:

:roflmao:No joke! I have been accused SO MANY TIMES of drawing my pictures upside down! Referees have commented that all of my drawings were upside down! (For an octopus, mantle towards the bottom of the page, arms up the page ... that's the convention - same with squid - it just doesn't seem right to me). Pfffft. Antipodean rules!

Ironically it has always been a convention of scientific literature to depict fossil shelled cephalopods as upside down, i.e. with the body chamber uppermost.

This strikes me as very strange and illogical. Anyone know why this is? Is there even a reason or is a tradition that just became 'stuck'?

Orientation of cephalopod shells in illustrations (http://palaeontology.palass-pubs.org/pdf/Vol%2033/Pages%20243-248.pdf)

Tradition. We need someone other than us old farts to take control :lol:

While I look at one of those models and automatically see it is upside down, I look at fossil cephs in a scientific publication and they seem upside down if they are shown rightside up. :hmm:

Technically, in life position, the body chamber on planispiral coiled shells should be on the bottom(?), to show a partial shell in living position you would need to know how many more coils it had and guess at where the body chamber was (a very picky statement), and the illustration would end up in some weird orientation. But, if you look at the supposed ancestor of shelled cephalopods the aperture would be ventral and so actually shells should be drawn or illustrated pointing down, the body chamber would end up on top (or above the aperture). All very confusing, so I say stick with tradition (for an easy out).

Maybe the seller of those models was just trying to be scientifically correct and illustrate them the way fossil shells are illustrated, but then all the dinosaur models would have to be cut up and shown as they are in scientific publications, one bone at a time. 8-)

here is a picture of our little ceph-head, this is one of his favorite pictures with an achor on madiera beach, he was so excited to see one, I just don't know why:) thanks again to all of you for your posts, I have been grateful to find the items you all have suggested, still looking for a neat poster to frame for his room if anyone has any ideas, also, has anyone ever seen any bedding that is ceph realted? I know thats a long shot but I guess it is worth asking, thanks again, I will be sure to add a picture when he gets trapper if everything goes okay:)

Deep Sea bed sheets: http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/05/the_sure_beat_my_star_wars_she.php

phil-- didn't make sense to me either! Then again I am Ph. D deficient so I didn't get it much to begin with, but I am learning! Are you guys charging for my tuition?? ha ha, thanks :) and by the way, I have drawn a bunch of cephs on Dylan's wall, although they aren't extinct, are they upside down??

cephalopod cast-- Those are fantastic!! I am not sure If you saw Dylan's mural but I think they would be perfect, do you know where I can purchase these at??


To all-- I am still learning about present day cephs:) I haven't begun to delve into thier ancestors, so I apologize If I sound silly, but hey, you guys needed a laugh right??

so I apologize If I sound silly, but hey, you guys needed a laugh right??

You don't sound silly at all, enthusiastic though definitely! Everything is a learning curve to all of us. We all like a good laugh have no fear, and no question is too stupid. 8-)

Great info there Kevin, and an interesting link too.

I am still learning about present day cephs:) I haven't begun to delve into their ancestors

No Worries... I'm still less than sharp on prehistoric cephs, and they keep me around.... :smile:

WhiteKiboko- Yeah, There is entirely too much to learn about just the modern day stuff:) Ever seen Walking With Monsters?? it is supposed to be the prequel to Walking With Dinosaurs but focuses mainly on underwater creatures as a basis for the beginnings of life, well I hadn't watched the program and Dylan had, so when he started telling me about giant arthropods (looked like scorpions) that were upto 9 meters long that lived in the sea and had gills, I had to laugh at him. I watched the program and apologized immediately. He was right.:) That's okay though, at least you guys have vast educational backgrounds making you admirably smarter than me , so I dont feel so bad. But coming from him is worse, He's 4:)

That's okay though, at least you guys have vast educational backgrounds making you admirably smarter than me , so I dont feel so bad. But coming from him is worse, He's 4:)

Just maybe, he knows more than us :shock:

Tina,

The link to the sheet/comforter set (unfortunately the print is on the comforter or duvet and shams - not the sheets - ) has a link to where to purchase where the person posting says that he wished this set came in a king.

Can we make it more confusing? In stead of a rabbit trail, here's the link:

http://kukunest.com/browse_deepsea.php

because these are just tooo cool.

I'm going to jump in here for a minute. Dylan sounds a lot like me. When I was his age, I would read EVERYTHING in sight about oceans especially dolphins. I had (and still have/love) a gazillion amazing ocean stuffed animals, and the aquarium was my favorite place. (Still is, I volunteer in education now). I just want to thank you for being such a supportive parent, and encouraging your son's love of oceans. (My mom still thinks that I'm going to "grow out of it", yet the more I learn, the more I want to learn more.) The oceans need more kids like him.

Anyhow, as for interesting materials, try finding big books with large pictures. I just recently (at Costco) found this book called "The Deep". It uses pretty simple language, and it has lots of pictures. Also, there are a ton of picture books that we have in the kids education center about marine animals.

As for DVDs, I don't know if this one's been mentioned yet, but "The Blue Realm" series is really good, and features Dr. James B. Wood as a cephalopod expert, as is this movie called "Incredible Suckers" which I saw in bio last year and haven't been able to find again. It's all about... cephalopods...

dwhatley---- duh:) what would I do without you??? pointing me in the right direction every time, arent those adorable?? I just love them, thanks

izzy--- Blue realm, I cant believe you mentioned that, because I have looked for it before, heres the problem, I am without a VHS, only have DVD, do you know if these were put onto DVD format?? I found them once before but only on VHS and I havent ever seen them on DVD. Thanks for the post

I own it on DVD. Some of my science team friends gave it to me for Christmas. They got it at the discovery store. (And they're going out of business, so if you can get to one soon, you can get a nice discount.) Or try online. Hope that helps.

If anyone sees a copy of Incredible Suckers in any US format, PLEASE let me know. All the places that had it have been out for over a year and it has not been officially put on DVD (I would gladly buy an unofficial copy since it is not available) or recopied for VHS that I can find. I keep hoping someone will list an old copy on eBay but so far, no such luck.

cthulhu- I am not sure about fantastic, but that's what he wanted, thanks so much for the compliment
At least around these parts, "fantastic" is the proper term to describe that mural!

tonmo--thanks , I will take the "fantastic" in your terms, actually, it's quite a nice compliment because most people who look at his room think I did a terrrible job becuse they have no idea what the animals are, I can't blame them, that hairy angler definently doesnt look like a fish. :) And nobody we know knows what periphylla (sp) is :) So it is refreshing to hear from people who can at least recognize some of them. All 4 walls are done, if you are interested, I can post the other 2, there is a neat (well it is supposed to be ) humboldt squid, and vampire squid on the wall behind where trapper is., and a grimptoteuthis. He wanted architeuthis! His room is smallish and has strange returns near the doors, so I could not think of a way to fit archi in there where you could actually see him. But I gotta say, buying murals on the wall is so costly, and didn't have the creatures he wanted, besides the time it takes (about an hour for a larger squid) you can't beat the price, it cost about 10 bucks in paint to do his room, that and a couple brushes, and I use unused makeup brushes that are tiny (dont wear the stuff anyways, at least they got used) for the detail. The whole room took about 12 hours over a few late nights. But he can spend hours in there playing and digging in his special box, and now talking to trapper, ha!) And of course pointing out the missing siphons or incorrect colors. So thanks all, always nice to hear from people with the same interests as him, most kids that come to play think he is weird, oh well, the firetrucks and teddy bears never thrilled him, so why push?? He can like what he wants to:)

dwhatley--- same prob as you on the incredible suckers, pass it along if you find it, thanks

izzy-- go figure our discovery store closed recently, the last time I remember a big selection of ocean DVD's was in the weirdest place, Mandalay Bay resort In Las Vegas, They had a lot of Discovery DVD's but no blue Realm , we did pick up a few though. i will try Discovery online, but I thought PBS made the Blue Realm Series, perhaps that is why I couldn't find it on PBS.com?? Thanks

I tried to buy The Blue Realm from the Discovery on-line store last night but the shopping cart had problems. I tried different settings with both browsers without luck and then found that the customer support link was broken as well.

I think I messed up, I checked the discovery store and thats not the DVD i was looking for, although it looks great too. Perhaps I was thinking of ocean realm instead of blue realm?? That would explain it:) I had problems with the discovery site as well, very slow loading , wouldn't load the shopping cart, perhaps they are working on the website??

I've heard that they're going all to online sales, so they might be updating their website. I don't have any idea, though. Good luck finding the video you're looking for.

OK, well here's a shot of our game room (in the basement), which has many ceph themes... here's one of them. you can't see the art all that well, but on the left is a framed painting created and signed by Dr. O'Shea himself, in the middle is a print from an Ernst Haeckel book, and on the left is "King of Spades" by Veronica Ceci... the middle I bought off eBay, the other two were gifts!

The other two wall photos have nothing to do with cephs, but I like them... one is all (or most) of my Pink Floyd vinyl LPs from when I was a kid (some bootlegs in there too!) and the other wall has a few non-Pink Floyd albums. They weren't doing much good in the closet!

You mentioned once (or twice) in other posts that Dr. O'Shea was quite the artist. I have to agree! I was going to ask where you found that one before I read your notes.

Really cool bar stools too!

I agree, very nice gameroom, and I also was not aware that O'Shea was such the artist!

Thanks to tonmo member Jean for sending Dylan a lovely package all the way from NZ. He was very excited and we are starting to do some activities from the workbook:)

Hi guys, I need some insight. Dylan bought a book tonight, (DK eyewitness SUBMARINE), it mentions "tourist subs" and that they operate in the carribean and off the coast of Florida. I have never heard of this, and I did a few searches and came up empty handed. Has anyone here ever heard of this or better yet been on one of these excursions?? Thanks

The cayman's sub has been shut down, but the Aruba one is still up and running:

http://www.arubahouse.com/submarine_tours.html

There are tours off the keys, also, I think.

Atlantis has a good rep, both in Hawaii and in Cozumel:

http://www.atlantisadventures.com/maui.cfm

any thoughts on a link to one operating in the keys?? I think I will have to save Aruba for my silver anniversary:) Thanks a lot

Looks like Aquataxi was shut down also...they were in the Florida region...Aruba isn't too far, and Hawaii might be the best bet.

can anyone tell me what the smallest appropriate tank for an octo would be?? and what is everyone's opinion on the nanocubes?? i have necessary salt water tank equipment but for a much larger tank that we used to have and i am contmplating trying something very small for dylan for his birthday:) thanks!

Around 30G for Dwarf species and 50G+ for Bimacs.

J

30 gallons is the smallest eh?? I was hoping for something a bit smaller, I checked the internet but the answers to this question were so varied I didn't know what was correct:) what do you think of the nanocube in this type of application? Also, in the past, when we had our tank, we did not need the super duper lighting because we didnt keep any corals, just live rock, is the special lighting necessary for an octopus, and how hard is undertaking this whole endeavor going to be?

30 gallons is the smallest eh?? I was hoping for something a bit smaller, I checked the internet but the answers to this question were so varied I didn't know what was correct:) what do you think of the nanocube in this type of application? Also, in the past, when we had our tank, we did not need the super duper lighting because we didnt keep any corals, just live rock, is the special lighting necessary for an octopus, and how hard is undertaking this whole endeavor going to be?

I had been figuring you knew this, but I'm starting to wonder if you've seen the "ceph care articles" yet... click on the "articles" tab at the top, and then look for the "ceph care" box. (Tony's been fiddling with the layout a bit, but as I write this it's the upper left box.) These have the recommendations and requirements in quite a bit of detail.

thanks monty i guess this isn't the appropriate forum for this:) I will check out the ceph care threads asap and see what I need to do here, sorry! :)

thanks monty i guess this isn't the appropriate forum for this:) I will check out the ceph care threads asap and see what I need to do here, sorry! :)

I didn't mean to say you'd done anything wrong, just that the articles have been proofread and prepared carefully, so "quick answers" here aren't going to have as good information... It's not bad to ask questions, too, though, but this does seem like it's shifted topic enough that starting a new thread in "ceph care" might be good, since some of the most qualified folks to answer the questions might not read all the threads over here...

sorry if it came across as critical, I just meant to point you at the best places for information.

Hi All, I have not been on here in awhile since starting a new job, but I wanted to update those of you that helped Dylan by letting you know that he is as much of a ceph head as ever. I really wanted to thank all of you for all your help, from answering our stupid questions, for sending him items and materials, and just for sharing a love of cephs in general. You all cannot know how much it has meant to him to have people who believe in him and value his "weirdness". I have not forgotten everyone's kindness. Thank you all again. P.S. - Trapper is still sitting pretty in her jar and has "met" many many people and continues to amaze everyone she meets. What a treasure she is!

Tina,
I was thinking about you and Dylan last week. Glad you gave us an update. Do you have a VCR? I have a taped from TV version of Incredible Suckers that Melissa was kind enough to send my way and a tape Jean mentioned from New Zeland about the whole life of an octopus. I have seen both tapes and it is time to pass them on before VCR's are totally a thing from prehistory. I tried to make a DVD of the the Incredible suckers tape (also an interesting second film about Thomas Edison on this one) but the copying machine we borrowed just would not read the tape.

Three of Trapper's children (Sisty, Medusa and HideNSeek) are now a year old and two of her grand children are 5 month - all birthdays being this week.

I just love the names of Trapper's Babies, Sisty, Medusa and HideNSeek, they just make me giggle:lol: Yes we do have a VCR, I couldnt let go of it on account of the eyewitness VHS's Dylan has. Someone else (or maybe it was you) mentioned the incredible suckers tape and how good it was.