Decoding Your Petpet's Actions

This is understandable. It’s very irritating when you ask your petpet, “Do you like living with us?” And he or she merely jumps into the air and lands with a thud. How are you supposed to make sense of this? Is the pet trying to commit suicide? At least our neopets tell us things in a language we can understand. Petpets don’t seem to tell us anything. They just do something completely unrelated to our question.

But that’s where people are wrong. Our petpets are intelligent; more so than we think. For example, jumping into the air and landing with a thud could signify the petpet is tired, that they are unhappy or that something has gone up and then down. Maybe they are trying to warn you of a dramatic change in stocks (your cherry jubilee might not be worth so much anymore) or they are trying to say that your neopet does not want to visit the Lost Desert directly after Maraqua directly after the Haunted Woods; they are too tuckered out.

How do we understand what our petpets are telling us? How do we make sense of their actions? The possibilties seem endless of what our petpet could be saying. For example, wriggling of the tail very fast could mean “No,” (back and forth normally means shaking of the head, meaning no) or yes, or great showing of energy or even anger (rattlesnake-like shaking of tail). The answer is a simple one; we look a little closer at what the petpet might be doing. Is he/she saying, “HUNGRY. NEED FOOD”? This might mean that they think your pet is uncomfortable (hungry) or the obvious; they’re hungry. They might be warning you of something unpleasant (believe me, it is NOT pleasant to be hungry). Watch out for that Pant Devil!

So how do we determine what the petpet’s actions mean? Well, for one thing, look at the question. For example, I asked my Kougra’s wain to spy on my Gelert. Later, I asked her what she’d heard. “Tabo walks around doing a funny dance!” read the caption under the picture of the petpet. This, I decided, meant that my Gelert was crazy. So I asked her if that’s what she meant.

“Tabo walks around doing a funny dance!” was the answer. I took this to mean, “Yes.” And it’s true; my Gelert is a little wacko sometimes.

The second way to decode your petpet’s speech is to decide whether their action is positive or negative. You can’t call hissing a positive reacton to your words, so it normally means “No!” Yet wiggling their tail normally signifies content, happiness or merely the word “Yes.” It all depends on what you say to them. You have to use your common sense to figured out whether they are giving you a happy or unhappy reply.

Sometimes, though, they are neither positive nor negative. If your petpet blinks but doesn’t do anything else, how are you supposed to decode what he/she is trying to say? It all depends on the question. What did you ask your petpet? If you asked it if it liked its neopet, it probably said yes. I’ve pretty much decided that blinking is a simple “Yes,” or statement of agreement. If you tell your petpet that your other petpet is crazy and they blink, it means, “Oh yes. I think that other petpet has lost its marbles as well.”

For an example and for further proof of my point, I have recorded a conversation with my Bori’s ghoti.

Me: Hello, Bismatati. How are you?

Bismatati: Bismatati blinks its eyes but doesnt say anything.

Me: That’s good. How do you like your new life?

Bismatati: Bismatati smiles at applepieie.

Me: Yeah. She’s great, isn’t she?

Bismatati: Bismatati swims around really fast!

Me: Bit energetic, huh?

Bismatati: Bismatati wriggles its tail very fast.

Me: She’s still nice, though. Right?

Bismatati: Bismatati says 'Bloop!'

Me: That’s good. How do you like the other petpets?

Bismatati: Bismatati fires lots of bubbles out of its mouth!

Me: Bubbly personalities, eh?

Bismatati:Bismatati says 'Bloop! Bloop!'

Me: Yep. Both of ‘em.

Bismatati: Bismatati wriggles its tail very fast.

Like what I said above, blinking is a sign of agreement or mediocre happiness. So basically Bismatati is saying he is okay. Then I ask him how he likes his new life (I just bought him a week or so ago), and he smiles at applepieie, his new neopet. This I take it means that he likes Apple. Later he swims around very fast. That either means “Yes,” or “She’s energetic!” Seeing as Apple is rather energetic (dashing around our Mystery Island home day and night) I decide that it’s the second meaning. Then he wriggles his tail very fast. Because it wouldn’t make sense if he told me Apple was energetic twice in a row, this time I think it means “yes.” After that, he says, “Bloop!” Simple, yet showing mostly positive feelings. It means, “Yes.” When asked about his new siblings, he fires bubbles out of his mouth. I can’t think of anything else except that he thinks they are bubbly. Then, he says, “Bloop! Bloop!” which makes me think he says, “Yes! Yes!” The reason why he’d say “yes” twice is, I think, because I have two other petpets, and he was saying that both of them are bubbly. Then I agree with him, and he says yes.

My conclusion? My new ghoti is very calm and serene. Why else would he think that both his new owner and his fellow petpets are too energetic? I also think he is an optimistic person, seeing as almost all of his answers were positive. Also, he’s given me a little hint about my other petpets. I’ve had a feeling for some time they were plotting something togther. Seeing as he says they are “Bubbly,” he doesn’t really like their personalities. Or maybe that’s just his serene-ness again. Further questioning is needed at that point.