dont cry, okay? phanpy with a flower

heads up: I probably won't be super active for the next couple of days askwise as I've got some slightly bigger projects I'm working on!

somebody brought him in because they thought he was sick but it turns out he was just covered in pollen from shoving his face into flowers for their nectar

I recently obtained a Sprigatito from a professor, and I'm just now realizing that I actually don't really want to have a whole trainer journey thing. What can I do to make home life more comfortable for Via? We already go on daily walks (and she has the cutest little harness) and I'm doing my best to find a house/apartment that's closer to nature (I live in a city as of right now), and I have some pokemon grass in my apartment already, plus I take her to the nearest parks whenever we have time, but I think I could do better.

thankfully sprigatito adapt very well to the house pokemon lifestyle! they tend to be chill little guys.

everything you're doing know is great, but there are a few other things you can provide to help her thrive. while you should obviously have a UV lamp for her to bask in, make sure she also has access to somewhere to bask in true sunlight! the more unfiltered, the better- a catio/screened-in balcony is great for a spriggy to get that access to fresh air and unfiltered sunlight that they really need. you'll know she's doing well when she smells like fresh flowers!

i'd also make sure that you give her a source of moving water, such as one of those fountains, and also let her have some time in your shower a couple times a week. sprigatito are picky about their water, and they're also prone to dehydration; you can help keep her healthy and her fur in good condition by giving her the chance to experience "rain" with a soft spray of water from above.

finally, in addition to the grass, i'd make her a nice planter of a variety of herbs and flowers! she'll help keep the flowers in good shape by tending to them, and it'll give her a nice place to lounge to have her own little "garden"

good luck with her! she sounds like a sweetie!

My Espeon just had a litter of 4, and, while everyone's healthy according to my vet, one of the Veevees came out polydactyl. I was planning on adopting the litter out to family and friends, but are there any special care requirements I should be aware of before rehoming Mr. Thumbs?

I'm half-tempted to just keep him anyway, but I figured I was worth asking a Professional first.

most of the time polydactyly in pokemon isn't a huge deal provided that it's not getting in the way of the pokemon's natural behaviors. some severe cases require surgery to remove excess digits if they cause discomfort or get caught on things, but for the most part it's just a matter of keeping an eye out for any potential problems. if your vet hasn't noticed any potential difficulties, such as malformed nails or bone irregularities, the eevee should be fine!

however, because it is a mutation that affects parts of the body's structure, it's often discouraged to evolve pokemon with polydactyly on the off chance that the mutation develops further as the result of evolution. eevee especially are prone to unexpected mutations. however, given that eevee are also prone to health conditions associated with preventing evolution to stop, whoever ends up keeping this baby will have to work closely with their vet to monitor his health.

Hello! I’ve got a question: what’s a good Pokémon for going surfing with? I still surf on a board but I want to share in the experience with a Pokémon since my family are in galar for vacation… (I live in Unova if that helps.)

if you're going to be on a board, alolan raichu are great surfing companions! a lot of surfers in alola partner with them, especially when they're still learning- they can use their psychic powers to help stabilize you if necessary. their electric typing also has the secondary effect of causing some wild water types to think twice about coming too close!

mantyke are also pokemon with a natural affinity for surfing, so they make great surfing partners. if you choose to evolve it into a mantine, you can also learn how to surf on it instead of a board if you'd like!

I absolutely adore wurmple, but I’ve never been sure, is there a way to tell whether a wurmple will evolve into a silcoon or cascoon? It seems completely random but there’s probably a biological reason right?

it comes down to genetics! a wurmple's individual genome makeup determines whether its imaginal disc contains the information to become a beautifly or a dustox.

unfortunately, there's really no way to predict or influence this. we don't understand entirely what factors determine the evolutionary path, because there are just too many variables- it's not any one particular gene that determines the evolution, but combinations of several. all we really know is that it's a roughly 50/50 split between the two forms in any given clutch, likely to give the best odds of at least a few offspring surviving to reproduction. until we figure out exactly what causes the change, you just have to wait and see!

please give me some examples of homosexuality in "human-like" pokemon. I'm trying to prove someone wrong

erm, i'm not really sure what argument you're having...but there are instances of same-sex pairing behavior in a variety of pokemon, including some that fall into the humanlike egg group. this is best studied in single-sex pokemon such as jynx and morgrem. in fact, a study a few years ago about prosocial behavior in throh revealed that the packs of five that throh travel in regularly mate with each other both as a method of strengthening pack bonds and as a way to de-escalate arguments; there were high incidences of mating following spars, and if one member of the pack initiated mating with another, the rest of the pack would often join in.

outside of these groups, we see some other examples of same-sex mating as appeasement/de-escalation behavior. the more social the pokemon is, generally the more frequently nonbreeding mating occurs. for example, the ralts line will sometimes engage in mating in response to stress behaviors from members of their group, and this includes mating between same-sex individuals.

less common are examples of same-sex pairs outside of these social behaviors, but wild same-sex mated pairs have been documented in the ralts, abra, gothita, and toxel lines. this most often occurs between male individuals (with the exception of gothita) and in situations where opposite-sex individuals are lacking, but i've also seen reports of same-sex ralts line pairs forming even when there were plenty of opposite-sex individuals to choose from, indicating that there may be some aspect of sex preference when these pokemon choose mates.

do Magnezone even have any other flesh organs besides their eyes?

magnezone's eyes aren't flesh. the magnemite line are entirely inorganic in nature. the "whites" of their eyes are just a different material from their steel bodies that can expand and contract slightly in response to different lighting conditions and to allow their camera-like eyes to focus.

Hey Charlie! My staraptor, puff, has been weirdly into using moves like brave bird and other recoil moves. I've checked him out at the vet (because his weird obsession with recoil moves was kinda sudden) and they found nothing up with him. Still, I'm really worried about his safety with all of these moves. Currently trying to train him OUT of using those, but do you have any suggestions on what else to do? All of this was just super worrying.

it's not unusual for a staraptor to use high-risk high-reward moves like that. they're known for fighting hard even when they've been injured, and they'll readily risk themselves in a battle if it might mean victory. so, it's not unusual that the vet didn't find anything wrong. that's just how staraptor tend to be! older staraptor tend to be more bold in their battle approach as they learn their limits, so i think he's just using them more because he's more experienced.

thankfully, as long as he's not using them constantly and has plenty of rest in between uses, it shouldn't affect his health. it's not any different from taking damage through another pokemon's attack, after all. as far as training him out of them, it's more a matter of making sure he listens to what you want him to do when training and redirecting him when he uses moves you didn't ask for. you can use typical positive reinforcement training for this and recall him into his ball for a bit if he does something you don't want him to do.

that being said, i think it's also a good idea to work on how to appropriately use those moves in battle when you train. they're a good way for him to express natural behaviors, and you can help guide him in how to use them without going too far.

I had a horrible day yesterday and I just wanted to say that seeing phanpy made everything better, I feel like I can carry on like before. Thank you for running this blog. 🐘

i'm glad it helped make your day better! things can get rough for all of us sometimes- i've learned that firsthand working at a shelter where i sometimes see the sweetest, most loving pokemon in the world be treated terribly or put into horrible situations. it's important to take some time to focus on the positives! that's why i love posting pictures of the pokemon i've met in my time here and all the goofy stuff they get up to.

My Chandelure (we are taking a break from the competitive scene) has been finding Litwicks elsewhere and bringing them home - I am not against Litwicks but I am not certain I can feed them all. Any tips on safely providing them with enough life force? If I find no way to tend to them, I am considering calling a friend ranger, she said she will be able to look into matters starting next week.

there's no way you as one person can safely provide multiple litwick on top of providing your chandelure with the life energy she needs. this is absolutely a moment to call the rangers.

the bigger issue here is that you're apparently allowing your chandelure to wander around unattended, since i'm not sure how else she would be finding random wild pokemon to bring to you. that's irresponsible enough as it is, but it's especially so when 1. she is a ghost type, and some people are afraid enough of ghost types to attack them unprompted and 2. she feeds off of life energy and could very well attempt to feed off of a stranger, which could result in her being seized from you.

if i'm reading this scenario correctly, you need to keep a better eye on your chandelure, and you certainly don't need to be keeping wild litwick around.

this ditto was brought in because a trainer caught it thinking it was a different pokemon. it is now avoiding our medical exam by pretending to be a rock

my sibling got their espurr a fancy bow for easter and she's so...

some pokemon will do literally anything to avoid their meds, up to and including phasing through the table

my favorite calls as a ranger as "hey theres just like a pokemon here and it shouldn't be" and today i had the joy of scooping this marill out of the artazon pool. me too little guy