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Basics of Animal Husbandry
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Basics of Animal Husbandry

Animal Husbandry is the art and science of caring for and breeding animals - specifically pets! This is a complicated topic, and it will take time to master -- but there are a few basic concepts that will help you get started.

Traits That Matter In Animal Husbandry

In your career as an animal handler, You've no doubt learned all about traits like Toughness and Ferocity. But husbandry focuses on other traits, with the most important being Virility. Highly virile pets are more likely to successfully breed. There's another, more surprising effect of virility: it can change the chances of having a male or female baby. If a highly virile father mates with a low-virility mother, the offspring is more likely to be male. (And vice versa with a high-virility mother and a low-virility father.)

Enthusiasm helps determine the length of time it takes to breed. If both pets are friendly, breeding can be quite fast, but if they're unfriendly, it can take many hours.

The mating fee is modified by the pets' Friendliness. Unfriendly pets are more difficult to handle, so stablemasters charge more. However, as you become more experienced in Animal Husbandry, this becomes less relevant, because you'll learn to train unfriendly pets to behave well.

Intelligence also has a surprising effect when breeding. When you breed two creatures that aren't the same species, but have compatible genetics - like a bee and a wasp - the offspring will be either a bee or a wasp. The intelligence of the parents affects which type of offspring you get: higher Intelligence gives a higher chance for that species.

Breeding Pets

Work with a trained stablemaster to breed your pets. You'll select an eligible male and female, and the stablemaster will keep an eye on the pair for you, even completing the necessary registration forms... for a fee, of course! Once mating begins, you can check their status by viewing the stables. While the pets are mating, they'll be shown with the status of "Mating". If mating is successful, the female will transition to "Pregnant" status and the male to "Recovering" status. A stable-slot will be automatically reserved for the baby, so it has somewhere to live when it arrives!

The chance of successful breeding mostly depends on the pets' Virility, but there are four other factors.

• First, if the pets are of different species, the chance of success is lower.
• Second, if your Animal Husbandry skill is high, this improves the odds slightly.
• Third, there are stable items you can use to improve the odds. (Use them on the pet right before beginning the breeding session.)
• And finally, the phase of the moon can also affect success. It's said that breeding during the Full Moon is a little easier, and breeding during the New Moon is a little harder.

The stablemaster will contact you know when a new baby arrives, or if a breeding session ends unsuccessfully.

Stable Items

You can use certain items on your pets while they're in the stables. The most commonly-used item is a pet cage. Pet cages are used to transfer a pet for sale. You can only use cages on Unregistered pets -- meaning ones that have never been used for breeding before. And for legal reasons you can only sell pets that you raised from birth: you cannot sell wild-caught animals.

Pet cages come in different sizes and styles. Low-quality cages can only keep a pet contained for a short while -- a few days, say. There are higher-quality cages with auto-feeder systems that can keep your pet alive for months at a time, if necessary. But all cages have a time limit! If you wait too long, the pet will escape and go feral, lost forever in the wild.

There are other types of items to use on pets, but they're species-dependent. For instance, there are certain aphrodesiac waxes you can use on male wasps to make them more attractive to female wasps -- use this sort of item on the male right before starting a mating session.

In general, consult the item's instruction manual before use.

Understanding Husbandry States

Every pet in your stable has a "husbandry state". Here's a reference to all the states:

Unregistered

these pets have never been used for breeding. (They are either wild-caught, or just-born.)

Pet-Only

these pets have been classified as pet-only, and can never be used for breeding. However, they **can** be placed in travel cages and sold to others. (If you use a pet cage on an Unregistered pet, they'll become a Pet-Only pet.)

Registered

these pets have been registered for breeding, and are ready to mate. (Note that you don't need to manually register your pets: if you try to breed an Unregistered pet, you'll be prompted to register them automatically.)Registration costs Councils, and newer practitioners tend to have to pay more. Experienced breeders know tricks to avoid some of the fees.

Mating

your pets are currently having sex. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to many hours, depending on the pets' traits. If mating is successful, the male will enter Recovering state, the female will enter Pregnant state, and the baby's stable slot will be reserved automatically. (The baby's slot will be marked as "In Utero".)

Pregnant

this is a female that is gestating. (In the case of insects, the female isn't actually "pregnant", but is guarding her egg feverishly, and is unavailable for adventuring.) The duration of pregnancy is based on the species. It can also be affected by stable items, to some extent.

Recovering

this is a male that is recovering from sex. (They need a few hours of rest before they're ready for battle ... or more sex.) The recovery time is based on the male's Virility.

In Utero

this is a baby that isn't here yet! (The stable slot is automatically pre-reseerved, to make sure there's room for the baby when it arrives.)

Dormant

this very rare husbandry state indicates that the pet has forgotten about the concepts of sex. This can only happen with very long-lived species. It may be possible to remind a dormant pet about sex somehow, turning it into a Registered pet. But doing so would require a lot of husbandry experience and a strong bond with the pet.",

Related Lore

The Traits of a Pet

An introductory book on pet traits.

Animal Husbandry

The skill associated with this book.