The Life of a Grundo

Even though Grundos are a little harder to get than other pets, they are the eleventh most popular with over eight million made. Even though nothing seems mediocre yet, this could be a problem. Grundos are the most common pet that has been abandoned. Sometimes up to almost half of the pets in the entire pound are Grundos.

Before you adopt a delightful Grundo, the employee working the adopt-a-Grundo station warns you that they slobber horribly and cry at night. Most Neopians might doubt that until they realize it’s true. That could be possible why so many Grundos end up in the pound.

Most Grundos live at the Space Station or on Kreludor. They might think that life there is boring and go up for adoption. We tracked down some random Grundos that are with an owner to see how they were doing with their owner. Here are the results. 70% of Grundos are with an owner who hasn’t been on for a long, long time. 15% are in the pound, or have been in the pound, and only 20% percent are well fed, with a good owner, and thriving. You might think that that’s normal because some people aren’t active anymore, but we did the exact same thing with Lupes. Here are the results. 55% of Lupes are with an owner who hasn’t been on for a long, long time. 5% were in the pound or have been in the pound, and 40% are with a good owner, well fed, and thriving. As you can see, a Grundo’s life may be harder than another pet.

In some Grundo descriptions, they say they are unusual, friendly; they sometimes try to be hard to be cool, and eat almost anything. From that, it seems like a Grundo is a great pet. But then, you might hear them holler at night and have second thoughts about a Grundo.

Now let's see this from a Grundo’s point of view. We interviewed an Orange Grundo named Florgy to talk about his life.

“I was adopted right after ‘Frank’ was defeated. I guess everyone was so excited about a new pet; I was taken right away as a blue Grundo! I lived happily with my owner for a while. Then, my owner got access to the Secret Laboratory. I was the first to get zapped. The place was eerie, dark, and spooky. The Scorchio running the ray wasn’t too reassuring either. After the shocking zap, I turned orange! My ecstatic owner got the Orange Grundo avatar. Later, after a couple more zaps, I went from level five, to level one, and lost a lot of strength, defense, speed, and hit points. My owner’s other pet was a very hardy Shoyru. I guess he eventually got disgusted with me and abandoned me in the pound. It was musty, and Dr. Death really crept me out with his evil grin,” Florgy recalled. “In about five minutes, I was adopted, probably because I was an avatar pet. Well, my new owner found out about how weak I was and right after she got the avatar, I ended up right in the pound again. The same thing just kept happening all over again after that. It gets boring and the musty old pound pretty much becomes my 'lovely' home.”

For the Grundos who live on the Space Station or Kreludor, they probably aren’t as lucky as the 20% of Grundos who are with good owners who take them all over Neopia. About one hundred-fifty Grundos have a job like a shopkeeper, an Altador Cup player, or are featured in a game. If the survey above is correct, maybe about 1,600,000 Grundos have a good life. With all the Grundos currently, that’s still 20%.

As another depressed looking Grundo comes our way, we interview him. This Grundo is white and has never been zapped or painted. His name is Grundy.

Us: “How old are you, Grundy?”

Grundy: “Not really sure, maybe four years. Most of my life was with my first owner, but then I got abandoned for some reason. I guess my owner wasn’t happy with me.”

Us: “How many times have you been abandoned?”

Grundy: “Maybe five to ten times. Some of my owners were people new to Neopia and thought that I was a painted pet just because I was white. Then they realized that white was normal for a Grundo and put me in the pound again. The longest I stayed with an owner besides my first one was about six months but I didn’t get fed that often.”

Us: “Where do you live now?”

Grundy: “I just roam around. Currently I’m in the pound, but hopefully I might get adopted and stay with an owner. I may never have a permanent owner who will care for me.”

Us: “Where would you like to be now?”

Grundy: “I would probably want to be like a famous Grundo, like Gargarox Isafuhlarg from Gormball, or another Grundo yooyuball player, but that’s not very likely. Other than that, probably with a good owner who cares about me, takes me all over Neopia, and enters me in a lot of contests. Being a Grundo shopkeeper would be my third option. I would rather live on Kreludor or Virtupets than roam around the pound, so if you want to adopt a Grundo, make sure you won’t abandon it and care for it.”

Now, for some of the bonuses of being a Grundo! Grundos are mostly used for aliens. There are many new games coming out with Grundos in them like Spacerocked, Time Tunnel, Legends of Pinball, and all those other Dr. Sloth and Fuzzle games. That lets some wonderful Grundos play games and master them. They get on Better Than You frequently.

Also, Grundos are tied for the most common Altador Cup players with Kikos. There’s Zenor Kevix and Qlydae Wegg on Kreludor, Zayle Sufhaux on Krawk Island, Weldar Xupenfarb on Virtupets Space Station, and Larcy Phu on Shenkuu. Either we have too many Grundos, or some Grundos are athletically gifted.

This concludes this article. Please make sure to not take Grundos for granted; they are wonderful pets. Give them hugs; they always have their arms wide open when you see them. Give one a nice home, and Grundos will always forgive you no matter how many times you abandoned them before.

I’m not saying that you need to adopt a Grundo and play with it a lot, just don’t abandon them. Think about a Grundo’s life and take one from Virtupets, even if they may seem weak. They will be a wonderful and cheerful companion while you have fun traveling Neopia.