Hi Bill and Lanette, I’ve been breeding Pokemon for six years and something has come up that I need assistance with. My Blaziken just hatched a shiny Torchic, but for some reason she’s rejected it. I’d tried reintroducing it to her but she shows no interest in it and has even lashed out at us a few times. In my six years I’ve never had a Pokemon reject a shiny offspring and the Pokemon Center has said that the chick is of optimal health; do you have any ideas as to why she’s behaving this way?

Bill: This can happen from time to time, I’m afraid, anonymous. Scientists and breeders alike aren’t quite sure what causes a parent to reject a hatchling, but shininess does indeed seem to increase those chances. It’s thought to be tied into a sort of survival instinct: the more oddly colored a pokémon is, the less likely it will be able to benefit from the advantages its standard coloration provides (camouflage from predators, camouflage from prey, warning patterns, mimicry, etc) in the wild. Therefore, a shiny pokémon tends to be less likely to survive. Additionally, in some cases, shininess may be mistaken for illness, particularly in species whose coloration are lighter than standard or specific colors associated with internal problems (such as yellow being associated with jaundice, especially in humanoid pokémon). Given the color of a shiny torchic, this might be the more likely case—your blaziken might not recognize what a shiny torchic looks like and may think that this hatchling isn’t meant to survive.

Alternatively, it could be something wrong with the mother as well. Just as humans occasionally suffer from postpartum, pokémon mothers may feel the same way, which could result in their inability to even want to care for their offspring. If the birth of this torchic was recent, these feelings may fade away over time, but you’ll need plenty of patience (as well as a temporary surrogate mother to care for the torchic for now) until your blaziken recovers. Support her as much as possible in the meantime and observe her behavior carefully. If/when she feels at ease and safe, reintroduce the chick to see if this is the cause.

The third and final possibility (that I can recall off the top of my head, at least) is that the torchic was separated from its mother far too early. If, for example, you removed the chick from your blaziken for even as little as a few hours after birth or even if you’ve removed the chick from the nest and failed to put it back at night while your blaziken was resting, you may have accidentally interfered with the bonding process. While the entire idea that handling a hatchling with your hands will cause parents to reject their children is a myth for most species, for blaziken, there is a grain of truth to it, especially when they’re extremely young. While your blaziken likely won’t be able to catch your scent on her chick, she will be unlikely to recognize its look or heat signature if it’s not next to her for the first several hours after birth.

Of course, these are only a few possible scenarios out of many. As I’ve said, it’s difficult to tell what the case actually is, and as expressive as pokémon are, they may not be able to convey effectively what’s wrong. You could certainly try (and this would be an excellent idea, actually), but I’m afraid many of the possibilities have rather bleak outcomes. That is to say, if your blaziken has outright rejected this torchic, then it’s likely to have been permanently rejected, and any attempts for reintroduction may actually result in violence from your blaziken. (Many wild blaziken will kill torchic they reject, and this holds true for tame ones as well, as you likely know.) I would advise giving your blaziken a little more time to recover from the excitement of having a torchic hatch, then trying to reintroduce her torchic to her one more time. If she still rejects it, I’m afraid you’ll need to raise the torchic yourself.

Luckily, though, many bird pokémon such as torchic are rather independent, compared to most mammalian pokémon. That is to say, your torchic still has a very strong chance of survival, even without its mother, so long as you’re careful about hand-feeding it and keeping watch on it for the first few months.

Best of luck!

Bill I’ve got an odd problem. My Lucario and Greninja seem to be fighting for my Gardevoir’s attention despite none of them being in the same egg group?

Get the gardevoir a mate of her choosing. That usually works.

In all seriousness, this sometimes happens with male pokémon, and there are several ways you can resolve this. You can get the gardevoir a mate as noted above, you can neuter your lucario and greninja (although this can be trickier for the latter), you can mediate, or you can simply train your pokémon to refocus their anger towards more a productive means (such as battling) while also teaching them to resolve their differences peacefully. The most extreme solution is to get a mate for everyone, as not only does this double the size of your team and thus double its needs, but also, this could encourage them to, ah, set aside their differences, so to speak. Which could be worse. So only use this method if the above several don’t seem to resolve things, anonymous.

You may be wondering why I’m not addressing the egg group issue. The truth is, simply, egg groups only refer to the logistics of both the act of mating and the production of a viable egg. Pokémon themselves, at the risk of putting things crudely, don’t care about group boundaries and may attempt to copulate with anything that they consider to be an attractive pokémon.

You’re welcome.

Hi Bill! Perhaps you can help me with something of a problem? Although, in regard to the Aspiring Dark Rookie Trainer’s father, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. I run a ranch north of Tohjo Falls, and the Eevee family is kind of our signature. While my partners (a male Jolteon and female Umbreon) are only responsible for a handful of the Eevee produced, about 70% of the pups are evolving into Umbreon, even outside normal conditions. Some of my…less pleased clients are threatening to sue. Thoughts?

Hmm. It’s extremely rare, but there are cases in which eevee that are comfortable and raised in a fairly safe and consistent environment (meaning, there are no particular controllable factors that would affect their evolution present) will be “locked” genetically. That is to say, if one or both parents are eeveelutions, one parent will pass down genes that will essentially choose which evolution an eevee will undergo pre-birth.

There are ways to counter this, however. Usually, the introduction of another environmental factor will knock their pups’ genetics “off balance” so to speak, just enough to allow them to access all of their potential evolutions again. So for example, you could plant a thunder stone near the parents’ burrow, in a place the eevee themselves can’t access but just close enough to allow the stone’s radiation to seep into the nesting ground. Alternatively, samples of moss or ice rock or the other evolution stones will work.

Also, because you live in the mountains, you may wish to keep an eye out for clefairy. While eevee don’t evolve via moon stone, high exposure to fragments of moon stone (otherwise known as moon shards) can sometimes influence an eevee into evolving into an umbreon, regardless of the time of day, so long as its other requirement of closeness with a trainer is met. Clefairy often collect moon shards to build their own moon stones, so if you happen to see a clefairy nearby, there’s a good chance there’s a moon shard cache (along with a clefairy colony) nearby too. These are just as rare as the above possibility, especially if you live in an area that hasn’t seen a clefairy colony before, but given how capricious clefairy can be and given the possibility that the recent bizarre weather we’ve been having could very well have carried moon shards down the mountains, it’s still worth looking into. Should you have a clefairy invasion on your hands, calling in a trainer or few should help clear that up. As in, a sufficient number of humans heading directly towards a clefairy cache will often encourage the colony to pick up and leave on their own.

Best of luck!

Hey bill, double Twins Anon. Yeah, my Lucario twins had each taken a ralts line twin. my budy suggested i take them on a triple date with me and my girlfriend. I decked him in the schnoz for the remark. I’ll be sure my male lucario knows to be gentle with my gardevoir. Would you recommend Ditto Surrogates if they decide they want eggs?

I must admit that Lanette is more of the expert in romance than I am, which I bring up only because I would suspect I’d be decked in the face as well. Honestly, that seems like a rather interesting way to spend a romantic evening to me.

And here, I inhale deeply and pinch the bridge of my nose. Just answer the question, Bill. —LH

Right! So! Yes, absolutely, this would be the best if they wish to raise hatchlings. Otherwise … well. As you know, it would be ill-advised to allow them to try for a hatchling by themselves. (Even if both parties were instructed to be careful.)

So based on that logic, do Gardevoir breed with other Pokémon in the human-like egg group in the wild?

They do not. Gardevoir only breed with members of the amorphous egg group, not only because the amorphous egg group consists of the only pokémon that can produce a viable egg with the ralts line anyway but also because of the Oedipus complex concept Lanette was describing (with the most unfortunate terminology possible).

Bill, if we’re going to criticize each other’s unfortunate wording, I have a few dozen pokédex entries to talk about with you… —LH

Dear Bill, while I was at the local pokemon center, a Friend asked a Nurse Jenny if there were any risks of birth Defects among Ralts given their exceptionally limited Egg-Group diversity. that got me thinking: Why ARE Ralts Line pokemon in the Amorphous Egg Group instead of the Human-Like or Field Groups? and what ARE some defects i should look out for? My gardevoir wants to be a mother and a Local breeder offered to supply a surrogate Father.

Regarding the subject of the ralts line’s egg group, this ask should answer your question, anonymous: http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/150226460696/why-isnt-the-ralts-family-in-the-human-like-egg

That said, birth defects are generally rare, and given the fact that a breeder is loaning you mate for your gardevoir (breeders are usually very careful about what they use as breeding stock), unless there are genetic defects with your own gardevoir, it’s unlikely that you’ll have to worry about that at all. Still, be sure to keep the egg warm and in a well-ventilated place to ensure that the hatchling will be healthy.

For those curious, in the meantime, ralts are extremely fragile pokémon, so it is true that defects are possible and that many of the possibilities have to do with this species’ fragility. Premature hatchlings are often too frail to live without vigorous assistance via artificial support at first, often due to immune systems that haven’t fully developed yet. However, that’s the generous side of things. There are plenty of defects that render a hatchling unviable for life at all, usually involving malformed organs or organs that haven’t fully developed at all. In rare instances—particularly crossbreeds with members of the gastly or misdreavus line—that organ may even include skin. Additionally, because of how small and slender a ralts body is, you may see a ralts with its internal organs squished one way or the other, but again, this is incredibly rare and only really occurs when both of the parents carry certain genetic anomalies.

But once more, all defects within the ralts line tend to be rare, especially if you’re working with a breeder’s pokémon, so it’s very likely you’ll simply have a happy, healthy baby ralts. (It should also be noted that the diversity or lack thereof of the egg group doesn’t have anything to do with the frequency of birth defects among hatchlings. If that were true, then we humans would be in quite a bit of trouble, given the fact that we have only ever been able to mate with one species, right? So long as pokémon are not genetically related—and given the fact that many members of the amorphous egg group are quite common, it’s unlikely you’ll be forced to breed blood relatives—the hatchlings will typically be fine.)

That having been said, best of luck and congratulations, anonymous!

My leafeon recently had a litter of eevees and she’s taking excellent care of most of them. Expect the little runt. I’ve had to resort to hand feeding but do you know anyways to get a mother to accept a baby she’s already rejected? I’m not home all the time and have no one else to feed the little one so I’m worried he won’t get enough nutrition if I can’t get my leafeon to let him nurse. If you could help I’d be very grateful.

One important thing to know is why a mother pokémon would reject her offspring. In the cases of canine pokémon such as the eeveelutions, it’s often because the rejected puppy is seen as the least capable of surviving. It may be sick or too weak to live, so the mother sets it aside to focus on nurturing puppies that have higher chances at survival.

So your first step with this eevee pup is to see if he was rejected just because he’s small. The only way you can do this is by taking him to the nearest pokémon center, explaining the situation to your local Nurse Joy, and getting a thorough examination. If all is well aside from his size, the unfortunate second step involves quite a bit of work. First of all, you may need to continue feeding him through a bottle until he grows stronger and larger, as your leafeon will likely continue to reject him until she sees that he stands a chance.

The other half of the equation is that, after a few days to a week of vigilant care, you’ll need to reintroduce the pup to his mother … by assisting with feeding. It works very much the same way as it would with introducing new pokémon to one another: set up a calm environment, be present for the reintroduction, and place the puppy close to his mother for as long as she can tolerate him. Have her turn on her side and coax the puppy into nursing from her. (Point of clarification: Yes, mammalian pokémon produce milk. They’re not exactly monotremes, as that’s a word reserved for animals, but the concept is the same.) Keep the mother calm through gentle words and petting, but if she looks like she may attack, gently remove the puppy and switch him over to formula as quickly as possible. Continue doing this until the puppy grows and the mother begins to recognize him as her own.

This might be difficult to do, I know, considering what you’ve said about your schedule, but reintroducing a pup takes quite a bit of time and effort. In the end, it’s worth it, but you will need to figure out how best to care for the eevee pup in the meantime. If you have another pokémon, they might be able to assist, or you could discuss things with your local Nurse Joy to see if the puppy can be taken care of at the pokémon center in the interim. Just be sure that you do as many of his feedings as possible and that you set aside time to reintroduce him to his mother every day to minimize trauma and help him grow.

Best of luck!

Hey bill? Recently, 4 of my pokemon have recently developed an interest in each other for mating. the issue? they’re 2 sets of twins: a Gardevoir and Gallade, and 2 Lucario. i’m sure you can see my predicament. Do you know of any ways i can mitigate the chances of the Ralts and Riolu born from their unions having debilitating birth defects from Cross egg group breeding, that doesn’t involve me breaking up these happy couples?

If you mean that the gardevoir and gallade have each taken a lucario each and if this ask is in response to my earlier one today, allow me to clarify.

By “risks,” I don’t mean that an egg will be produced. I actually mean “mating styles and mechanics between egg groups differs so drastically that not only is a fertilized egg out of such a union thoroughly impossible but also it’s likely that someone is going to get injured for even trying.”

Or to put it a little more colorfully, do you know of those stories of humans or pokémon dying because a human got a bit too close to their favorite team members? In certain circumstances, that will happen if incompatible pokémon attempt to mate. Because lucario, gardevoir, and gallade are roughly the same height and mass, you probably won’t have to worry, although lucario are supposedly … energetic when they mate. (So, well. You may need to worry about your gardevoir. Your gallade should be fine.)

If you mean that the twins are attempting to mate within twin pairings, in an incestuous relationship, then my advice would be to introduce more, unrelated pokémon to those pairs. Happy or not, that’s … about as much of a good thing as human twins pairing off.

Best of luck!

Heya Bill. Over the past few days, Sorrel, my Houndoom, has been showing all the signs of impending motherhood. Realistically, the only ‘mon that could be the father is Spruce, my Skuntank. I’d just like to know if there might be any complications, because of the different species.

Actually, no. Pokémon of different species mate all the time with no consequence, sometimes even for generations. It’s only if you cross the barriers between egg groups that you start taking risks.

Hey there, Bill! I recently did some crossbreeding between my female Alolan Ninetails and a male Ninetails from out of region, the two are getting along great and their first clutch hatched, with no visible health problems. I have a permit and everything is current, and when the pups where old enough I sold them for profit, but kept one, Lago, and he seems to have some type crossing as well. He’s very handsome, but how would you recommend caring for a Fire/Ice type? I want him to be comfortable.

This is surprisingly fairly easy, anonymous. A vulpix exhibiting unusual typing still requires the same basic care as literally any other vulpix; it’s just that they’re also tolerant to a wider range of temperatures than normal for either subspecies. In other words, you don’t have to go to extraordinary lengths to house or care for vulpix like yours. They’ll be just fine at room temperature. But it’s a good idea to discern which type it most closely battles like, as a true fire/ice vulpix doesn’t really exist when it comes to its abilities, and understanding your vulpix’s true type is important for development.

Also, as a disclaimer, while it’s true some breeders try to breed these sorts of vulpix intentionally (as they’re easier to care for), such crossbreeding carries with it risks of mutations that are unviable for life, so only do it if you know what you’re doing (and can do so in ethical conditions, of course).