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A petpage version of the Lost and Pound can be found by clicking the button below:

If you have any further questions, please feel free to neomail Arden.

Last Edited: July 17, 2011

Frequently Asked Questions:

Will you mail me when you find a lost pet that {choose one or more: has a petpet, is a specific color, is a specific species, has some kind of high stats, has a good name, etc.}?

No. We do not believe it would be fair. Everyone has to check out the site or the PC board for pets that we find. No one will get contacted about them. Every painted pet that we find will get posted to the board and then to the site. We do not have secret lists of pets to post when someone asks on the boards, either.

If I paint/zap/train a pet, and then pound it will it become unstuck?

No. A pet becomes stuck based solely on its name. Color, species, number of times adopted, hunger and stats do not have any effect on this. However, the pound tends to occasionally cycle through the alphabet and pets that were once stuck will become unstuck. Exercise caution when transferring a pet that was once stuck as we cannot guarantee that it will remain stuck.

Why is a pet still on your list even though it's been adopted?

As Arden puts it: We have lives people!!! We're not cyborgs!!! Our staff is small, so please bear with us. If you notice that a pet has been adopted, please let us know by neomailing Arden or Lauren. Thanks. :)

Can I adopt so-and-so?

If the pet has already been adopted, please do not contact the owner unless they specifically say the pet is up for adoption. In that case, please follow their rules. If the pet is in the pound, anyone is allowed to adopt him or her.

My account is under 4 months, what can I adopt?

Accounts under 4 months cannot adopt pets over level 2, or LE/restricted pets (except grundos). They can adopt the following colors: Blue, Brown, Checkered, Glowing, Green, Invisible, Orange, Pink, Purple, Red, Shadow, Silver, Skunk, Speckled, Split, White, Yellow. Still need to confirm: Alien, Biscuit, Camouflage, Chocolate, Clay, Custard, Gold, Ice, Jelly, Pirate, Sketch, Sponge, Spotted, Starry, Striped, Tyrannian. For more information on this and other pound myths, check out this page:

Are there ever any {{choose one or more: babies, draiks, krawks, UCs, VWN pets, BD pets, old pets, specific color pets}?

Theoretically, yes. See the Stats section for more details.

How do you find stuck pets?

See the Getting Started section.

How can I help?

See the Helping Out section.

Getting Started:

After reading the F.A.Q.s, you may decide that you, too, want to find stuck pets. Below is a guide to help you get started as well as tips from the pros.

Understanding What Pets Get Stuck:

Before you start randomly searching for pets, it's important to know why pets will get stuck. Since the pound is glitched, certain names that start with certain letter combinations will not show up in the pound. These pets are referred to as stuck pets. Although no one is sure yet exactly what combinations will guarantee a stuck pet, we do have a relatively simple theory that gives us a good idea of whether a pet will get stuck or not. The simplest theory is explained below, but for more detailed theory and data analysis, see the Theories section.

After lots and lots and lots of trial and error, it became apparent that the first two or three letters were a very important factor. In the table below is a list of letter pairs that can result in a stuck pet. When a name starts with these two letters, it has a chance to get stuck. The actual mechanism is slightly more complicated than this, but more than 70% of pets with names starting in these combinations get stuck in the pound. Please note that this list may not be complete and may have some innacuracies.

AM, AN, AP, AQ, AR, AS, AU, AV, AZ, A_

BI, BL, BO, BR, BU, B_

CH, CI, CL, CO, CR, CU, CY

DO, DR, DU, DY

FL, FO, FR, FU

GO, GP, GR, GU

HO, HU

JO, JU

KO, KR, KU, KW, KY

LE, LI, LL, LO, LU, LY, L_

ME, MI, MO, MR, MY, M_

NU, NY

PI, PL, PO, PR, PT, PU, PY

RO, RU

SH, SI, SK, SM, SO, SP, SQ, ST, SU, SW, SY, S_

TI, TO, TR, TS, TU, TW, TY, T_

WM, WO

_L, _M, _P, _S, _T, __

Understanding Your Search Options:

Now that you know what kind of names to search, you have several choices on how you'd like to hunt them down.

Manual Searches:

There are many different ways to do manual searches, but in essence they are all the same. In the sidebar or pet lookup URL, begin typing random names that start with one of the letter pairs above. Keep trying until you find a pet that is in the pound. Less than 1% of all names that you type will be stuck in the pound but don't be discouraged. This is the easiest method to find new stuck pets for the Lost and Pound page. This method requires lots of patience and creativity.

Whether you decide to type in every single letter combination (anaa, anab, anac...) like Bug does or find lists of words from dictionaries and other sources to copy and paste like Arden does, just be sure that the first two letters are one of the pairs from the table. If they're not, the pet has no chance to get stuck and you are just wasting your time.

Search Engines

Sometimes pound pets will show up on search engines. Keep in mind that the majority of these pets are on the search engines because they have been listed on the Lost and Pound so it is unlikely that you will find anything new, rare or exciting. However, you may get very lucky by tweaking your searches, using lots of different search engines and searching often. Try typing this into a search engine: site:neopets.com "owner:in the pound". You may also choose to refine your search by including things like "the Orange" or "the Orange Grundo." This method requires some creativity and repetition before you get the hang of it and figure out some tricks of your own.

Submitting Lost Pets to the L&P:

Now that you've found your first stuck pet, you should share it with the L&P so that it can find a home. Always check to make sure that this pet is not already on the site. A simple Ctrl+F will take you 3 seconds but will save us valuable minutes when updating the site. Keep in mind that the majority of pets listed on the L&P are not visible on the front page. Only the 100 newest pets from each species are loaded, otherwise the page would take too long to load and may never load for some.

Once you've checked the site, let us know! You can post it on a Lost and Pound board on the PC or mail the names to Arden or Lauren.

Theories:

There are several theories that attempt to explain how the pound works. Though some explanations come close, none are entirely right. Here we will list what we know while we attempt to refine our theories by gathering data on pet names.

In the table below is a list of letter pairs that can result in a stuck pet. When a name starts with these two letters, it has a chance to get stuck. The actual mechanism is slightly more complicated than this, but more than 70% of pets with names starting in these combinations get stuck in the pound. Please note that this list may not be complete and may have some innacuracies.

AM, AN, AP, AQ, AR, AS, AU, AV, AZ, A_

BI, BL, BO, BR, BU, B_

CH, CI, CL, CO, CR, CU, CY

DO, DR, DU, DY

FL, FO, FR, FU

GO, GP, GR, GU

HO, HU

JO, JU

KO, KR, KU, KW, KY

LE, LI, LL, LO, LU, LY, L_

ME, MI, MO, MR, MY, M_

NU, NY

PI, PL, PO, PR, PT, PU, PY

RO, RU

SH, SI, SK, SM, SO, SP, SQ, ST, SU, SW, SY, S_

TI, TO, TR, TS, TU, TW, TY, T_

WM, WO

_L, _M, _P, _S, _T, __

We are still looking for more data before posting our findings in this next section. For now, only the basic theory will be posted and I will uncover more findings as I gather more data. If you would like to help, please send a neomail of any pet names that you find while pound surfing (separated by comas, please) to Bugatio.

Helping Outs:

There are lots of ways for you to help us out!

New Names: We always appreciate new names to add to the site. See the getting started section to find out how to find new stuck pets.

Adopted:If you find a pet on the Lost and Pound that has been adopted, please let us know. There are only a few of us and many people who use the site (on 8 March 2010 we had over 1000 visitors with over 6000 hits), so please let one of us know when you find something that needs to be updated.

Graphics: We can never be too pretty. Buttons, banners, petpage themes, layouts, lookups and fan art are all appreciated and will be displayed on this page. Send all artwork to Bugatio.

Data:If you have read our theories section, then you will know that we are constantly seeking more data to figure out how the pound works. Currently, Bug is collecting names that can be seen while pound surfing. If you would like to help figure out the pattern, sending neomails full of pound pet names (separated by commas) to Bugatio would be a bigger help than you might think.

Stats:

We get a lot of questions like "Have you ever found a Baby? OMG BEBIEZ!" and "How often do you find Draiks?!" In this section, I'd like to give you some statistics on the pets that I have found.

Some pets are very rare. If you are manually searching in hopes of getting a very rare pet (MSP, Draik, Pea, Krawk, Coconut, etc,etc,etc) then you will get very disheartened very quickly when you find that the majority of all finds are BN basic pets. Very rarely will you find a painted pet doing manual searches and most painted pet finds are considered "low paint jobs" such as speckled, split and Christmas. Your best bet would be to use your time to play games and save directly for a paintbrush or a lab map so that you can zap for your dream or trade your resulting zaps.

Searching for stuck pets is by no way a magic activity that will grant you all your pet wishes. You should only do manual searches if you enjoy it, otherwise you will find it frustrating and fruitless.

Important note: As you start searching longer and longer names, the following statistics will drop DRAMATICALLY. You will find that most names simply do not exist and will start getting excited when you find any pet and exclaiming out loud when you find a stuck one.

After searching 5.4 million names (lengths 3, 4 and 5 letters), the following painted/LE pets were found.



#Found	Color	1 in every...
	Total LEs:
21	Chomby (Basics x19, Christmas, White)	258,089
10	Cybunny (Basic x8, Mutant, White)	541,987
12	Hissi (Basics x10, Darigan, Ghost)	451,656
50	Jetsam (Basics x47, Orange, Tyrannian, White)	108,397
86	Kiko (Basics x79, Biscuit, Brown, Christmans, Halloween, Robot, Sketch, Striped)	63,022
62	Koi (Basics x47, Brown, Island x2, Orange x11, Striped)	87,417
1	Krawk (Mutant)	5,419,871
7	Poogle (Basic x5, Cloud, Invisible)	774,267
57	Tonu (Basics x54, Grey, Halloween, Sketch)	95,085
1	UCs (Mutant Usul)	5,419,871

	Colors:
2	Biscuit (Kau x2)	2,709,936
9	Brown (Kiko, Lupe, Moehog x4, Mynci, Techo, Yurble)	602,208
10	Camouflage (Blumaroo x2, Bruce, Grarrl, Ixi, Kougra, Lupe, Usul x2, Xwee)	541,987
4	Checkered (Grundo x2, Lupex2)	1,354,968
59	Christmas (Aisha, Buzz x3, Bori x2, Chia x2, Chomby, Elephantex2, Eyriex3, Gnorbu, Grundo x6, Ixi x2, Kacheekx2, Kau, Kougra x3, Korbat, Lenny x2, Lupe x6, Moehogx2, Mynci x2, Ogrin, Peophinx2, Pteri x2, Ruki, Shoyru x2, Tuskaninny x2, Uni x2, Usulx2, Yurble, Zafarax2)	91,862
1	Chocolate (Chia)	5,419,871


20	Cloud (Buzz, Eyrie, Gnorbux2, JubJub x3, Kau, Korbat, Kougra, Lupe x2, Poogle, Ruki x2, Scorchio, Shoyru x2, Uni, Xweetok)	270,994
2	Custard (Aisha, Ruki)	2,709,936
4	Darigan (Hissi, Meerca, Ruki, Xweetok)	1,354,968
2	Desert (Aisha, Chia)	2,709,936
8	Disco (Grundo x2, Jubjub, Korbat, Kougra, Lupe, Mynci, Ruki)	677,484
6	Electric (Eyrie, Gnorbu, Kacheek x2, Shoyru, Yurble)	903,312
1	Faerie (Uni)	5,419,871
3	Fire (Eyrie, Grundo, Ogrin)	1,806,624
3	Fruit/Veg (Avacadox2, Gooseberry)	1,806,624
12	Ghost (Aisha, Blumaroo, Chia, Gelert, Hissi, Kacheek, Nimmo, Peophin, Shoyru, Uni, Wocky, Xweetok)	451,656
3	Glowing (Lupex2, Pteri)	1,806,624
2	Gold (Blumaroo, Scorchio)	2,709,936
3	Grey (Peophin, Skeith, Tonu)	1,806,624
7	Halloween (Buzz, Jubjub, Kiko, Lenny, Mynci, Techo, Tonu)	774,267
4	Invisible (Acara, Poogle, Quiggle, Shoyru)	1,354,968
5	Island (Aisha, Jetsam, Koix2, Lupe)	1,083,974
2	Jelly (Grundo, Kacheek)	2,709,936
25	Mutant (Aisha, Blumaroo, Bori, Bruce x2, Buzz, Chia x2, Cybunny, Elephante, Gnorbu, Grarrl x2, Ixi, Jubjub, Kacheekx2, Kougra, Krawk, Meerca x2, Moehog x2, Techo, Yurble)	216,795
20	Orange (Acara, Blumaroo, Eyrie, Jetsam, Jubjub, Koi x11, Korbat, Kyrii, Moehog, Nimmo)	270,994
5	Pink (Chia, Meerca, Ogrin, Techo, Xweetok)	1,083,974


8	Purple (Aisha, Chia, Eyrie, JubJub, Kau, Kougra x2, Lenny)	677,484
9	Rainbow (Buzz, Eyrie, Ixi, Kyrii, Moehog, Ogrin x3, Xweetok)	602,208
3	Robot (Kiko, Ruki, Xweetok)	1,806,624
7	Shadow (Bori, Eyrie, Gnorbu, Grundo, Pteri, Ruki, Zafara)	774,267
5	Silver (Aisha, Grarrl, JubJub, Peophin, Wocky)	1,083,974
11	Sketch (Acara, Blumaroo x2, Jubjub, Kiko, Lenny, Quiggle, Shoyru, Tonu, Xweetok x2)	492,716
6	Skunk (Aisha, Bori, Grarrl, Peophin, Shoyru, Yurble)	903,312
3	Snot (Ixi, Kiko, Korbat)	1,806,624
8	Snow (Bori, Buzz, Chiax2, Shoyru, Tuskaninny, Xweetok, Yurble)	677,484
13	Speckled (Aisha x2, Bruce, Elephant, Eyrie, Kacheek, Kau, Lupe, Peophin, Ruki, Shoyru, Zafara x2)	416,913
6	Split (Aisha, Bruce, Gelert, Lenny x3)	903,312
11	Spotted (Aisha, Gelert, Grundo, Korbat, Kougra, Lupe, Scorchio, Shoyru, Techo, Wocky, Xweetok)	492,716
8	Starry (Borix2, Gelert, Kacheek, Shoyru, Tuskaninny, Usul, Xweetok)	677,484
1	Strawberry (Jubjub)	5,419,871
13	Striped (Bruce, Buzz, Kacheek, Kiko, Koi, Kyrii, Lenny x2, Lupe, Shoyrux2, Pteri, Quiggle)	416,913
10	Tyrannian (Blumaroo, Gnorbu, Jetsam, Kyrii, Lenny, Mynci, Nimmo, Ogrinx2, Usul)	541,987
6	White (Chomby, Cybunny, Jetsam, Lenny x2, Meerca)	903,312
1	Zombie (Grarrl)	5,419,871