How do you deal with overly affectionate Pokemon without hurting their feelings? I have an Eevee that refuses to leave my side and constantly clings to my arm, or leg.. I’ve never had a Pokemon as clingy as this Eevee, and I’ve tripped over her and nearly hurt both of us on several occasions.

Train them, actually. Not training in the battling sense, of course, but rather training in the positive reinforcement sense. A few people have encountered similar issues, so this link should offer several tips: http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/search/separation

The key is to be patient and start with a schedule. Schedules are often comforting to pokémon because they’re a constant. A pokémon understands time a little better once they’re on a schedule, and consequently, it’s easier for them to feel normal and safe. Thus, once you establish set times for when your eevee needs to be fed, walked, and so forth, it will be easier to change your routine to include independence.

Or in other words, once you set her on a schedule, then you can train her to handle herself on her own. For example, announce when you’ll leave her side, even for a moment, when you set her down to eat. Get her used to that idea, then use the same cue to announce when you need to leave the room, to leave the house temporarily, to leave for work, and so on and so forth. Start with small increments and work your way up so she grows more and more used to this routine.

Additionally, reward her for behavior in which she handles herself without reacting badly. If, for example, she doesn’t immediately tear off looking for you when you set her down and leave the room, give her a treat or a toy. If she does tear off, sit her back down and try again. Additionally, give her a treat before you have to leave her alone for long periods of time (for example, to take a shower at first, then work your way up to leaving the house) so she associates your absence with something good. Finally, give her something that smells like you to comfort her in between. The more she understands that not clinging to you (literally) is okay, the easier it will be to wean herself off you, as it were.

Good luck!

Is it bad for an Eevee to evolve at a young age? My beloved 3 month old baby Eevee just evolved into a Sylveon! My local Nurse Joy says she’s perfectly healthy. She’s only the size of a fully grown Eevee and she’s the littlest, most adorable Sylveon ever!

Not at all! In some cases, it can be better because your eevee(lution) can unlock its potential much faster, and it doesn’t deal with the stress of resisting its urge to adapt to its every environment. The downside, of course, is the fact that it’s deciding early what it wants to be, and not all eevee possess that level of confidence in its decisions that early on. However, if an eevee wants to evolve into a certain form and is absolutely sure of that, then it’s perfectly fine.

On that note, congratulations to your sylveon! She certainly sounds adorable.

No, Bill, you can’t ask an anonymous poster for pics. —LH

But what if I strongly imply that I would like to see pics? —Bill

No. —LH

How do Eevees evolve with friendship or affection in the wild? And why can’t you normally catch wild Eeveelutions except for Espeon and Umbreon in Alola?

Friendship (or more accurately and commonly known, happiness) evolutions are perhaps the easiest type of evolution for pokémon to achieve in the wild, as these rely less on a pokémon’s environment, age, or experience but instead on their state of mind. All a pokémon needs to do is achieve a state of complete happiness with themselves and their lives—which, yes, is easier to do when in the constant care of a human but is still possible in the wild. This should also explain why espeon and umbreon are so easy to find comparatively. It’s not that the others don’t exist but instead because an eevee will be more likely to evolve into either of those in their native habitats than the others. That and the other evolutions require additional environmental factors that aren’t really present within the Alolan nesting grounds on Akala, so if an eevee wishes to achieve an alternate evolution, they would need to journey far from their home fields. Not all of them go home, either: many wander alone or congregate in territories far too remote for humans to reach.

As for sylveon, though, that’s also possible, but it’s less common than an espeon or umbreon evolution. Instead, an eevee needs to be affectionate … with a mate. This also explains their rarity in the wild. They’re not actually rare; they’re simply in breeding pairs and thus avoid contact with humans as vehemently as possible.

Hey Bill! I was wondering about Greninja’s alternate form where it takes on it’s trainer’s looks and if there have been other pokemon in the past that have done the same thing that isn’t mega evolution, primal reversion or ultra burst.

On a temporary basis? No, which is why that particular greninja (and its trainer, for that matter) are of great interest to the pokémonology community. The two of them may represent the birth of a revolutionary way to utilize the bond between trainer and pokémon, and that in turn may change the way we view our relationships with our partners.

On a permanent basis, however, some pokémon do start to resemble their trainers (or vice versa) over time, but this is a superficial change that naturally happens when two friends spend enough time with one another. This most notably happens with eevee, not only because it happens quickly (within a few months of being with a new trainer) but also because the phenomenon is tied to its ability to adapt on a genetic level to its environment.

…and before anyone says anything concerning my bias towards eevee, I assure you I just find them cute and scientifically interesting. I’m not that narcissistic, I swear.

Bill, I’m in an interesting situation. My Espeon is a Pokemon a befriended the “old fashioned” way. She doesn’t have a pokeball, basically. I scheduled an appointment to have her spayed, and on the day of, she escaped! We located Her a few weeks later and immediately went for that appointment… only to find she has a litter on the way now! What do I do with a litter of eevees I wasn’t expecting?!

Well, anonymous, you can do what I always do and offload them onto your friends and trustworthy-looking trainers.

Edit: My editor has informed me that this is a terrible idea, but I respectfully counter with the fact that all of those eevee, as far as I’m aware, are still alive and happy with the people I’ve given them to.

Should any of us tell him we offloaded his eevee onto other trainers? —Bebe

No, let him live his life. Just add in a note about considering humane pokémon shelters or leaving them with pokémon centers in the tags or something. —LH

Two questions that don’t realy go together my charizard has gained a fasination with water. I was thinking of buying him a kiddy pool to play in but was wondering if that mite kill him. Or would just jerry rigging it to be a small hot tub workout. I’m thinking of evolving my eevee into a glacion. Will his body temperature change, whant to know for snuggle resones.

1. It won’t exactly kill him, but it’s highly recommended that you avoid submerging the tip of his tail, as doing so would be a risk to his life. While there isn’t exactly a product out there specifically designed to do this, you might be able to fashion a floatation device that can be placed around his tail close to the flame on its tip to keep it upright and out of the water. Alternatively, the kiddie pool idea would work, but always be sure your charizard’s tail remains outside of it.

2. The bad news is yes, an eevee’s body temperature does indeed drop upon evolution into a glaceon. The good news is it doesn’t drop to a point where a glaceon can’t safely be cuddled. Just be wary of any signs that he’s getting overheated, and he should be fine.

Hi there! My precious Flareon had 4 babies couple of weeks ago, 2 eevees and 2 shinxes. Her partner is my Luxray and I want to ask some tips on how to take care newborn pokemons. Their kits are always hyperactive especially the shinxes where they couldn’t control their electrics perfectly yet. So please help me! I want to become a great caretaker for them.

As I’ve mentioned briefly in a previous ask (http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/166442752080/um-hi-yes-my-houndoom-hannah-has-recently-begun), for the most part, caring for newborns is complicated, but it’s made easier by the fact that unless the mother has rejected her kits (unlikely, but it happens), she will generally care for her young. This is very true for the eevee family, which are generally protective of their young due to how much the base species is affected by its environment. Likely, your flareon will display similar behavior towards her shinx young, so you won’t need to worry about things such as food or basic care until they grow old enough to be fully independent from their parents.

The same could actually be said for your predicament with your shinx kits. While it may be frustrating to see them unleash their electricity seemingly at random, their luxray parent will instinctually attempt to train them himself unless he’s rejected his young. All you’ll need to do is make sure your shinx kits are given ample space … and that you safely store any object you’d miss.

Once they’re old enough to be weaned, caring for the young is very much the same as caring for the parents, only on a smaller scale, so if you remember how you cared for your flareon and luxray when they were eevee and shinx, you should have few problems. If, however, you had received these pokémon as evolutions or if you don’t remember at all, simply scale back the amount of food and water you give the kits and train them for less time, but provide the same basic care and scale upwards as the kits get older.

If, however, your flareon or your luxray have outright rejected your new kits, feed them formula from a bottle at least once every three hours. (As you get closer to weaning them, you can increase the time between feedings.) Be sure that the formula is warm (but not scalding) and feed them by holding them upright in the crook of your arm, not on their backs like you would a human baby. Swaddle your shinx in rubber-lined cloth (available at pokémarts) or be sure to wear rubber as you bottle-feed them. At one to two months, eevee and shinx can be weaned onto solid food. (Start with wet food in a shallow dish, then move on to dry food soaked in milk and then dry food without milk once their teeth grow in.) At this point, it’s important to keep an eye on their droppings to be sure they’re digesting their food properly. Luckily, eevee can be housebroken fairly quickly using verbal explanations. Shinx may need to be litter trained, however. Rub a cotton ball on each kit’s lower belly immediately after feeding to stimulate their digestive systems, then place them in the litter box and essentially … let them go. Eventually, they’ll get the idea.

Moreover, keep your kits warm at all times. Their ideal body temperatures at this point in time is roughly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Add a hot water bottle to their carrier or bed if you live someplace cold, and monitor their temperatures regularly. Additionally, bathe your kits regularly by wiping them thoroughly but gently with a warm, wet cloth. Eventually, eevee may need regular baths with eevee shampoo (some, especially those that eventually evolve into espeon, will learn to bathe themselves), but shinx will need to be encouraged to bathe themselves.

Best of luck, and congratulations on your new additions!

So my sylveon adopted a shiny shinx that had been rejected by its parents and is raising it along side her two eevee babies. The shinx is around the size of the eevees right now but when shinx evolves into a Luxio and luxray do you think there could be problems with the currently happy family?

Not at all! Pokémon are highly adaptable creatures. Think about how many of them form families within their own teams. A trainer can catch a wide variety of different pokémon—even pokémon whose elements are by no means compatible with one another—and those pokémon will still be able to bond with one another and see each other as great friends, if not practically family. Moreover, pokémon from the same egg group (as the eevee and shinx families are) often take care of other members of that same group, regardless of actual species. In other words, sometimes, an eevee and a shinx can actually be blood relatives, and the two pokémon would still get along quite well.

In short, barring conflicts that would have nothing to do with your shinx’s species or physical attributes (because no family is without its differences, believe me), your shinx should do just fine. If anything, you should likely be wary about the fact that it’s shiny, but given the other fact that your sylveon and eevee are all tame, it’s likely that even that won’t be an issue.

Best of luck and congratulations, anonymous!

Can Eevees express and choose which evolution it wants to go through? If so, how do I find out which of the many evolutions they want to become?

They can indeed! Eevee will generally have different ways of communicating their desires. Some take on more of an interest in a certain element (for example, getting excited upon seeing an electric-type battle or seeming interested in learning moves of a specific type). Others may take on habits that lean more towards a certain element or habits that are shared by certain evolutions (e.g., becoming more active at night or showing more affection towards you). And still others may make things particularly easy by showing a keen interest in a specific evolution whenever they appear in media or are otherwise in the vicinity.

In other words, figuring out what your eevee wishes to evolve into is actually the easy part. It simply requires you to pay close attention to what seems to catch your eevee’s attention the most. When you’re almost certain you know what your eevee wishes to evolve into, show it a picture of the evolution in question and explain what that pokémon is and what it can do. If your eevee still seems interested after that, then you’ll know for certain.

After that, it’s just a matter of obtaining the right conditions for it to evolve, and that is the hard part.

So my neighbors umbreon and my sylveon ended up mating and now I have 3 baby eevees. The only thing is, one is melanistic. Now I’ve heard albino eeveelutions and other albino Pokémon are very temperamental and neurotic. Is there any behavioral issues I should be worried about with melanistic Pokémon?

Generally speaking, no. As mentioned in an earlier post, while albinism is linked to certain health conditions (meaning albino pokémon are at a higher risk of being actually, physically sick—but do keep in mind that this is a risk and is not true for all albino pokémon by default), melanism is not linked to any particular health issue. Thus, a melanistic pokémon may act in the same way as a brown-coated eevee, albeit a melanistic pokémon may be hardier than its brown-furred cousins.