So where are all the wild animals?

[Koukalicious]

I have not seen any wild animals around my town. No wild horses, no deer (I didn't even know those existed in game until I looked through this forum) not even any small animals like snakes, chipmunks etc. The only place I've seen animals other than horses, dogs and cats is the pet shop. Where is all the wilderness?

[Arisuka]

It probably depends to some extent on your computer's performance. Just like it might take a few sessions of playing, saving and reloading to see certain neighborhood visual effects, so maybe try that and see if you'll start seeing any?

[chloecn]

a lot of the wild animals look like other animals. The raccoon, for example, looks a lot like a cat.

[lanceduncan]

I made a new family in the new hood that comes with Pets. I picked the 6x6 lot in the event I decided to make them legacy (I didn't). This should give you an idea where on the map I'm referencing.

Within 2-3 days I had a herd of horses camp out on my lot overnight. They seem to move about freely in the hood and stay in the lower side in the rural areas. If you look around you'll eventually find them. A few nights later a deer ran through my lot. They are harder to spot since they appear at random, including the park in the city.

After about 5 game days I was most surprised to see a bird sitting on the ground. I wasn't aware they were in the game or I would have been looking sooner. Something new to collect! Yay! Birds/lizards/snakes/turtles can all be seen from about the same height you can see metal and gems and other collectibles. And the cool thing is that those areas are "hotspots." Collect the animal and tomorrow a different animal will show up.

If however you are referring to playing in Riverview or wherever with an existing lot and you added Pets and nothing has happened yet, then you may need to wait. The same thing happened to me when I added Late Night. I played for like a game week or two before a single Celebrity appeared in Riverview. I tore down an entire street and replaced it with clubs and stuff in the hopes they would appear and still never got a Celebrity. I bitched and screamed on the EA forums and got no sympathy from anyone since they were quite happy with their celebrity families. Then suddenly Celebrities started appearing and holy hell. My entire family spontaneously became famous and vampire paparazzi were photographing my children in their sleep. Boy do I regret ever wanting celebrities in my hood. But I digress.

It's possible that in regular existing hoods where Pets is added onto it, the random animals won't appear until the game does some sort of internal cycling, like it did with Celebrities when LN came out. Give it about a game week and see if they start appearing. If you have the collection helper they should appear on it so you'll know when it happens.

[notacleverusername]

I'm having this same issue, but I've been playing Pets for 5 and a half Sim weeks. So it is a much more ongoing issue for me. I get quite a few stray dogs, but that is it, and nothing really cool like wild horses. Which sucks, because my family is breeding horses and I would love to get some cool ones in the mix.
I'm going to check and see if my story progression isn't working properly, but I kinda get the feeling that has nothing to do with it...

[alliemarie2323]

I'm having the same problem as well. I miraculously ran into a raccoon the other day, but have yet to see any wild horses or deer. I have only came across maybe 4 stray cats and dogs and that's it. :(

[Scarity]

there are only 2 racoons in the world at a time, and only 3 deer. :)

[Ladyhawke976]

I can't remember what cats and dogs have but don't forget to look at your pets buyable Lifetime Rewards. The horses have such a reward that makes them attractive so wild horses will show up more on your lot. They also have rewards such as Animal Steel Bladder (No need to pee! Yeah!), the ability to learn faster and several that will make raising an animal much easier!

[Arisuka]

there are only 2 racoons in the world at a time, and only 3 deer. :)

O_______________________________________O And we have a freakin' HERD of wild horses? ...this sucks.

[CinderEmma]

I don't know if I would want anymore deer, I like my towns not destroyed by rambunious deer XD Though a few more raccoons would be awesome, I remember seeing raccoons all the time when I lived in a rural area. I'm sure there's some around here too. And my cat fought a raccoon, had to have surgery because he was only a kitten and the raccoon pwned his tiny furry bum XD Now he's like 23 pounds and HUGE, he could murder the raccoon if he wanted too :P

[Scarity]

O_______________________________________O And we have a freakin' HERD of wild horses? ...this sucks.

there is an XML for it, you can change how many there are. There is a minimal and maximal for each type. :llama:

[aeval99]

O_______________________________________O And we have a freakin' HERD of wild horses? ...this sucks.
LOL. I was just sitting here with my mouth hanging open at the thought people not being able to find wild horses, while I'm begging, hither and yon, for someone to please get rid of the damned things.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/aeval99/smileys/DeadHorse.gif

[SommarBlomma]

I saw a wild horse in Grey Meadow today, it is a custom world. It just passed by a City Hall LOL, what a cool place for them. However, I don't think we can have smaller animals and birds in custom worlds by default. I found small animal spawners and bird spawners in the fish spawner category of the debug menu, when i was making a pond, so I placed a few spawners here and there, and am waiting for the animals to regenerate in a few sim days. They're just like all other collectibles. As for deer, I haven't seen it yet, and there are no spawners for deer, I think they are generated like horses.

[Arisuka]

It would really be great to be able to adjust the number of each of the wild animals... There are so many different kinds of worlds and not to mention, different types of players. *gets shifty eyes on and starts to prey on poor modders passing by*

[Srikandi]

It would really be great to be able to adjust the number of each of the wild animals... There are so many different kinds of worlds and not to mention, different types of players. *gets shifty eyes on and starts to prey on poor modders passing by*

New mod by Claudiasharon for strays... if you want something different though, instead of preying on modders, why not do your own? XML modding is pretty straightforward :) http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorial:Sims_3_XML_Tuning_Modding

[Srikandi]

I don't think we can have smaller animals and birds in custom worlds by default. I found small animal spawners and bird spawners in the fish spawner category of the debug menu, when i was making a pond, so I placed a few spawners here and there, and am waiting for the animals to regenerate in a few sim days. They're just like all other collectibles.

Several folks have reported finding minor pets in custom worlds, without having added spawners, and in WA worlds too. So I believe there is actually some code to either add spawners near or at existing spawner locations, or to modify existing spawners (rocks, seeds etc) to spawn minor pets as well.

Remember that a cat can hunt anywhere... basically a minor pet or beetle will "auto-spawn" whereever the cat is hunting... so there IS something more dynamic about the spawn locations for these new critters.

[Scarity]

Minor pets are spawned by foreign spawners automatically. :) it is also in the XMLS.

[BGatot]

So, I found a rather large bird the other day. It was called a spotted Sixam. What can you do with a wild bird? The only interaction option available for the bird was to watch it. So there's this big bird calmly grooming itself on the ground while 3-4 sims standing around looking at it. Is there another things we can do to a bird? I doubt my sims gonna be friend with the bird by simply watching it. I brought my cat to the park and the only option available for the cat was to watch it also.

[Zokugai]

So, I found a rather large bird the other day. It was called a spotted Sixam. What can you do with a wild bird? The only interaction option available for the bird was to watch it. So there's this big bird calmly grooming itself on the ground while 3-4 sims standing around looking at it. Is there another things we can do to a bird? I doubt my sims gonna be friend with the bird by simply watching it. I brought my cat to the park and the only option available for the cat was to watch it also.

From what I've heard catching minor pets may be some sort of a hidden skill. Sixams are the rarest large bird, you may need to work your way up to it. I have seen people catch them successfully before.

[eskie227]

So, I found a rather large bird the other day. It was called a spotted Sixam. What can you do with a wild bird? The only interaction option available for the bird was to watch it. So there's this big bird calmly grooming itself on the ground while 3-4 sims standing around looking at it. Is there another things we can do to a bird? I doubt my sims gonna be friend with the bird by simply watching it. I brought my cat to the park and the only option available for the cat was to watch it also.

Can you cook it?

[heaven]

I found a falcon the other day. I love predator birds (give me a hawk or falcon over a parrot any day) but I was not given the option to try to catch or whatever it is. I was able to catch a cockatoo which is nowhere near as fun. Hmm, reading above, if you have to raise some hidden skill, I wonder if you can hunt with the birds later. Would be cool!

[Sprue]

the ugly thing is that falcons, sixams and crows sound and behave like parrots

[anifromid2]

If you build a community garden lot, the deer will show up and eat all the plants so quick it will make your head spin. Especially the lettuce, tomatoes and potatos for some reason

[notacleverusername]

If you build a community garden lot, the deer will show up and eat all the plants so quick it will make your head spin. Especially the lettuce, tomatoes and potatos for some reason

Hmm, maybe I'll try putting a lot next to my home lot with a million carrot plants, and see if THAT makes the wild horses show up.
I have three horses on my home lot, all with the reward to attract wild horses, I also have the wildlife gnome and STILL... NOTHING!
Very frustrating because my Sim has the wish to meet and adopt a wild horse.

[wsl1]

There should be an option to catch the wild livestock for meat. Wild Horse Burgers! Hot (Stray) Dogs!

[GnatGoSplat]

Wild horses are pretty much all over the place, at least in Appaloosa. To find the raccoon and deer, I just zoomed out into the town view and look carefully for moving dots in fields and empty lots.
Sometimes my sims find minor pets on their own, and sometimes I find them when I see a bunch of sims crowded around looking at something on the ground. I believe the Collection Helper will locate them as well.

[crocobaura]

Hmm, maybe I'll try putting a lot next to my home lot with a million carrot plants, and see if THAT makes the wild horses show up.
I have three horses on my home lot, all with the reward to attract wild horses, I also have the wildlife gnome and STILL... NOTHING!
Very frustrating because my Sim has the wish to meet and adopt a wild horse.

You can put the plants on your home lot too. Don't put a fence around the vegetables so the deer can get to them.

[varpunen]

You can put the plants on your home lot too. Don't put a fence around the vegetables so the deer can get to them.

That doesn't seem affect the horses, though. I have the gate locked up but the horse goes in anyway. It just ate my precious Cranerlet Nuala Grapes. :lol:

I would like to see more raccoons. I've only seen one once. I really want them everywhere. Well, almost everywhere... ;)

[tangie0906]

Try a different gate, I heard that some do Not work. The gate I'm using on my home lot worked fine, the gate I used on my community garden didn't phase the deer at all. Also I have seen the collectible critters spawn in custom worlds. I have also noticed a pattern where they spawn where other spawners are. I found a lot that had 7 seed spawners on it and it also had 3 kinds of turtles, a falcon, and two rodents.

[varpunen]

Try a different gate, I heard that some do Not work. The gate I'm using on my home lot worked fine, the gate I used on my community garden didn't phase the deer at all. Also I have seen the collectible critters spawn in custom worlds. I have also noticed a pattern where they spawn where other spawners are. I found a lot that had 7 seed spawners on it and it also had 3 kinds of turtles, a falcon, and two rodents.

I've gone through 3 gates already but I'll keep testing. I was actually more amused by the horse, than annoyed. It was actually worth a few grapes, even rare ones. :)

The falcon is beautiful but I didn't take it as pet because the the pet birds keeps dying after a few days no matter what you do.:faceslap:

[Tanja1986]

I cant even take the Falcon... when I see one and click on it, it just shows the interaction for watching. But I cannot get it for my home cage. I wonder whats wrong? I can take every other Bird like parrots and such. Well the only Parrot I saw yet was a green one.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Sometimes the birds just aren't takeable - I had my sim running around collecting things and she found a falcon and was able to take it, and then found another 5 minutes later that she couldn't take.

[jeffrompas]

I think you need cats with high Hunting skill to catch the big birds.

[HystericalParoxysm]

No, you can befriend them yourself - I've picked up all manner of birds, and my sim doesn't even own a cat. It just seems some don't want to have any interactions other than "watch" - including small birds sometimes.

[Tanja1986]

The question is if its correct that some birds of the same type cant be taken, while others can... I never got a falcon yet and I started many new Neighbourhoods to test some new things. every falcon is not catchable for me it seems... the Green Ara or what ever the name of the Parrot was I could take really easy.

[varpunen]

My sim actually did take the falcon but because I didn't want the bird to die, I made him let the bird go. After that I noticed, that if you let a captured bird go, you can't capture it again. You can only watch them. At least in my game. Even my sim's daughter couldn't take the same falcon.