TikTok dad goes viral after son's pet octopus has 50 babies in home

It all started because his 9-year-old son wanted a fart.

Not just any piece. Year octopus. Specifically, a two-point California octopusalso known as bimac.

So Cameron Clifford, a 36-year-old dentist in rural Oklahoma, did what many dads would do. He made a call to a place aquarium stores asking to get an octopus.

Little did he know, that call would eventually generate 50 baby octopus surprises in his home, thousands of dollars in water damage and other expenses, as well as a father-son epic. TikTok saga that warmed the hearts of almost 400 thousand followers.

“I think there’s a lot of people out there who had this crazy pipe dream when they were a kid, and then it faded away as they got older,” he says. “I think they also really empathized with kind of this stereotypical story of a father who decides to give his son a pet, and then, of course, he turns into the father who almost exclusively cares for that pet, except at nine in this case.”

How did an Oklahoma dad end up with an octopus?

Clifford says his son Cal has always had a deep and inexplicable love for octopuses. Since the age of 2, Cal has asked for an octopus for every birthday, Christmas and major holiday.

Clifford and his wife always thought it was a fun and adorable request – and happily gave them toy octopuses as gifts. Never, however, did they think that owning a pet octopus was a dream they could make a reality.

That is, until last summer, when Clifford drove by an aquarium store and wondered… is it possible to keep an octopus as a pet? He had never studied it seriously. Then he made a call. Turns out, it is.

At dinner that night, Clifford told his family what he had learned, thinking it would be a fun, but innocent, conversation starter. Cal instantly burst into tears.

“His ultimate dream, his cloud nine, the greatest thing that could ever happen in his life had just become a possibility, and he just crashed,” Clifford recalls. “My friends and family, of course, everyone, as you can probably imagine, told me: ‘Well, now you have to get for him. You can’t just hang in front of him and then turn around and just flatline. that dream “

So Clifford spent the next few weeks documenting her son and daughter’s preparations for their octopus, whom they named Terrance. This meant finding, ordering and installing a proper salt water tank and water cycle system in their home, as well as making sure they had access to a food supply of an octopus Clifford says he bought most of the materials second-hand on Facebook Marketplace and expected the entire test to cost about $600 to $700.

It was wrong.

Terrance arrived and was bigger than expected – which meant they needed a bigger tank. When Terrance’s 50 surprise kids arrived, “all bets were off,” says Clifford, and he spent $300 a week on overnight meals for the kids. Not to mention the water damage to his home, which he says is still under repair.

In all, Clifford estimates he spent about $3,000 to $4,000 on octopuses in the past year. “Don’t get a pet octopus unless you’re ready to lose sleep and your kids’ college fund simultaneously,” he jokes.

The TikTok saga is not just an octopus and its eggs. It’s about a father and his son.

About two months after his arrival, Terrance laid eggs, signaling the end of his life. As Clifford notes on TikTok, female bimac octopuses typically live one to two years. When they lay the eggs, they stop eating or taking care of them, dedicating the rest of their lives to protecting their burrow until their eggs hatch.

Experts assured Clifford that Terrence’s eggs could not be fertilized, meaning they would never hatch. Clifford and his family ate Terrence while she protected her perceived youth, letting her live out her ultimate purpose according to nature, even if it was all in vain.

But after Clifford’s shock, all 50 of Terrence’s eggs hatched.

Clifford called local aquariums and research facilities begging them to take the babies. They all declined. So he did the next logical thing: he appealed TikTokhe shared the videos he had posted only for friends and family on his private Instagram.

His account exploded in popularity, and now he’s in communication with major aquariums, universities and research facilities across the country interested in taking the octopuses off his hands. He also asked on the Internet for names for children – the punnier, the better. His favorite? InvertBrett.

The experience has had its fair share of challenges, he says, but seeing the joy it has brought Cal, as well as his 6-year-old son Lyle, is worth it. It was also special to see the Internet — a notoriously divided space — come together in near-unanimous support for him and his family as they navigated the ups and downs of their octopus journey.

“As for the regrets, there are so many,” he says. “I wish I hadn’t opened that valve like that and dumped all that dirty seawater on my kids’ white carpet. It’s definitely a shame. But overall, no, it was an absolutely fun experience, not just for me, but also. for my children.”

What’s next for the eight-dad?

Clifford says the baby octopuses have not been rehomed and are staying with “Dr. Tim,” a family friend and reptile scientist. Usually only 1-5% of bimac children survive to adulthood, Clifford says; Two months out of incubation, 50% of Terrance’s babies are still alive: “Every scientist I talk to is still amazed by the fact that we were able to achieve such a high yield in the baby bath.”

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Clifford says his ultimate goal is that his TikTok followers across the country will be able to visit Terrance’s children at their local aquariums once the children find their new homes.

“I think it would be such a great experience, if you followed through with the account, (to) go to your state aquarium and see one of the children – JaySea or BeyonSea or Swim Shady or Squid Cudi – in person.” you say

He also intends to return to his normal life, which has been disrupted by being viral. Clifford and his wife have taken steps to protect their children from knowing how famous their family has become online. But that has become more difficult now that news cameras have entered their home.

For Clifford, the well-being of his children will always come first. That’s something he and Terrance have in common.

“Of course, with this whole social media thing, it’s like now I missed my bedtime because I did an interview. And that, of course, becomes counterproductive if you’re like, ‘OK, well, I documented how . I am a great father, and now here I am not putting my children to bed. So I have to be careful with him, too,” she says. “It was a little wilder than most experiences we’ve had, but my son absolutely loved that experience.”

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And for those wondering: Yes, Terrence is, somehow, still alive.

“He’s doing well. He’s just living out the rest of his life in his tank by himself,” says Clifford. “She will probably die in the next few weeks, although my guesses about her have been consistently wrong.”

TikTok dad goes viral after son’s pet octopus has 50 babies in home

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