Breeding

Breeding is a method by which two pets may be used to produce more. The dam will become **pregnant** (a word used regardless of the species of the pet) for exactly **120 hours**. This is the equivalent of **five days**, but does not rely on rollover to measure the passage of time. Once pregnancy is complete, the young pet(s) will automatically appear in the owner's territory, sorted directly below the active pet.

## Requirements

In order for two pets to succesfully breed, *all* of the following must be true:

* The female must not already be pregnant.
* The receiving player must have **at least one** empty space in their territory, regardless of the chance of twins.
* The breeding pair must not be related within **2 generations**.
* Both pets must have **at least 50 hunger**.
* If the pets are of different species, an interspecies potion must be selected.

If the receiving player only has one free space in their territory, but the pair produce twins or triplets, the additional offspring will still appear as normal, occupying temporary space.

## Receiving Player

If the player breeding the pets wishes to ensure the offspring go to someone else, they can type that recipient's username into the **options** box at the bottom of the breeding page. This most often comes into use when breeding via classifieds, as this allows one player to breed with a pet not currently in their territory (for a fee).

**By default**, the receiving player is *always* the one carrying out the breeding. This means it will be the player who made the request via classified, or else the player who owns both parents. This applies even if they sell a pregnant pet - meaning that if a player buys a pregnant pet, they will own *only* the pet they bought, not its future offspring; those will go to whomever was set via the receiving player box, even if that box was left empty(default).

## Potions

A choice of potions may be applied to a breeding before it is confirmed to influence the outcome - that is, to increase the chances of, or in some cases guarantee, more desirable offspring. Upon confirmation of breeding, the potion is **consumed**.

***Breeding-Effective Potions***
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In addition, two more potions exist which can effect the outcome of a breeding, but usually by **permanently changing** one or both parents.

***Pet-Effective Potions***
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## Fertility

A pet's **fertility** determines their ability to produce **more than one offspring** at a time. Specifically, the chances of **twins** or **triplets**. As fertility is a stat, it is hereditary. The minimum value is **0** and the maximum is **100**. All first generation pets begin with a fertility of 0; the only way for a pet to gain fertility is via potion or heredity.

Fertility can be thought of as a percentage, representing the overall likelyhood of multiple offspring.

Averaging
When two pets breed, their fertility is **averaged**, and it is that average which determines the pair's ability to produce twins or triplets. Although the average is exact, it's unknown what happens in the instance of a non-integer.

This average is then **divided by two** to determine the chance as a percentage of **twins**. This means two pets with a fertility of 100 have a 50% chance of producing twins; one pet with a fertility of 10 and another at 60 has a 35% chance of twins.

The same average is also **divided by ten** to determine the chance as a percentage of **triplets**. Two pets with a fertility of 100 have a 10% chance of producing triplets; one pet with a fertility of 10 and another at 60 has a 7% chance of twins.

Heritability
The offspring of a pair will **inherit** a rough average of that pair's fertility. The number may not be an exact average, as indicated by text at the bottom of the knowledgebase page on breeding items.

This means the offspring of a pair whose fertility is both 100 will have a fertility stat of 100; the offspring of a pair whose a fertility are at 10 and and 60 will inherit a fertility of 35.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.novilar.com/breeding
2. ↑ The exact method of averaging is unknown, but it is most likely via mean. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean