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.

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.

I always wondered if the eeveelutions are considered omnivores what specifically do their diets consist of? And does it differ on the specific eeveelution?

Eevee and its evolutions lean more toward (for the most part) carnivorous lifestyles, actually. While, like most pokémon, they can eat nuts, berries, grains, root vegetables, and so forth, much of their diet should be meat and protein of some kind.

That having been said, the answer to your second question depends. In captivity, the eevee family can actually be fed the exact same diet, regardless of what evolution each individual takes, with no real consequences so long as their trainer keeps in mind that they should be fed a balance of foods.

In the wild however, absolutely, it depends on the evolution.

Eevee tend to have the most balanced diet (as one would expect) and will eat whatever it can find in its immediate environment.

Flareon often stick to slower animals and pokémon, and its favored food sources tend to be small mammals. It will also display the unusual behavior of roasting their food with the intention of cooking it before eating. (Trainers should be aware that tamed flareon also display this behavior and should only be fed in fireproof environments.)

Vaporeon, being aquatic pokémon, will eat mostly seafood, including fish, amphibians, turtles, jellyfish, and aquatic mammals (such as seals). It tends to avoid shellfish, likely due to the difficulty in getting them open, but it will also hunt for larger meat sources (such as walruses, dolphins, and even sharks) in packs.

Jolteon, being faster and gifted with electrical attacks, often hunt for birds and forage for eggs. It’s also the one eeveelution that prefers pokémon meat over animal meat, as bird pokémon tend to be larger targets than their animal “counterparts.”

Espeon and Leafeon both tend to eat more of a herbivorous diet than their cousins. This does not mean that they are strictly herbivorous; simply that they forage more often than the others. Espeon tends to hunt for insects and other animals with lesser cognitive functions thanks to its psychic abilities. Leafeon, meanwhile, avoids insects (due to its plant biology) and consumes largely rodents, rabbits, frogs, and anything else it can find in its forest habitat. (Leafeon also photosynthesizes whenever a food source isn’t readily available.)

Umbreon, meanwhile, is much more of a carnivore than its cousins in that its diet consists almost entirely of meat. As a nocturnal, forest-dwelling pokémon in nature, it will often hunt for small, ground-dwelling pokémon and animals, particularly diurnal ones. It has no qualms raiding the nests of sleeping prey, in other words.

Glaceon will often consume whatever it can find in its colder, more arctic environment—usually seafood (for polar glaceon) or rabbits (for mountainous). Glaceon may also share territory with vaporeon, sometimes even hunting alongside them to take down larger prey (such as seals and even walruses).

Finally, Sylveon, like eevee, will eat whatever it can find in its environment but typically chooses prey it can lure into dark corners of its habitat and then devour.

My eevee is certain that she wants to evolve as she loves to battle and wants to get stronger, but is not sure which evolution she wants to become. I don’t want to decide for her I want it to be HER decision, but I want to help out any way I can in choosing which would fit her. What can I do?

Ah, the one question that plagues the minds of both eevee and eeveemaniacs alike.

If you know anyone who trains eeveelutions, consider allowing your eevee to speak with them—the eeveelutions, I mean. Think of it like a mentoring relationship, wherein the eeveelution offers advice on their branch and why they chose what they did. If you can connect with all eight known eeveelutions, this would be ideal, but the more you can have your eevee speak to, the better. After all, no one knows what it’s like to be each eeveelution better than another eeveelution.

If this isn’t feasible, then communication between you and your eevee will be of the utmost importance. Try to teach her about each eeveelution yourself. Explain to her what each element can do and show her information about each possible branch. You can certainly do this without influencing her decision; it’s simply a matter of providing objective facts on each branch. For example, you can tell your eevee about how flareon can breathe fire and how its fur coat keeps it warm even in the coldest temperatures, even if you’re not fond of flareon yourself. By providing her with information, you can help her become informed.

Beyond that, I would also suggest allowing her to battle against pokémon that share elements with her evolutions. For example, allow her to battle against a vulpix, pikachu, and staryu. While these aren’t eeveelutions (or even remotely related to eevee), they’re adept at using the same elements flareon, jolteon, and vaporeon wield, and thus, your eevee has plenty of opportunity to see her future elements in action. (You can do the same with pokémon that share elements with her other evolutions as well. For example, try battling girafarig to expose her to the psychic element, poochyena to expose her to dark, roselia for grass, swinub for ice, and clefairy for fairy. Also note that you don’t have to battle these specifically; these are just examples. Any pokémon of these eight elements will do.)

If, after all of this, she still can’t quite decide, let her know that there’s no rush to make a decision at all. Offer her an everstone and continue to expose her to information about her evolutions until, one way or another, something resonates with her.

Best of luck, anonymous! May this help your eevee do what feels right to her.

It’s scyther anon again, I’ve had flareon basically since he was born and I got him to sit down with my espeon and talk it out, and it turns out he was just really jealous because I haven’t added a new member to my team in a while and he’s a bit… clingy, to put it nicely. Thank you so much for your help, they get along a lot better now!

Ah, I should have guessed. Sometimes, eeveelutions can be a rather … loyal breed of pokémon.

In any case, I’m glad that it worked out well for you, anonymous! May they continue to bond with no complications!

If a pokemon has a branched evolution family and has not yet decided what to evolve into, is it a bad idea to lead them in one direction? Eg. If I had an eevee and wanted a flareon, is it wrong to try and encourage it to take that path by training it in certain ways and having it meet with other flareon?

Not at all! It’s only really inconsiderate to force your pokémon to adopt an evolution that it doesn’t want to assume. For example, if your eevee absolutely did not want to be flareon, it would be wrong of you to force it to be one. However, if your eevee is indecisive, there’s nothing wrong with giving it information about flareon and offering your advice and opinion.

Just be sure to sit down with your eevee and let it know first that you think it would be a good idea if it evolved into a flareon. Then, be on the lookout for any signs that it may be experiencing doubts as you train it. If at any point it doesn’t seem comfortable about evolving into a flareon, stop training it and ask it what it wants instead.

In other words, absolutely, it’s fine to educate your pokémon about one branch of its evolutionary tree, and it’s certainly fine to encourage your pokémon to choose a certain path. It’s your right as a trainer to channel your pokémon onto the path you think would be best for them. What’s not within your right is forcing your pokémon to choose a path it doesn’t wish to take, which is why it’s very important to be sensitive about your pokémon’s wants and needs.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Have you ever seen a melanistic eevee, Bill? Do you know what exactly causes this effect? I have a melanistic umbreon that was given to me by my father, his coat is entirely black, and the area where his rings would be, doesn’t glow either. His eyes are a very lovely shade of copper instead of the regular red, as well.

Ah yes, melanistic eevee. It’s actually quite interesting, to be honest. Melanistic eevee are more or less akin to albinos of the same species: not shiny but rather pokémon with melanin levels that differ from the norm. However, unlike albino pokémon, melanism in pokémon can be an adaptational advantage and—in the absence of melanism-related disorders such as ocular melanosis—often is.

That’s important to clarify because melanism is a genetic condition. In laymen’s terms, it’s caused by a mutation in a pokémon’s genetic code that causes them to have one extra copy of a specific sequence that controls melanin production. However, whether or not that mutation is expressed is a recessive trait. As such, pokémon may either carry it and pass it to their young or, well, be melanistic themselves.

As for the reason why this mutation occurred in the first place, as mentioned above, it’s often an adaptational advantage. For example, while non-melanistic umbreon use their rings’ glow as an intimidation tactic, umbreon that can’t glow at all are less likely to be detected in the first place and are therefore actually more effective hunters. (The glow helps, of course, to stun faster prey, but glowing umbreon lack the stealth non-glowing umbreon have.) Additionally, melanin protects the skin from ultraviolet light, synthesizes vitamin D (which in turn is vital to the immune system), and may be associated with viral resistance, all of which in combination allow melanistic pokémon such as your umbreon to be hardier than their normal counterparts. As such, there is some “survival of the fittest” at play here as well.

Finally, as for whether or not I’ve ever seen them in person, I have indeed. While melanism is rare in the wild, domesticated eevee are often bred specifically for those traits due to the fact that besides being ideal traits in the wild, they’re actually more aesthetically pleasing to eevee enthusiasts. However, I must admit I’ve never owned one myself, but I’ve met my fair share of eeveemaniacs with at least one on their team. They’re quite beautiful indeed—so you’re very lucky to own one!

Hey Bill! Is there anyway that emotional based eeveelutions could transform into two different forms at the same time? What if say- during the night, your eevee has max friendship and love ? Could it turn into a Sylbreon?

As exciting as that might be, anonymous, unfortunately no. Evolution is a full-on transformation into a set form: there is no such thing as a hybrid evolution (in this sense, anyway—some people argue that slowbro and slowking are hybrid evolutions, but that’s another story) for the same reason hybrid hatchlings don’t exist. They’re two separate genetic entities, in other words, defined by very specific criteria. Think of it like a light switch, in other words, wherein the conditions for the state of being “on” are completely different from those of being “off.”

That having been said, an eevee in this scenario would evolve based on which emotion is stronger. If they feel generally happier, they’ll evolve into either espeon or umbreon, depending on the time of day. (Eevee will evolve into espeon if they’re exposed to any form of sunlight, including the little amount they get at sunrise and sunset, incidentally.) If they feel a stronger sense of belonging and physical comfort, they’ll be sylveon instead. Usually, one emotion is stronger than the other (either happiness for their trainer or pack or the feeling of being loved by their trainer or pack), but if the feeling is exactly equal, they’ll remain as eevee until one emotion outweighs the other.

Unless, of course, the eevee has chosen its particular form. If an eevee at equilibrium actually wants to be an umbreon instead of a sylveon or vice-versa, then they’ll will themselves towards that form.

This is, of course, also not taking into consideration environmental factors (such as proximity to a moss-covered rock), but seeing as you’ve specified emotion-based evolutions for eevee, I’ll keep it at this.

Hey, Leafeon use photosynthisis right? I’m starting to get worried because mine never wants to go outside and seems fairly determined to stay as far away from sunlight as possible. At first I thought he just had too much energy or was being stubborn but this has been going on for weeks and he doesn’t want to eat either. What do I do?

First and foremost, this post may be alarming to you on some level, but the important thing is that you refrain from panicking. Your leafeon will improve one way or another, but it will require a bit of effort and observation on your part.

That having been said, there may be a number of things that are preventing your leafeon from maintaining his diet of either sunlight or actual food, but the first thing you should do to rule out a few possibilities is take him to your local pokémon center. Sometimes, these behaviors indicate an illness, an injury, or a digestive blockage, any of which can be resolved by a well-trained Nurse Joy. She can also give you a customized meal plan or routine to help your leafeon get back on track, so to speak.

If the problem is more psychological in nature, then consider the following:

Your leafeon may be under stress due to a new environment. This is especially true if you’ve recently moved to an urban environment. Most grass-types (except those who are also of the poison element) do not do as well in urban environments as they do in more rural areas due to increased air pollution or fewer available spots with an optimal amount of sunlight. If this is the case, find the nearest park to your home and make it a point to take your leafeon there for at least an hour every day. This should be done in addition to feeding your leafeon solid food, as the exposure to sunlight “jumpstarts” his appetite and lifts his morale enough to encourage him to eat.
Alternatively, as an extension to the above, your leafeon may be experiencing stress due to the new environment itself. Increase the amount of time you spend with your leafeon and try to make his new home as happy and comfortable as possible in order to reassure him that he’s safe in your new location. If you have any other pokémon that you’ve raised alongside your leafeon, keep them close to him, including during mealtimes, in order to give him support.
Conversely, if you have new pokémon and you’ve made it a habit to release all of your pokémon from their poké balls at once so they may eat (or photosynthesize, in the case of your leafeon) together, feed your leafeon separately from this pokémon. It’s very likely that your leafeon is uncomfortable with the new addition to your family. When it’s not feeding time, try your best to get your pokémon acclimated to one another before trying to reintegrate your leafeon with your usual feeding routine.
If you don’t normally keep your leafeon in his ball, observe him carefully and be sure he isn’t eating between meals. If your leafeon is eating extra meals, this will cause him to avoid sunlight, as even though it’s true photosynthesis is an entirely different process from heterotrophic nutrition, if your leafeon eats his fill, his stomach will send a signal to his brain that tells him that he no longer needs to gather energy—and thus, doesn’t need to photosynthesize. Observing your leafeon’s behavior will also allow you to monitor whether or not he’s exuding wastes, so it is, in general, a good idea in your case.
If your leafeon is simply picky (that is, he actively refuses sunlight or food by choice), switch his diet. Put him on a different food or kibble until you can find one he likes, never feed him from the table, and try giving him bites of his own food between meals as a reward for tricks or battles well fought. Most importantly, establish a routine and be consistent about it. If your leafeon is simply consciously picky, then that means getting him to eat is a matter of training, just as you would train him for battle. But if you’re consistent about what you do and strict about what you feed him, he’ll eventually learn to eat what you give him when you give it to him. Or he’ll be so weary of you that he’ll go back to photosynthesizing.

That having been said, anonymous, I wish you the best of luck, and may your leafeon get well soon.