Hi! First off, I have good news! My Sunlight nested pretty heavily a few days ago and this morning I found her and an egg! I’m so exited and happy for her! Now, for my question, is it possible for a pokemon to be half shiny? I was lucky to catch a cute lil axew some years ago and back then nothing was off, but he evolved to a haxorous not too long ago and his colours are a fade from a normal one to a shiny one. Like a gradient almost. I’ve never hear of it before. Have you?

First and foremost, regarding Sunlight, congratulations! It’s great to hear that she’s doing so well. May the hatchling be happy and healthy!

As for your question, it’s actually entirely possible. Although shininess and standard coloration are both defined as specific palettes according to breeders, the possible colors a pokémon can be is actually more of a spectrum. Pokémon can possess pretty much any combination of colors: limbs or appendages that are actually of the shiny variant, pelts that are shades lighter or darker than they should be, and even scales that display a cross of both. It’s just rarer for it to happen as such, but for a pokémon to be born like that? It’s certainly possible.

However, for evolutions, you’ll need to be a bit more careful, especially if the preevolution was not colored that way. In some cases, yes, the process of evolution could trigger a unique sequence of genes that results in odd coloration compared to the preevolved form, but in some cases, this could be an indication that there’s an underlying health issue. It wouldn’t hurt to take your haxorus out for a thorough check-up, just to be on the safe side.

Can you give advice on taking care of a Axew and eventually Haxorus? I’m especially worried about the tusks, so any info on dealing with those is appreciated!

Although this entry covers both the jangmo-o and axew lines equally, it may still be of some use to you, anonymous: http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/155566649591/what-are-the-proper-ways-to-care-for-a-jangmo-o-i

As for the tusks, they’re actually much easier to take care of than one would think. While it’s true that it’s possible for fraxure tusks to break off and that these tusks will not grow back, the tusks are actually highly resilient, and it takes a considerable amount of force for a fraxure to lose one. Axew and haxorus, by contrast, have to worry less about losing tusks. This is because axew tusks fall out and grow back quite frequently, and haxorus tusks can’t be broken off at all. So once you receive your axew, don’t be surprised if you find tusks lying about your home now and then. Simply dispose of the tusks and give your axew wet food until a new tusk grows in, and provide your axew with something to chew on to help strengthen its jaws and teeth. As for fraxure, be sure it has a rock or wooden post that will allow it to sharpen its tusks whenever it wishes, and as for haxorus, all it will need is occasional polishing. (Its lower forms will need routine tooth brushing, but that’s something you should be doing with all of your toothed pokémon anyway.)

Best of luck, anonymous!

What are the proper ways to care for a jangmo o? I want him to one day be a kommo o and so help with this line would be much appreciated!

I’ll answer both of these at once, as taking care of both lines is actually astoundingly similar.

In many ways, taking care of jangmo-o or axew is a lot like taking care of any other reptilian pokémon. For one, temperature is important, especially in the case of the tropical jangmo-o (although axew also shy away from cold as well). Thus, always be sure your jangmo-o has a flat rock for sunning during the day and hiding beneath at night. For axew, be sure you have a shelter with nesting materials (such as straw) for nights and a clear space for sunbathing during the day. In colder weather, move both pokémon indoors and provide them with enough space to roam about and a sunlamp. As both are mountainous and cave-dwelling pokémon, they don’t need much more than that to sleep on, so beds aren’t necessary.

Also, be sure they both have clean water dishes, and change this every day. Likewise, line their enclosures with poké litter or straw and change this often. Both axew and jangmo-o, being reptiles, are at a high risk for carrying nasty bugs such as E-coli and salmonella, so changing their enclosure linings frequently minimizes the risk of allowing diseases to spread to you or your other pokémon. Grooming consisting of giving them warm baths every so often further minimizes this risk and, in the case of jangmo-o, helps polish pokémon scales.

As with most dragons, jangmo-o and axew are also primarily carnivorous, but their diets can be supplemented with leafy greens and berries as well. Cleaning their enclosures also removes stray food and prevents rot (especially if you choose to supplement their diets), but when your jangmo-o or axew lives outdoors, you can easily sweep these to an inaccessible corner for easy composting.

When it comes to toys, while they do enjoy chew toys and bones, many axew and jangmo-o do just as well without them. You may even find that your dragons will prefer exploring their environments or sunning to occupying themselves with objects. In a way, this means they’re a little bit more of a challenge than most pokémon to satisfy in terms of enrichment, but that’s where the battling part of their lives come in.

You see, in both cases—but especially jangmo-o’s—it’s necessary to train and battle with them, even if you don’t claim to be a trainer. Even setting up a training dummy would be sufficient, but ideally, you should set up sparring matches between your dragons and other pokémon, as well as create specialized training exercises to develop specific attacks or skills. Either way, it’s important to keep in mind that unlike many other pokémon, battling is mandatory for them, else they won’t be able to develop the skills they need to survive later in life. For example, although haxorus are gentle pokémon, fraxure most certainly are not, and the fact that they aren’t is both the contributing factor to why their tusks are so long and sharp as well as their main method of keeping them pared down to a reasonable length. Hence, training axew from an early age and instilling a strict regimen of fighting and battling allows it to build up the strength, skills, and endurance needed for proper battling as a fraxure. 

In a similar manner, jangmo-o comes from a line that eventually gains the fighting element in its more advanced stages. Additionally, just like fraxure, both hakamo-o and kommo-o are well known for their battling prowess and their predilection to battle each other on sight. Thus, a battle regimen is in a way especially important to jangmo-o, as battling is essentially a part of its nature.

Here’s where the two species diverge, however. While axew and haxorus may be able to get along with their own kind, fraxure actually cannot, as the fraxure stage represents a departure from one’s birth nest to lay down the groundwork for their territory and breeding nest. Fraxure see one another as competition for the same territory, so keeping multiple fraxure of the same gender may get complicated. By contrast, jangmo-o are a more tribalistic species in that they form groups that are highly dependent on one another. Raising multiple jangmo-o is thus sometimes preferred, as members of the jangmo-o line feel most comfortable battling one another. On the other hand, members of the jangmo-o also get particularly enthusiastic about battling one another, so a match between two or more jangmo-o may be just as destructive and violent as a match between two or more fraxure.

In other words, always hold your dragons’ battles outdoors.

Best of luck, anonymous!

do you have any information on the Haxorus family?

Ah, the axew line. Such an interesting topic!

Axew
The Tusk Pokémon
Type: Dragon
Official Registration #: 610
Entry: A rare, cave-dwelling dragon pokémon. The axew line is most famous for its sharp, prominent tusks, which begin to grow shortly after hatching. At this stage of its life, axew can lose their tusks as a result of intense battling, but they can quickly grow back over time. Additionally, axew frequently use their tusks to crush berries or, more commonly, to mark their territory against tree trunks. For the latter reason, trainers should take caution, as some axew have difficulty distinguishing between tree trunks and their trainers’ legs, and some of these axew have particularly brittle teeth.

Fraxure
The Axe Jaw Pokémon
Type: Dragon
Official Registration #: 611
Entry: The evolved form of axew, by battle experience. Upon evolution, fraxure lose the ability to regrow their tusks, but in return, their tusks grow harder and sharper, to the point where they can shatter rocks. This may perhaps be of no comfort to trainers who were under the impression that evolution will spare their legs from axew marking. Doubly so for those who raise entire teams of axew, as fraxure are notorious for extremely violent and bloody territory battles, even between other fraxure.

Haxorus
The Axe Jaw Pokémon
Type: Dragon
Official Registration #: 612
Entry: The evolved form of fraxure, by battle experience. Paradoxically, while their previous form was violently territorial, haxorus are known for being kind and gentle creatures (when not protecting their territories from active invaders). However, every part of a haxorus body is as hard as steel and as sharp as a well-maintained battle axe, so trainers of the axew line should be warned that evolution of their fraxure may not bring that much comfort—especially if their haxorus is particularly affectionate.