Island Handbook
Genetics & Breeding Guide
Every Chocukat on the island is the sum of its genes. This guide explains exactly what gets passed down, how often the island throws a mutation, and how long a pup takes to grow up.
Who can breed
Breeding needs one adult male and one adult female. Pups, hatchlings and juveniles cannot be paired — a Chocukat is only an adult one week after it hatches. Roughly one pairing in twenty produces twins, and both pups roll their genes separately, so twins are rarely identical.
The genes you pass down
- Body hue
- The base coat colour, anywhere on the full 0–359° colour wheel. A pup's hue lands between its parents' hues, taking the shorter way around the wheel.
- Marking hue
- The colour of the pattern itself — the spots, stripes or patches sitting on top of the base coat.
- Undercoat hue
- The colour showing through the base coat, usually close to the body hue.
- Point hue
- Face mask, ears, paws and tail tip. Often lands opposite the body hue on the wheel.
- Eye hue
- Inherited independently of the coat, so bright eyes can appear on a muted Chocukat.
- Richness (saturation)
- How vivid or washed-out the coat reads. Low richness gives you greys, charcoals and near-whites.
- Depth (lightness)
- How dark or pale the coat is. Very dark and very pale coats both count toward rarity.
- Pattern scale, density & contrast
- How large the markings are, how many there are, and how sharply they read against the base coat.
- Size
- The average of both parents with a little drift. Unusually large or unusually small Chocukats score rarity points.
- Glow & iridescence
- Glow is a sliding value; iridescence is a rare on/off trait that two iridescent parents pass on far more often.
- Tail
- Plume, fin, curl or spade — inherited from one parent, with an 8% chance of a fresh mutation.
- Sex
- A clean coin flip for every pup, and the one trait that decides who can breed with whom.
The ten coat patterns
A pup inherits one parent's pattern outright — unless the island rolls a mutation (about 8% of births), in which case any of the ten can appear from nowhere.
- Solid
- Spots
- Stripes
- Constellation
- Brindle
- Merle
- Patches
- Ticked
- Saddle
- Husky mask
Mutations
- Hue drift — most colour genes settle between the two parents, but every gene has a small chance of jumping somewhere else on the wheel.
- Pattern mutation — about 8% of pups get a pattern neither parent carried.
- Shade jump — around 6% of pups land on a completely new richness or depth, which is how blacks, whites and greys enter a line.
- Iridescence — two iridescent parents pass it on half the time, one parent about 20% of the time, and two plain parents only 3% of the time.
Growing up
- Egglaid
- Hatchling7 hours after being laid
- Juvenile2.3333333333333335 days after being laid
- Adult7 days after being laid
Pups live in your Nursery until they hit adult at one week. They then sit as “grown up · unassigned” until you move them into a habitat with free space, so nothing gets lost when a habitat fills up.
How rarity is scored
Every Chocukat gets a rarity score out of 100. Constellation and merle coats, high pattern contrast, extreme shades, strong glow, unusual size and — above all — iridescence push the score up.
| Tier | Score | Typically |
|---|---|---|
| Common | under 32 | Solid or lightly patterned coats in ordinary shades. |
| Uncommon | 32 – 54 | Strong patterning, high contrast, or an unusual shade. |
| Rare | 55 – 77 | Merle or husky masks, extreme size, or a heavy glow. |
| Mythic | 78 – 100 | Almost always iridescent, usually with a constellation coat too. |
What a Chocukat is worth
Suggested market value grows with rarity and with generation number, so a deep pedigree is worth building. Stamina also matters: every visit to a Chocukat's profile nudges its stamina up (capped at 100), and Chocukats that have not yet had offspring hold their value best.
Ready to start a line?
New breeders begin with 2,000 coins and a free 7-day trial of the island.