When the Glassgryph breeding season comes around, there is much posing and posturing between both genders. The males set out to impress the females, and the females compete with each other to attract the best males. Not all pairs are successful during the breeding season, but those that are usually produce one Glassgryph kitten.

I want to make one thing very clear - there are no mandatory breeding items. All you need to apply for a breeding is a pair of Glassgryphs (or permission to use a pair)!

Basic breeding information

When Glassgryph breedings are available, an announcement will be made in the Adoptables General forum at PonyIsland. You will then have a certain amount of time to submit the application, which will be provided in the announcement post. Once all of the applications are in, it's breeding time! Not all of the breedings will be successful - there is a 50% chance that each pair will have a kitten,

There are no mandatory breeding items. Breeding items are completely optional - all you need to apply for a breeding is two Glassgryphs (or permission to use two Glassgryphs).

Everyone is welcome to apply for a breeding, though there's a limit of one application per person per breeding season. If you don't have a Glassgryph, you can always ask to borrow someone else's. See below for more information. If you don't own both of the Glassgryphs that you are applying with, the owner of the Glassgryph you don't own must send a PM when breeding forms are open to let me know permission has been given. The permission form, and who it needs to be sent to, will be posted in the main breeding thread.

Each Glassgryph may only participate once in each breeding round, regardless of gender. You may not apply with a Glassgryph if someone before you has already applied with them.

Any kittens will go to the person who submitted the breeding application. In the case of twins , the owner can either keep both of them, or can keep one and give the other to a friend. Glassgryph kittens may not be sold or traded!

Kittens grow after a week or so, and thus the circle of life begins anew.

How traits, patterns, and colors are determined

At the moment, Glassgryphs do not have dominant or recessive traits, or hidden genetics - I wish I'd started planning that before breedings started! This being the case, however, what you see is what you get when it comes to traits to inherit.

A kitten has a 50% chance of inheriting a special trait from a parent. Whether or not a special trait is inherited is determined for each trait that the parent carries. The same is true for pattern sets. The random factor usually means that a kitten will end up with some of the mother's and some of the father's traits and patterns, though it also means there's a chance the kitten will inherit everything, or nothing!

Colors are generally a mixture of the colors of the parents, though the kitten's coloration also has a chance of leaning more towards the mother's or father's coloration. Breeding a pale or white Glassgryph to a bright Glassgryph may result in a kitten with pastel coloration, breeding a dark or black Glassgryph to a pale Glassgryph could result in a dark or pale kitten, or anywhere in between, and so on.

Mutations occur every so often, resulting in spontaneous appearances of special traits, pattern sets, and unexpected colors in kittens.

Inheriting accessories and Socits

If a Glassgryph with an accessory or Socit equipped breeds, there is a chance that any kittens they have will have the same accessory or Socit. This is determined randomly, and the chance varies depending on the rarity of the accessory or Socit in question.

Kitten species and hybrids

If two Glassgryphs of the same species are bred together, their offspring will be of the same species. If two Glassgryphs of different species are bred together, the kitten will be one or the other. You can see the information page for an exact breakdown of the chances, but the following is true for most species:

• When a regular Glassgryph is bred with any different species, there is a 25% chance the kitten will be the different species and a 75% chance it will be a regular.
• When two Glassgryphs of different, non-regular species are bred (ie, a Northern and a Dragon), there is a 50% chance that the kitten will be one or the other species.

When some species of Glassgryph are bred, there is a chance that the kitten will be a hybrid rather than one species or the other. Eventually there will be a hybrid for any cross of the main species, but right now there's only a couple. The following is true when breeding hybrids:

• If two hybrids of the same species are bred together (ie, a Glacier and a Glacier), there is an 80% chance that the kitten will be the parents' species, and a 20% chance of being one of the species that makes up the hybrid (in the case of Glacier, either Freshwater or Northern).
• If two different hybrids are bred together (ie, a Glacier and Kirin), there is a 60% chance that the kitten will be one of the parents' species, and a 40% chance of being one of the species that makes up the hybrid species (a 10% chance for each of the species involved).
• If a hybrid and a Glassgryph of one of the main species are bred, there is a 40% chance the kitten will be the hybrid species, a 40% chance it will be the species of the other parent, and a 20% chance of being one of the species that makes up the hybrid species.

..complicated enough yet?

Using breeding items

Items that can be used during breedings can be purchased in the store, when they're available. Breeding items can cause mutations, decide the gender of the kitten, produce twins, and do many other things as well, depending on which item you use.

When a Glassgryph pair tries for a breeding, no more than two items can be used. If the breeding is successful, the items are considered destroyed, and the kitten will reflect the mutations or other effects of the items. If the breeding is not successful, the items are NOT destroyed, and can be used again on future applications.

The only breeding items that can be used are those belonging to the people involved in the application. For example, if Person A is breeding Person B and Person C's Glassgryphs together, the application can use any sushi from Person A, B, or C, as long as permission is given. Borrowing someone's Glassgryphs does not automatically give you permission to use their breeding items, so make sure you check with them before you apply. The limit of two items per pair still stands.

What if I don't have a Glassgryph but want to breed one?

Then you'll have to find someone who will loan you a pair of Glassgryphs for breeding season! You do not have to borrow a pair from the same person, you can borrow a male from someone and a female from someone else.

When breeding season is announced, a thread usually goes up in the Adoptables Breeding forum on PI where people can search for Glassgryphs to breed, and offer up their own Glassgryphs. The same posts can also be made in the Glassgryphs forum.

Some people charge a stud or RB (reverse breed) fee to use their Glassgryphs, and some people don't. I don't regulate the breeding fees in any way, so please don't blame me for high prices!

Above all, when searching for a pair to breed, be polite and courteous when contacting other users about borrowing their 'gryphs. Make your choices and stick with it, since it is considered very poor form to get permission from someone to use their Glassgryph, and then going and changing your mind at the last minute because you found a 'better' Glassgryph to use.