The Critter Cruiser

[TheScorpion1]

The critter cruiser is a frequent visitor to our zoos. It introduces some new and exciting animals for us to collect.

Our established players already know what to do on the arrival of the critter cruiser but for our newer friends here are some guiding notes for you to follow.

For the purposes of this, we shall use the golden lion tamarins to help us.

You will know when the critter cruiser has arrived as there will be an announcement in the 'official announcements' section of the forum and you will see a news layer when you log on to your zoo,

The official announcement will advise you of the duration of the event, the type of animal you will be seeing and if the animals can be bought in the zoo shop.

Please note these timings:-

• The stated time, here in our example 72 hours, starts as soon as you borrow the male and female.
• Your event finishes as soon as you complete the event, in this example once you have exchanged 10 babies for 1 adult male and 1 female or the 72 hour time expires.
• You may start your event any time within the stated event time frame and you will still have a full 72 hours (in this example) to complete or try to complete your event.
• The animals will only be available in your shop for 72 hours (in this example) from the beginning of the event - not the whole time that your own event is in progress.

The news layer when you log into your zoo

In your car park/parking lot you will find the critter cruiser (some people will refer to it as 'the baby caravan'). Click on the caravan to open it up so that you may borrow one male and one female

click on the button marked 'borrow a pair' and 1 male and 1 female will be sent to your zoo depot. Remember these two adults are only on loan and will be taken back once your event has finished.

Now you will see that you can exchange 5 babies for one male and 5 babies for 1 female. It states here that you can only exchange babies for 1 male and 1 female, though a habitat will take 3 males, 3 females and 3 babies - you will have to buy the other adults if you want a full pen. You will also see here your countdown timer

Go to the animals section of your zoo depot

Buy a habitat or use an existing habitat from your your depot and put it into your zoo - main zoo, hidden zoo it doesn't matter. Now move the two borrowed adults into this habitat.

Please note. The St Valentine's Day/Romantic Habitat will NOT reduce the breeding time by 50 % if used during the critter cruiser event, it acts the same way as any other habitat, so there is no advantage to using one of these here.

and commence breeding in the normal way. You may try for natural births or you may adopt a baby - the choice is yours. You have to bear in mind the cost of a natural birth and the time taken - not all natural birth attempts will be successful - and the cost of an adopted baby.



You will see in our example that it costs 5400 PetPennies for a natural birth attempt which takes 3 hours or you can adopt a baby guaranteed instantly for 12 Zoo Dollars.

Each time you have a baby naturally or by adoption you must transfer it to you zoo depot, so that you can start the next breeding cycle. Remember you need 5 babies to exchange for each adult - a total of 10

Once you have a baby

click on the dummy/pacifier symbol

In our example, the golden lion tamarins, you can only tranfer the one baby but in some events you could have 2 or 3 babies to transfer to your depot, use the + and - signs to alter between 1, 2 and 3.. Click on the green tick/check sign and your baby goes to the depot and you can start breeding again.

Once you have successfully bred 5 babies you will see this layer

click on the green tick/check sign to go to the caravan where you will be able to exchange your 5 babies for either a male or a female - your choice which you get first.

Click on the brown button, marked 5, beneath the male or the female. Your chosen adult will be placed in your depot. Click the red cross and start breeding again for another 5 babies to exchange for your second adult.

Keep an eye on your countdown timer - you only have a maximum of 72 hours.

Once you have got both male and female adults in exchange for 5 babies each your event is finished. The borrowed adults are taken back to the critter cruiser which departs and moves on to the next town.

Please note again. In this particular example you may only exchange babies for 1 male and 1 female, even though a habitat has room for 3 families. Other critter cruiser events may allow you to exchange babies for more than one male and female. Make sure you read the initial information layer and official announcement carefully for these details.

Your new acquisitions may now be put into their pen in your zoo and you can try for a natural birth, or adopt a baby - your choice.

The adults are also available to buy in your shop, for a limited time only though, in the case of our example here, only for 72 hours from the start of the event - not 72 hours from the time you first borrow the two adults. So watch that time.

Good luck and enjoy the event !