Custard: The Often Forgotten Edible Color

First, the pros. Given how uncommon it is, your pet will certainly stand out in a crowd. The light yellow color is quite unique, plus the melty consistency will grab the attention of onlookers. Perhaps your pet’s friends will be impressed by their new and rare color. The fact that only comparatively few pet species can be painted the color adds to its uniqueness. Yes, it is true, Custard pets lost much of their unique texture way back when conversion happened, but the color still keeps much of its interesting quality.

A simple comparison.

Second comes the ease with which a Custard Petpet can be obtained. Petpets have a Custard Petpet Paint Brush with which they can be painted Custard without gambling on the Petpet Lab Ray, unlike Jelly and Chocolate Petpets which can only be obtained via the Ray. In fact, the aforementioned paintbrush is cheap enough to be found with the Shop Wizard, so obtaining the perfect, liquefied Petpet is fairly easy on the wallet. A fascinating quality of having a matching Custard Pet and Petpet is that, being made of the same liquid material, they can temporarily merge their bodies together if they want to.

As of right now, there are 14 different Custard Petpets. That’s quite a few options, huh?

Lastly, and most notably, comes all of the amazing abilities your pet will have due to having become a liquid rather than a solid. They will be able to fit in the smallest spaces. They will become almost entirely immune to physical pain as any wounds will heal instantly (although, interestingly, this does not apply in the Battledome, perhaps in the interest of fairness.) On top of this, they can learn some fun and amazing shapeshifting tricks. A pet can learn to masquerade as other pet species, or as inanimate objects, or could even express themselves by turning themselves into living art. A cool thing to point out is that my Custard Ixi figured out that he could remove his front hooves and then shape the stubs into hands with opposable digits; few other colors would let him do that. On top of all that, the Pets can store things inside of their bodies if they want to, saving pocket space. Custard is, however, not the single best color for the purpose of shapeshifting in this manner; Clay is, in my opinion, better for this, but very few pet species can be painted Clay. Regardless, Custard still remains a nice option.

Check out that amazing transformation action!

Next comes the obvious cons, alongside some methods to counter them. A simple one is that, with all of the custard dripping off of their bodies, Custard pets are liable to make a mess of any Neohome if the dripping is not kept in check. Fortunately, since conversion, the pets have actually become significantly cleaner. Back then before conversion, they stood perpetually in a puddle of custard, but now no residue is left on the base of the custom. Still, if the floors of your Neohome are of a material that is difficult to clean, an obvious solution is to give your pet some shoes and gloves to limit their contact with the floor. As it turns out, they are surprisingly good at making sure they don’t get custard on the outside of their customs. While on the topic of cleanliness, it should also be noted that the Custard Pets have a tendency to get very dirty very easily since dust and dirt mixes into their body. Fortunately, the pet can learn to force the dirt out manually; good thing, too, since otherwise cleaning the pet would be nearly impossible.

A second con is perhaps the single most obvious one facing any kind of edible material pet: the worries of being eaten. A simple way to dispel the worry is to actually imagine a Custard pet being chased down by another, hungry pet. With its fluid body, the Custard pet would be hard to catch as it would be hard to grab and could fit into the smallest of hiding places in order to escape. Even if it is caught, the average attacker could only grab a handful. The Custard pet would feel no pain and the lost material would soon grow back. Another defense, which most actual Custard pets are not aware of, comes from their natural digestive system. In order to digest the food that they eat, they are able to make their bodies fairly acidic, almost as much as normal stomach acid. Thus, if the pet learns to be able to do this on command, they can threaten any hungry opponent with the possibility of painful acid burns. Be careful that they don’t accidentally digest things like the floor while practicing this, however. This ability also applies to some other non-solid pet colors (like Jelly, Snot, and Water, for example) by the way. However, note that, regardless of all of that, some pets may still have irrational fears. My Custard Ixi, for example, has an irrational fear of egg-based food products, even though ironically he is fearless about nearly everything else; none of us understand it, but I just work around it by not letting anyone eat omelets in his presence. Additionally, if you are considering painting a pet Custard, let your other pets know in advance and be very strict about telling them to not consider eating your Custard pet. In some families, trust can be broken down between family members if the Custard pet does not trust their siblings to not eat them, so ensure that this never becomes a problem ahead of time.

Training your pet and getting its Battledome stats up isn’t a bad idea, either!

A third con comes from some of the various downsides of having a liquid body. The first of these downsides is a notable loss of physical strength due to no longer having bones or muscles. Make sure your pet is okay with losing much of their brawn before painting them. A more startling weakness is a massive weakness to water. If the pet gets too wet, it will dissolve. This is means that the pet must stay under cover in rainfall and it can be quite dangerous if the pet should fall into a large body of water. Accordingly, getting a Custard pet is obviously way out of the question if one lives in Maraqua. Therefore, before painting, be sure to certain that the pet is fine with losing the ability to swim in water and being able to feel the sensation of rainfall on their shoulders. Custard pets also have a somewhat less dire but still notable weakness to heat. The hotter it is, the more difficult it will be for them to hold their bodies together. In extreme heat, they might be incapable of standing and so be reduced to living as a puddle, so owning a Custard pet is likely a bad idea if you live in a place like the Lost Desert or Mystery Island or take the pet on frequent trips to those places. An interesting thing of note on this subject is that Custard pets naturally self-refrigerate, so they can withstand somewhat higher temperatures than one would expect. Self-refrigeration is necessary when if you consider the fact that warm-blooded pets would otherwise melt themselves with their own body heat. Do not be surprised when you find that your pet is chillingly cold to the touch after being painted.

After considering the above pros and cons and asking your pets the necessary questions, it is time to paint, using either the Lab Ray or by attempting to acquire a Fairy Fountain Quest. If using the latter method, make sure your pet is prepared for all of the awkward possible results, and remember that the actual odds of your pet being painted custard are very low. You should also have a good amount of spare NP to buy Morphing Potions in the case of species change zaps, too. If you obtain a Fairy Fountain Quest and then use it to paint your pet Custard, remind them to enjoy the time they spend in the Rainbow Fountain; the water is magically treated to be safe pets of all colors to swim in without risk of being dissolved or whatever, so it may be the last time for a long time they get the opportunity to go for a swim.

The next order of business is, before they return to their regular life out in the world, to have them practice many of the abilities mentioned previously, such as shapeshifting, cleaning oneself, and defending oneself. After this, you may want to pick out an outfit. Beware that the outfit, however, is likely to constrain the pet a bit and cause them to miss out on many of the benefits of their melty consistency, given that they unfortunately generally do not make liquid wearables (aside from, for example, the collars that Custard Ixis come with, in addition to a few other wearables.) It is also a good idea to own a water-resistant rain coat and a set of galoshes in case the pet needs to head outside on a rainy day. At a meal, make sure sufficient silverware is provided, since many Custard pets’ teeth are ineffective; to make their food easier to digest, they will attempt to cut up their food as much as possible before swallowing it. When heading out, the pet might want to travel only by your side or with another of your pets for a while, but most of them should soon gain their confidence. Be prepared for the possibility of having to repaint your pet in the eventuality that your pet is part of that minority that simply cannot adjust to their new lifestyle, though; it may pain you to have to get rid of such an uncommon color, but the pet’s happiness is of utmost importance here.

I hope this article has brought to your attention the amazing possibilities that being painted Custard can bring to a pet, as well as all of the information you need to make an informed choice and to take care of a newly custard-ified pet. If you decide you do want to paint a pet the color, good luck with your efforts, and have fun with your unique pet!