Hey, I have a 7 yr old child who really wants a Pokemon for her birthday. Are their any Pokémon that are soft and gentle and calm for children?

Eevee.

Edit: My editor is currently threatening to restrict my account again, so allow me to answer this seriously.

Most starters are bred to be docile, so they’re often your best bet, particularly if they’re from a certified starter breeder or a pokémon professor. Of these, it’s often said that litten is the softest and gentlest (even though it evolves into something decidedly neither of these things), but there are plenty of people who would vouch for rowlet, popplio, oshawott, and every fire-type starter except charmander (and arguably chimchar when it comes to being calm). Some pikachu may fit this description as well.

Besides that, fairy- and/or normal-type pokémon often include those that are soft, gentle, and calm. Fairy-types in particular, as mischievous as they are, hang their reputation on being exactly this, which is why clefairy is a highly popular pet (besides being cute and reasonably easy for beginner pet keepers to handle. However, the fairy-type has plenty of other candidates to choose from, ranging from swirlix to snubbull. The type even boasts two nursing pokémon in the form of comfey and members of the jigglypuff line.

Meanwhile, normal-types cover a wide range of territory, but this territory also includes chansey and audino (two more soft and gentle nursing pokémon), as well as buneary, bunnelby, minccino, skitty, and lillipup (pokémon that are highly popular to keep as pets, especially for young girls). Of course, don’t discount other normal-type pokémon that are somewhat less popular choices for pets but are nonetheless excellent choices for young children, including bidoof, slakoth, patrat, or whismur.

Granted, every type has potential candidates (psychic has espurr, solosis, and munna; bug has joltik and venonat; etc., etc.), but generally speaking, normal and fairy tend to be the most popular for young girls. My point in saying this, though, is that there’s also a chance that neither of these types interest your daughter; while they’re fairly safe suggestions, it’s also worth it to start from what her favorite type is and work from there.

But of course, if all else fails, there’s also eevee. Cute, gentle, soft, usually calm, and can be practically any type your daughter might love. They’re the perfect pets, really.

Until they eat you out of house and home and destroy your property. —LH

Details! —Bill

Hey, I saw posts on Pinterest of trainers planting flowers and succulents on the rocks of their Dwebble and Crustle, after seeing it I really wanted to try it on my own darling Crustle but I was wondering if their are any health risks or dangers with doing so.

From what I understand, if it’s on Pinterest and involves pokémon, there is a very good chance that it’s actually not a good idea. (The same can be said for Instagram, particularly those involving pokémon diets. I’m just saying, readers.)

On a serious note, while it’s okay to decorate your dwebble or crustle with air plants (so long as you remember not to mist them directly on your pokémon), it’s not okay to place any plant that actually requires planting. Strangely, it’s not because you would need to water them. (Actually, dwebble and crustle can tolerate mild amounts of water themselves, and this is often recommended to help keep their shells clean.) It’s actually because in order to convert them into adequate planters, you’ll need to dig holes into their shells, which is something you often don’t see on Pinterest. Not only is this extremely difficult, but it’s also often distressing for the dwebble or crustle.

This is especially true for dwebble, which are often very particular about the shells they choose and carve, and they’re often too docile to voice their distress to their trainers. Unfortunately, because they often don’t vocalize that this is a problem, dwebble basically lead a constantly stressed existence, which greatly reduces their lifespans. Dwebble that have had this treatment done to them don’t often live past a few months if they don’t have access to more rocks, and if they do, because their trainers don’t understand that this is a problem, they’ll often live for only a year or two after that (as changing rocks may relieve stress temporarily but will only slightly delay the inevitable if they have to do so constantly).

Crustle are a bit more tolerant, however, but this still doesn’t mean you should drill into their shells to make a planter, as the added pressure of you doing so may inadvertently crush your pokémon. It’s possible to lay a thin layer of dirt on top, however, but keep in mind that this may only hold a few small plants—and that this layer should be thin. Additional weight may also be a constant source of stress for a crustle.

In short, it’s not really a good idea, I’m afraid. There are ways to do it with a crustle if you’re very careful (and plant something lightweight, that doesn’t require water), but even then, the risks involved with setting such a thing up are honestly not that worth it. Also, never do this with a dwebble.

On the positive side, air plants are very easy to care for, and many dwebble and crustle adore them, not only because they make very smart decorations but also because they’re a convenient snack. (You may wish to have a handy supply of them or to train your dwebble or crustle to not eat them whenever your back is turned, on that note.)

Hi! I have a Solosis who keeps disappearing at night. Is it because it travels to other dimensions or is their a secret Solosis society that I don’t know about? I get worried because when it comes back in the morning, it’s really tired and falls asleep. I don’t usually get to train it or spend time with it.

It’s difficult to say what your solosis may be doing, anonymous. I can assure you that there isn’t a general secret solosis society, but it’s entirely possible that one has formed in your community anyway, especially given how social solosis are. Alternatively, it’s also possible that your solosis is simply training itself at night or playing. It might even be a nutritional deficiency or an overly worn bed, if your solosis is trying to sleep at night. Ultimately, the only way to know for certain what it’s doing is by keeping an eye on it. Solosis can’t teleport, so following it should be rather simple.

Once you figure out what it’s doing, then you can take steps to correct this behavior or help solosis so it doesn’t end up exhausted every morning. But you can’t really act until you know for certain what the core issue actually is.

Best of luck!

Hey again Bill! It’s been a while. So I’ve got a friend who wants to breed some Munna, and she was wondering if you knew of any other pokémon that might get on well with them or have a working relationship with them? (Like how Herdier are sometimes used to herd Mareep, for example.) Thank you in advance for your help. :)

Munna are rather easygoing pokémon, and thus, they can likely get along with a laundry list of others. Still, I would be wary of pairing yours up with dark-types with more energetic or violent reputations (such as sneasel) or ghost-types known for being mischievous or prone to feeding off of dreams (such as misdreavus). The drowzee line also don’t quite get along with munna. It’s not that a munna wouldn’t be friendly with a drowzee, of course; it’s more that drowzee often respond coldly to munna. This is the only psychic-type that shouldn’t be put with munna, as the others respond rather well to them.

Meanwhile, houndour and houndoom, despite being dark-types, are actually often paired with munna, as they’re highly loyal and easy-to-train guard dogs who aren’t affected by munna’s dream mist. (In other words, they make excellent herding dogs.) Alternatively, slurpuff (not so much swirlix, as swirlix aren’t often strong enough) and lillipup both possess abilities that can resist munna’s sleep powers. So does noctowl, which some breeders also use, as noctowl can herd stray munna that happen to be levitating.

Conversely, many breeders like to pair munna off with pokémon that could benefit from munna’s dream smoke, such as psyduck or other pokémon that are often stressed. In fact, some munna breeders foster retired nursing chansey, wigglytuff, audino, and comfey before they’re sent off to permanent homes, just to help them readjust to a less stressful lifestyle than that of the pokémon center.

Best of luck to your friend!

My recently evolved Espeon has taken to using Telekinesis on herself to “float” around, so to speak — she’s been adamant on doing so since she was an Eevee and had a friend’s pokemon use the same move on her as a shared game of sorts. Recently I noticed that whenever she goes airborne, there isn’t the tell-tale glow of her psychic power activating? It’s really weird! She spends most of her time floating by my side nowadays, and doesn’t show much exhaustion while doing so. Should I be worried?

This is actually perfectly normal, anonymous. You see, the “glow” you observe whenever a psychic-type uses its abilities is actually psychic “run-off,” so to speak; it’s just their aura flaring up after being charged with psychic energy from the exertion of using their own powers. This is also why the more powerful the move, the brighter and more massive the psychic aura.

However, if a psychic-type exercises their abilities regularly, they can actually diminish their auras until they’re barely noticeable. It’s very much like getting used to a certain level of activity as you physically get into shape. In fact, many psychic trainers aim for this phenomenon precisely because it not only means their pokémon have mastered their abilities but also allows them to become far stealthier on the battlefield.

In your espeon’s case, though, it sounds like she’s exercised her levitation abilities so much that it’s practically second nature to her, and thus, her psychic energies are far more focused on the task, leaving very little stray energy to charge her aura. You may notice her aura returning for other moves, but if it doesn’t, you shouldn’t worry, either. Considering the fact that levitation isn’t a natural ability for espeon, it’s likely yours has mastered the abilities that are.

Still, keep an eye out for any sign of psychic overexertion, including bloodshot eyes, a bloody nose, lethargy, a lack of appetite, or a sudden, explosive reappearance of her aura. If she’s constantly exercising her ability, this may be a possibility (as rare as it can be), and if any of this occurs, you’ll need to get her to a pokémon center as soon as possible.

Have you seen the latest cryptid craze going around? (Other than Venomothman) i think people have been calling the dude “nuthead.” The artists depictions are kinda cute, but, well… I’m a sucker for cyclopses… -looks at Magnemite and Unown- wonder if it’s actually a new Pokemon…? If it is I wanna name mine Gizmo :P

Ah, you must be referring to meltan! Yes, it’s quite an adorable and fascinating pokémon. I would be delighted to have an opportunity to study it!

Of course, with its tendency to seek out and absorb metal into its body, that might be a bit tricky, but anything for science.

When my Incineroar, Zjaar, was a Litten he had this odd habit of tapping my shoulder with his paw. I’d give him my arm to rub against but instead he’d very gently put my hand or arm into his mouth. He wouldn’t hurt me but would nibble a little bit, almost like he was holding my hand but with his mouth. He did this less when he evolved and doesn’t at all now that he’s in his final stage. Any idea why he did that when he was a kitten? He never actually sunk his teeth into me luckily.

That was actually a sign of affection, believe it or not. Feline pokémon, especially basic-stage or “baby”-like ones such as litten, will show affection by nibbling their trainer’s hand gently. It has to do with how felines interact with each other. Play-fighting is an important part of cat pokémon development, and they’ll often engage in roughhousing with one another to develop important skills, such as pouncing, clawing, and—of course—biting. Biting then translates into other forms of affection, especially if someone who is very decidedly not a cat gives them a limb for them to “capture” and nibble into. Thus, if your feline pokémon does this, this is a sign that they’re excited and, yes, would like to show you that they consider you a part of their families.

(However, note that if your feline pokémon pushes you away after a nip, this means they would like to be left alone. Always read your pokémon’s body language to ensure that you’re translating their signals correctly.)

As for why it decreased as your litten grew older, the answer is actually equally simple: love bites would hurt you. As a litten evolves, it gains an affinity for the dark type, and with it, it gains an understanding of what using it means. So once it reaches the torracat and incineroar stages, it realizes that it can’t display affection the same way, as this would harm you, a strange incineroar without any of its abilities or resistances, more than help you understand what it’s feeling. So instead, it resorts to other means of affection and only uses “love bites” if it thinks its message isn’t getting across (or if you’ve accidentally trained it to show this form of affection above anything else).

By contrast, it should perhaps be noted that this behavior lingers a little longer in both forms of persian, but that’s mostly because both forms of persian are a little more sadistic than most feline pokémon. Thus, if your persian grabs your arm with a paw, try to gently pull yourself away without getting clawed.

Best of luck!

Why don’t some people nickname their Pokemon? It’s so weird to just call it by its species, yknow? It just feels like.. the trainers aren’t emotionally invested in their team if they don’t even name em… just very impersonal I guess. It’s like calling all your friends “Human!” Do you guys have any idea why someone would abstain from Ni? Oh, And do you guys use nicknames?

You’re actually one of two possible camps on the matter, believe it or not. The other side of the coin is that some people feel it’s not right to force a name on a possibly sentient creature, particularly one that the pokémon themselves didn’t help decide on. It would be very much akin to giving a human an unflattering nickname.

Either that, or they simply aren’t creative enough to give their pokémon names. That would be the third camp, but believe me when I say that this group is far smaller than one would think.

As for myself, I’m more of the second camp (the one that doesn’t believe in forcing names onto sentient creatures), but when I started my journey right up until my career as a researcher took off, I always offered names to my team. Some, like my various eevee, didn’t really take to any of them. Others, like my core team that had remained with me all these years, had. For example, my kadabra is very fond of his name, Foxglove (or Fox, for short). My venusaur is named Lucky after a very long story, my clefairy is Primrose (or Prim), and I’m also occasionally helped by a porygon-z named Beatrix. On the other hand, my farfetch’d absolutely refuses to respond to anything but Farfetch’d, and any attempt at an offer for otherwise would typically be met with a near-swordfight.

As for Lanette … I’ll let her speak for herself, actually.

LH: Well, I was part of the second camp too when I started out, but Bill convinced me that offering names to pokémon was a good idea. It helped that it was such a cute method. Of my personal pokémon, though, only my swampert really wanted one; the others didn’t really show any interest in getting named whatsoever. In any case, my swampert’s name is Cetus, after the constellation.

Oh, and then there’s the porygon I work with as part of the storage system. I don’t really consider her mine, though, so I haven’t really thought of a name for her. Yet, anyway.

Are Yamask actually the souls of dead humans, as the Pokédex states? I feel a bit odd about catching and training Yamask because of it. Sure, it’s not the worst afterlife fate I could imagine, but it still weirds me out.

Luckily, no. Just like phantump, this is only Unovan folklore, albeit a popular story. It stems from the fact that people have a tendency to look for something familiar in the unfamiliar, especially when it comes to things that might vaguely resemble faces. So while yamask’s mask is generically humanlike, it’s only a generic humanlike mask, created to help yamask harvest negative emotion for its meals. If you stare at it long enough, you may begin to make out the face of someone you know who has died, but this is just your mind using your memory of them to play tricks on you.

In truth, yamask are just like any other pokémon: they hatch from eggs, no death necessary.

My walrein loves to play with beach balls, but he always ends up popping them with his tusks. He does have other toys he likes to play with, but beach balls are his favourite and he gets upset. I’ve heard someone suggest filing down his teeth, but is this safe? Do you have any other suggestions

Ah, no, it’s not a good idea to file down a walrein’s tusks, I’m afraid. This could damage them and lead to long-term pain for your partner. Instead, you should always let your walrein maintain the length of his tusks on his own by supplying him with sturdy tree trunks, bones, or specially made posts for pokémon with continually growing teeth. The only time you should touch a walrein’s tusks is to brush them or to examine them for any signs of disease, particularly around the gum area.

When it comes to balls, though, you might want to consider a sturdier ball. While it’s true that volleyballs are no replacement, they are designed to take more hits than a beach ball and can be painted to resemble one using nontoxic paint. If your walrein can tell the difference, though, the alternative is to make or buy tusk caps made of food grade/nontoxic plastic to temporarily “dull” the sharpness of his tusks. If you go with this route, don’t forget to remove these caps when he’s done playing with his beach balls or at least when it’s time to eat and train.

Best of luck!