The Kadoatery: Hot Tips from Over Feeders

First things first; What is the best way to feed a Kadoatie?

There are many different ways to feed, and they vary depending on whether you're a newbie Kad feeder, or a proud over feeder. Here are the most common ways:

Inventory Feeding

Feeding this way involves stocking your inventory full of foods that the Kadoaties love to ask for. If a Kadoatie asks for your item, you just click it and BOOM! One happy Kad. Sounds simple, right?

Well, there's one important thing to remember: those fussy Kadoaties have a HUGE range of foods that they like to eat. So what does that mean for the Inventory feeders out there? It means that you have to get very lucky, and hope that the items in your inventory are what a hungry Kadoatie wants to eat that day.

If you've decided to try your hand at Inventory feeding, you may find it helpful to narrow down your food choices to help you get a feed. It's not just about having the right food available, it's also a matter of how fast your eyes can quickly see a Kadoatie requesting a food, and then clicking on it fast before somebody else snaps it up. Most people find it useful to pick a variety of "types" of foods, stock up their inventory, and then simply click on a Kadoatie whenever they see something with a similar name pop up.

For example, you might decide to stock your Inventory with all different types of Pizza. You've bought your items and you're refreshing at the perfect time, when huzzah, the Kads refresh! Since you are so organised, your eyes can skim the screen to find one that's asking for a Pizza item. If your Inventory is complete, you would click on that Kadoatie without even needing to see which specific type of Pizza they've asked for - and you've got a great chance of being successful!

The downside to Inventory feeding is that sometimes, even despite your best preparation, the Kadoaties just don't ask for what you've been been hoarding in your Inventory. If that's the case, you will either have to wait for the next refresh, or supplement your Inventory with Wiz Feeding.

*Hot Tip: Don't over-fill your Inventory! You will need to have less than 50 items in order to use the Shop Wizard.

Wiz Feeding

Another great way to feed is to utilize the Shop Wizard, or the Super Shop Wizard if you're a Premium member. For this method, all you need to do is have several tabs open on your browser, and a little speed on your side.

In your first tab, you'll need the Kadoatery page open and ready to refresh. In your second tab, you'll have your Shop Wizard loaded, blank and ready to search. When the Kadoaties refresh, you can quickly choose one, copy the food they're asking for, paste into your Shop Wizard tab and go! Once you buy your food, it's just a matter of speedily clicking on the Kadoatie - and with a little luck, you'll be set!

Beaten by someone else? That's ok! Quickly copy and paste another unfed item, and repeat the process from scratch. Many a feeder will be pwned once, twice, or even three times before finally succeeding in feeding a Kadoatie! Don't give up until the board is fully fed.

If you experience lag, or want to search for a second item in the case of being beaten, you might consider it an option to open a third tab, also ready and waiting at the Shop Wizard page.

*Hot Tip: Users often complain that the Super Shop Wizard takes a lot longer to search than the regular Shop Wizard. It may find you a cheaper item, but speed is of the essence when you're feeding Kadoaties, so choose wisely.

SDB Feeding

This is a feeding method that's not for the faint hearted, and is usually reserved for the over feeders. In order to be a fully fledged SDB feeder, you'll need to have a lot of time, patience and spare Neopoints! The premise behind SDB feeding is similar to Shop Wiz feeding, except you've already bought your items before the Kadoaties refresh. Confused? Let me explain.

To build up your SDB, you'll want to look at one of the handy guides (usually located in the Kadoatie feeding Neoboard thread in the Games section) and start hunting down all of the foods that they like to eat. You'll buy them, shove them in your SDB, and then come back to them at another time. It sounds like no big deal, right? Well, there are hundreds and hundreds of food items that the Kadoaties can ask for at any given time, so you'll have some work to do!

Once you have a nicely stocked SDB full of food items, the actual feeding process is similar to Wiz Feeding. Instead of having the Shop Wizard page loaded, you'll have your Safety Deposit Box open and ready to search. When the Kadoaties refresh, you just copy the item, paste into your SDB, retrieve it with one click, and run back to feed your hungry kitty.

Having the majority of food items in your Safety Deposit Box can be expensive, and there is always a risk that you'll simply never feed the item in question. But it's a great way of ensuring that you will nearly always have a food ready to feed a Kadoatie when they refresh. Besides, you can always resell any food items you don't end up using in your Shop when you're done.

Just remember, both SDB and Shop Wizard feeds will usually be beaten by a lucky Inventory feeder - so it's all combined with a little bit of luck. If you fail, try again!

*Hot Tip: Keep an eye on the New Features page, as TNT will regularly release new food items that the Kadoaties might start asking for soon.

Kadoatie Feeding Times

There are definitely highs and lows when it comes to feeding Kadoaties, and as you become familiar with the process, it helps to know which are the busiest and the quietest times to feed.

The Midnight Hour (12:00am NST)

The clock strikes twelve, you can go gamble with Count Von Roo and you can also do your dailies at this time. There are actually a lot of people that are busy and online at this hour. The Kadoatery will fill up fast, but you could catch one now if you're lucky!

One O'Clock in the morning (01:00am NST)

What are you doing up at this time? Most Neopian players are asleep, besides the other half of the world, that is! It is fairly easy to feed about now. If you don't know how to feed, we would strongly suggest starting out during this time.

Two-Six O'Clock in the morning (02:00-06:00am NST)

Refreshing, refreshing, and refreshing is what you should be doing during these times! It is usually pretty slow in the wee hours, especially on week days.

Seven O'Clock in the morning (07:00am NST)

The Southern Hemisphere is starting to head off to bed by now and the West Coast is waking up - so it's still fairly quiet at this time. If you're awake, this would be a good time to keep practicing with the Kadoaties, before the majority of the population gets up and back online_

Eight-Twelve O'Clock in the morning (08:00am-12.00pm NST)

This is one of the busiest times for Kadoatie feeding, so don't be surprised if you're beaten to a kitty or two in these hours. Keep an eye on the feeders who are regularly sticking to their spot, and try to avoid if you can. You could always go for a more expensive food item to ensure yourself a feed, but you'll need to be super speedy.

One-Six O'Clock in the afternoon (13:00-18:00pm NST)

This is another peak time for Kadoatie feeding, so you can expect the feeds to continue going very fast. Use these times to get to know the regulars, chat on the Neoboards, and practice your copy & paste techniques to help you become a faster feeder.

Seven-Eight O'Clock in the evening (19:00-20:00pm NST)

This is the time when the Neopian Lottery is drawn and when Game Trophies are generally awarded. A lot of Kadoatie feeders get distracted around this time, so hang around the boards and see if you can click your way to a stealthy feed while they are preoccupied!

Nine-Eleven O'Clock in the evening (21:00-23:00pm NST)

The busiest feeders tend to be finishing up about now, but you're almost at the off-time for Kadoatie feeding, so hang in there! If you're pwned to feeding now, don't give up: just another hour or so, and you'll be in the prime time for newbies!

General Advice for Better Kad Feeding

*It's a good idea to stop by and visit the Kadoatery boards when you're first starting out, or trying to get the hang of the game. You can find them in the 'Games' section of the Neoboards. While it may be intimidating to jump in and chat with some of the regulars, be brave; you'll meet some of the friendliest and most helpful Neopians there.

*Be nice to the over feeders - we were once like you, and we enjoyed the challenge so much that we decided to stick around! Remember, most of us are there to help with time keeping, watching out for mini's or split feeds, keeping an eye on food lists & helping out new feeders. Yes, it's frustrating to be beaten by someone who already has the avatar.. but we speak from experience when we say that we ALL get pwned from time to time, even the quickest of us!

*With that in mind, get to know where the regulars feed. If you're aiming for a Kadoatie that is seemingly always fed by the same person, you're not likely to have much luck. The next time they refresh, try for a different one.

*Set yourself a budget! When you're in a rush to feed 75 Kadoaties, it's tempting to splurge on the more expensive foods that linger and stay unfed a little longer. If you have Neopoints to burn, go right ahead. But if you're trying to limit your spending, take a little bit of time to familiarize yourself with which food items cost the most. It will take some practice, but it will save you in the long run.

*Getting frustrated with the 7 minute pends? It sure is easy to get distracted and lose track of the time, only to flick back to the Kadoatery and see that you've missed another main! Why not try using an alarm to remind you of when to refresh?

*Most importantly, have fun! Feeding Kadoaties is not for everyone, but when that beautiful pink avatar is all yours, all the hard work will be worth it. *mew!*