Bill, my vaporeon just had its litter, 5 healthy little eevee babies. The only problem is, one of the babies is shiny and the mother is rejecting it! What do I do to ensure my silver baby stays healthy and alive?

As a warning, Bill, “donate it to me” is not an appropriate answer.—LH

You wound me, Lanette. You wound me. —Bill

Unfortunately, this means you’ll need to care for the puppy yourself. It’s very rare (and difficult) to get the mother to adopt her pup after she’s rejected it, and in some cases, she may even attack the puppy if you try to reintroduce it.

That having been said, there are three things you need to monitor for immediately after birth if you haven’t figure it out already: hypothermia, low blood sugar, and dehydration. If your puppy is shivering, that’s a good thing. If it isn’t and if its nose is losing color, that would be hypothermia. If your puppy’s nose and gums are wet, then it’s fine, but if you feel a sticky, mucous membrane in its mouth, then dehydration is setting in. Finally, if your puppy is more lethargic than usual or if it’s convulsing, then its blood sugar is dangerously low. The latter two conditions warrant a trip to your local pokémon center, but it’s important to know that there are ways to prevent your eevee from getting to this state.

First, heat. It’s important to stabilize your eevee’s body temperature within the first week. Use heat lamps and hot water bottles to keep your eevee warm; blankets shouldn’t be used in addition to this, as it’s very easy to induce heat stress in your puppy (which is just as bad as hypothermia … just less difficult to achieve). Try to keep your eevee’s environment at around 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) on the first two days, then drop the temperature down by a degree each day after that until your eevee can survive on its own body heat.

Feeding, meanwhile, is a bit more difficult to resolve, but it’s vital for not only the other two issues I’ve mentioned above but also the development of your eevee’s immune system. If you have another female mammalian pokémon that’s of breeding age, try to get it to nurse from her. If not, try to find a breeder or a friend with one such pokémon and ask them for milk, or purchase raw miltank milk or specially crafted eevee formula. The latter may be the easiest option, actually, as it’s readily available at all pokémarts and contains all the vitamins, minerals, and sugars a growing eevee needs. It just doesn’t quite provide the biological component that helps with a young eevee’s immune system, so some trainers prefer the more organic method if they can find it.

All young eevee need to be fed about once every two to three hours. (If it’s healthy, it will cry to let you know when it’s time.) If not feeding from another pokémon, you’ll need to give it its milk or formula from a bottle. Be sure to sterilize the bottle before loading by boiling it for five to ten minutes in water. Dry thoroughly, then fill it. Finally, warm the bottle gently until it reaches a temperature of 95 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (35 to 37.8 degrees Celsius)—or human body temperature, in other words. If a drop of it applied to the back of your wrist is too hot for you, then it’s too hot for your eevee.

Once your eevee reaches about two to three weeks, you can begin to wean it. Feed it milk in a flat dish to teach it how to eat from a bowl for the first two weeks, then give it specially made eevee puppy kibble (available at any pokémart) in addition to the milk for the next two. Decrease the amount of milk you give it each day after you begin feeding it solid foods. After a month, you can switch completely to the kibble and water. (Do not feed it anything but kibble until about two months.)

Finally, one last thing not that many people think of: getting it to relieve itself. Eevee don’t really know this at birth; rather, their mothers lick their stomachs to get them to go. You can simulate this behavior by rubbing your eevee’s stomach after feeding. Do this for two to three weeks after birth (or, in other words, as you feed it milk or formula), or it simply won’t relieve itself.

Make it past a couple of months, and your eevee should be able to survive on its own, just like any other eevee. But it’s important to remember that until then, it’s a good idea to avoid reintroducing this one to its mother. You may be able to expose it to its brothers and sisters, but the mother may attack your shiny eevee on sight. It’s a leftover instinct from the wild—behavior designed to discourage a shiny from coming back and putting the rest of the litter in danger by drawing in a predator, basically. After the eevee can survive on its own and begins mastering its attacks, the mother may take an ambivalent stance towards her puppy, but it’s unlikely that she’ll ever see it as hers. It’s up to you to give that hatchling the love and affection it needs to grow.

Best of luck, anonymous.

Cresselia

Cresselia
The Lunar Pokémon
Type: Psychic
Official Registration #: 488
Entry: According to Sinnohan myth, Cresselia is the lady of the crescent moon and of dreams, as well as a companion to Darkrai. As such, her mere presence can induce blissful dreams in even the most morbid creatures, and her feathers alone, known colloquially as Lunar Wings, are highly valued for their ability to induce peaceful sleep. The latter may explain why the most common souvenir in the Sinnoh region are “authentic” Lunar Wings (actually chatot feathers dyed and curled) … which, the author supposes, do bring pleasant dreams—to Sinnohan merchants.

bills-pokedex:

For once, it’s me delivering a note to you, readers, but my editor is a bit busy preparing a few things on her end, seeing as the end of the month is nearly upon us. I’m not one for lengthy housekeeping notes myself, so I’ll keep this brief.

Throughout the month of November, our ask box will be closed. I know. I apologize, dear readers, but this is for a number of reasons. First, there is the fact that the Alola Regional Dex is due to be released in the middle of the month, and I plan on doing a special series of entries just on Alola pokémon a few days afterwards. However, some of you may consider these to be “spoilers,” as you plan your own journeys through Alola and would prefer to be surprised by what pokémon you find there. Thus, in anticipation for the excitement you may be experiencing, we’d like to wait a week or two before opening the ask box, just in case we receive asks concerning Alola pokémon. (Yes, we also realize that some Alola pokémon have already been “spoiled” in previous asks, to which we apologize sincerely.)

Second and more importantly, my editor will not be available to check my responses, so all material you’ll be seeing throughout the month of November will be prepared entries and ask responses. We will, in other words, still be accepting asks up until October 31, and we will still post responses to those asks throughout the next month.

What will my editor be doing in the meantime? Well, readers, glad you asked! From what I understand, she will be participating in National Novel Writing Month, during which she will be writing slash fanfiction between the Professor and the Maestro, the titular lead and the main villain of the science-fiction crime drama, The Professor Evolves Eight Times. She tells me she has no intention of posting said fanfiction, to which I apologize. But rest assured, she will definitely be busy writing slash fanfiction.

It is not slash fanfiction. It is a long-form transformative literary piece exploring the interactions between canonical subtext and current sociopolitical issues while at the same time highlighting the structure and function of quasi-healthy interpersonal relationships between two consenting adults. —LH

Yes. Slash fanfiction. That’s what I said. —Bill

The ask box will be opened again in December, readers, and I promise you Bill will be well-behaved and ready for it. —LH

Can I read your slash fanfiction when you’re done? —Bill

No. —LH

As a reminder, the ask box will be closed in one hour, and it will be reopened sometime in December. Should you wish to send in some last-minute asks, we suggest you do so as quickly as possible. Otherwise, see you soon, readers!

Happy Halloween! I hope that there aren’t any Rotoms possessing PC Boxes so you guys can have fun today.

Thank you, anonymous! Thankfully, no, we haven’t had any incidents of rotom infestations—or porygon-z infestations, for that matter. It has, by and large, been rather quiet.

We apologize for the lack of responses tonight, by the way. I’m not one for holidays myself, but my editor insists that I take breaks on them … for some reason. Normally, I would protest, but when else do I get to spend an evening watching horror movies she would consider to be offensive to her artistic sensibilities? (Honestly, Lanette, Chateau isn’t that terrible.)

In any case, we wish all of you a happy Halloween as well!

Darkrai

Darkrai
The Pitch-Black Pokémon
Type: Dark
Official Registration #: 491
Entry: According to Sinnohan myth, Darkrai is the lord of the new moon and of dreams, as well as a companion to Cresselia. As such, its mere presence can induce terrifying nightmares in even the strongest-willed creatures. To protect itself and conceal its true domain, it consciously uses its powers to inflict a deep slumber full of horrific nightmares on all those around it, an act which it does for the sole purpose of driving intruders away. Yet also according to Sinnohan myth, it actually means no harm. Incidentally, yes, the author is aware of just how contradictory most of this entry is, and yes, he does indeed think this is highly appropriate for a pokémon that looks very much like the embodiment of the scene phase he certainly never had.

Hey I’m the anon who had their mismagius circling the bed. I noted all my dreams had actually been really good. So I dug a little deeper and found something more sinister in the works. So it turns out a drowzee had been stalking me! I got up one of the nights she was circling me and noticed very sinister eyes at my window. I thanked her for all her hard work and gave her treats. Our relationship has gotten even better, I guess she was distant because she was so sleepy from protecting me at night

Poor mismagius. I’m very glad it worked out, anonymous, and it’s good that you thanked her for her hard work.

In the meantime, to avoid this problem in the future, I would suggest either putting up cleanse tags around your property or obtaining a guard houndoom or mightyena that you keep primarily outside. Either method should keep your drowzee “friend” from coming back.

Good luck, anonymous!

My pumpkaboo is nocturnal and likes waking me up at 2-4 am every night by laying on my chest and letting its glowing eyes wake me. When I do wake up she squeals and snuggles me. I love her but why does she do this and how do I get her to understand mommy needs sleep

Well, a lot of it has to do with pumpkaboo’s nocturnal nature. They’re most active at night, which means their 2 to 4 am is your 2 to 4 pm. As such, they simply get bored, especially if you’re not awake to give them affection. For this reason, some pumpkaboo owners like to give their pokémon plenty of toys—especially complex ones or sturdy ones that can endure heavy use—to keep their pumpkaboo occupied until they’re awake. Given that yours is sitting on your chest, waiting for you to wake up, I have no doubt it’s just that your pumpkaboo needs more stimulation during her most active hours, and this may be your solution.

Alternatively, wild pumpkaboo take it upon themselves to lead lost souls to the spirit world. In Kalos, they’re even considered an equivalent to the Grim Reaper. This, of course, shouldn’t be any cause of alarm. Rather, what I’m saying is that your pumpkaboo may also be worried that you’ve died, and it’s observing you breathe as you sleep while watching your spirit. You can reassure her that you’ll wake up in the morning by establishing a routine with her: wishing her good night every night, then wishing her good morning at a set time every day, just before feeding her breakfast. If she gets used to such a routine, she’ll come to rely on its dependency, rather than on her own observations, which will allow her to leave you alone at night.

I would recommend doing both (giving her toys and establishing a routine), as it can’t hurt to do both at once, and, if anything, it will be more of a comfort to her.

Best of luck, anonymous.

I suppose my question is a bit more on the technology side of things than the pokemon side, but why is it that Dusk Balls work better in the dark?

Dusk balls are actually part of a line of environmental/circumstantial capture devices that also include dive and net balls. While dusk balls were released to the public much later than the other three, they work essentially the same way. For example, have you ever wondered why dive balls work better underwater or in the vicinity of a large body of water? It’s because the ball is built in with sensors that gather information on the wetness of a certain area. Even when surfing, you’re bound to get a bit wet, and the dive ball understands this and increases the strength of its capture net. In the same way, dusk balls have sensors calibrated to detect light. The less light detected when you expand the ball, the stronger the ball’s capture net will be. In both cases, there is always a baseline; dusk and dive balls work just as well as basic poké balls when not in their respective environments. It’s just that their capture systems are designed in such a way that when certain conditions are met, their internal batteries give them a power boost when used on a pokémon.

As for why, specifically, these balls are designed to do such a thing, it’s because this specific line of poké balls was designed to capture very specific pokémon. Whereas dive and net balls were designed to capture ocean- and river-dwelling pokémon (and bug-types, in the case of the net ball), the dusk ball was originally meant to capture cave-dwelling and nocturnal pokémon.

After many long weeks I finally found out what my growlithe was barking at. My neighbour had a gengar which he kept secret as the apartments we live in don’t allow ghost pokemon. It kept sneaking in my flat at night and my growlithe was simply trying to keep it out. Just wanted to update!

Excellent to hear … that you found out what the source is, anyway. It’s not quite as exciting to know that you’re being haunted by your neighbor’s gengar, and I wish you the best of luck at resolving that particular issue. (Unfortunately, I have no advice when it comes to dealing with inconsiderate neighbors. Terribly sorry, anonymous!)

Pumpkaboo and Gourgeist

Pumpkaboo
The Pumpkin Pokémon
Type: Ghost/Grass
Official Registration #: 710
Entry: This pokémon’s body consists of a pumpkin inhabited by a spirit. According to Kalosean folklore, the spirit awakens at sunset and maneuvers its pumpkin across fields and forests to locate wandering spirits and help them to cross over into the spiritual realm. According to Kalosean custom, meanwhile, the pumpkin makes an excellent pie, but seeing as the author is lactose intolerant and therefore cannot eat a pie whose secondary ingredients include butter and evaporated milk, he will just have to take his Kalosean colleagues’ word for it.

Gourgeist
The Pumpkin Pokémon
Type: Ghost/Grass
Official Registration #: 711
Entry: The evolved form of pumpkaboo, via trading. This willowy, pumpkin-like pokémon is known for its hair-like arms, which it uses to ensnare prey. Once prey is ensnared, gourgeist sings to them, instilling on them horrific visions of shadows and demons. Unlike most ghost-types, gourgeist does not do this to feed on a human’s fear; rather, they do it because they’re entertained by human pain and suffering. Also entertained by human pain and suffering: the trainer of a certain gourgeist, who thought it would be more appropriate to film a video of his mentor being subdued by his gourgeist and then share it with many of the other storage system administrators, all of whom were equally as entertained and disinclined to untangle the poor, helpless researcher who did nothing wrong to that gourgeist.