Local sellers availability

[Stavros]

Hi,

My name’s Stavros and I’m an international undergraduate student in NY. I’m currently a researcher at a ceph lab in my college. I’m interested in investigating cognition in octopus and cuttlefish. For the octopus research, the lab had four bimacs to work with, however two died (after one year) and the other two do not seem to have much more time either as they stopped eating for a while now.

I am about to start my own research, however this won’t be possible due to the situation described. Therefore, I’m planning on buying with personal expenses 3-4 octopuses (not any specific species in particular) to work with. The problem with this is that I do not have enough money to pay for shipping and I could only get them locally. Can I ask you if you could refer me to any local cephalopod sellers? The animals will be bought strictly for educational/scientific purposes and proper documentation will be provided if needed.

I’d like to thank you in advance for your time,
Stavros

[monty]

to TONMO!

The people who come to mind as local are Carol and Robyn, but I don't know how close they are... are you in NYC?

I'm a bit confused about the shipping: the cost of shipping an octo (or buying one) is tiny compared to the cost of feeding it and maintaining the tank... is the school willing to pay for all that, but not shipping? That seems rather weird.

[Stavros]

Hello Monty,

Nice to be here, I've spent hours in reading the posts for some time now.

I live in Brooklyn, NY. To answer your questions about animal care, the school provides a closed system that supports 12 tanks, and there is space to add the new animals there. For food, we go on crab expeditions and the crabs we collect are kept in the system as well so we don't need to buy any food. Maintenance is done by the students of course. The plan was to work with the four bimacs we had but unfortunately, time ran out. Getting new animals is not in the lab's future plan.

[robyn]

Stavros I am in the Bio dept - come and chat to me about suppliers - I might know a couple of wholesalers who can work through the college system. Or, pm me.

Monty - the aquatic facility is staffed and maintenance is funded (and excellent). It's the animal cost and shipping that are the lab's responsibilities normally so that's where the funding issue arises.