As the hour of hatchtime nears, a brighter, larger variety of colors—yellows, reds, blues—will show through the casing, and recognizable aspects of BOTIMAL® anatomy may become distinguishable: a kicking leg, a waving arm, a swinging tail…maybe even a squinched little face with eyes scrunched closed, pursing and relaxing its adorably shaped lips. This is the point at which you should take the IncuBand® off your wrist, loosen the thumbscrews, remove the ovum from the frame, push the ovum into the appropriate PillowNest® slit (the one from which you originally removed the ovum), and close the lid.
(NOTE: Once the brighter colors have begun to show inside the ovum, you’ll have about 24 hours to get it into the PillowNest®, so there’s no need to rush or panic when you first notice the colors. HOWEVER, because it may have been a while since last you paid attention to the ovum, WE STRONGLY ADVISE THAT ONCE YOU’VE NOTICED THE COLORS, YOU NEST THE OVUM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.)
Once the ovum is nested, your BOTIMAL® will start to hatch in 24 hours or less. Don’t worry if you’re not around for the hatch—that’s what the PillowNest® is for. If you’re not around, though, please keep the domed lid of the PillowNest® closed for the safety of your BOTIMAL® hatchling. If you ARE around, you’re in for a real treat. The BOTIMAL® in the ovum will, upon losing access to your human warmth, begin to feel cold. It will begin to feel so cold that it will shiver. And it will begin to shiver so hard that it will repeatedly slam its balled-up little body against the springy inner wall of the ovum. If you’re looking closely, you’ll see the ovum vibrate in fits and starts. This could last for as many as ten minutes, or as few as two. In the course of your BOTIMAL’S® repeated back-and-forth slamming, its claws will puncture microsacs of nontoxic fluid embedded within the springy wall. Upon making contact with the inside of the ovum’s resilient pink casing, the fluid will chemically react with the casing, causing it to become extremely brittle where before it was rubbery and resilient. As your BOTIMAL® continues to slam against the wall, the casing will crack and, within minutes, your BOTIMAL® will climb from the shattered ovum’s remains, shivering and big-eyed, in search of human warmth.
As mentioned before, it’s a real treat to see your BOTIMAL® hatch, but if you can’t be there for it, as many surely can’t (we all have LIVES, and BOTIMALS® are meant to be, among other things, hassle-free), don’t worry about it. When you return from school or work, or wherever you were when your BOTIMAL® hatched, it’ll be there waiting for you beneath the dome of the PillowNest®, munching at the nutritional remnants of the ovum in the ovumslit, or sleeping, but in either case ready for a quick rinse in the sink and all the warmth you can find the time to give it.
Your Hatchling
Due to certain quirks in the manufacturing process of ova, about 10 percent of all BOTIMALS® enter the world with one leg rather than two, and 25 percent are born without tails. We urge you, if your hatchling lacks a tail or has only one leg, to understand that single-leggedness and taillessness do not constitute “deformities.” Your BOTIMAL’S® well-being will not be complicated or impeded by these differences any more than it would were it to have, for example, green skin (4 percent) or yellow velvet (12 percent), rather than pale skin (80 percent) or black velvet (80 percent).
Regardless of how many limbs they might have, hatchlings, prior to their first meal-and-cuddle, range in length from 40–60 mm head-to-toe, 60–75 mm head-to-tail (if applicable), and they weigh between 35 and 45 grams. Enjoy this phase, because it’ll be over before you know it! Your BOTIMAL® will reach full physical maturity (120–160 mm head-to-toe, 160–190 mm head-to-tail, and 250–350 grams in weight) within three weeks.
Imprinting
These first weeks—especially the first seven days—are extremely important. Your BOTIMAL® hatchling will imprint on whomever it cuddles most regularly with. Once it has imprinted, it will not only dedicate itself to the person on whom it has imprinted for the rest of its existence, but if kept from cuddling with that person for too long a time, it will grow infirm and eventually expire. Since it’s your BOTIMAL®, you should be sure that, for at least the first seven days, it does no extensive cuddling with anyone other than you.
First Bath
Your BOTIMAL® will be goo-flecked when it emerges from the ovum. This goo is nontoxic and scentless, but it’s a little bit sticky, and you probably won’t want it to get on your clothing, which is why you should bathe your hatchling BOTIMAL® as follows:
Lift it from the PillowNest® by the shoulders (don’t squeeze!), and lay it in the cup of your hand. Within moments, you will see (and feel!) it pressing its head against your wrist, as if trying to somehow enter your body. Bring it to a sink and open the tap at low pressure until the water is roughly as warm as you are. Once the water is the proper temperature, cradle your BOTIMAL® beneath it. Your BOTIMAL® will roll around a bit in order to stay warm and keep its mouth and nose above the shallow pool of water in your palm, and, in doing so, it will get its entire body wet. After a minute of rinsing, shut the tap and loosely wrap your BOTIMAL® in a paper towel for ten minutes. It will squirm around, and the resultant friction will scrub away any remaining flecks of goo while drying your BOTIMAL®.
And now, at last, it’s time to cuddle!
First Cuddle
This is the easiest part. Open the towel and gently pick your BOTIMAL® up by the shoulders (again: don’t squeeze!). Set it belly-down, or on its side, upon your skin. If you’re wearing a long-sleeved shirt, we suggest you place your BOTIMAL® on your wrist, right where the ovum it hatched from was when you were using the IncuBand®. If you’re wearing a short-sleeved shirt, we suggest you set your BOTIMAL® on your shoulder. Your BOTIMAL® will grab onto the fibers on the inside of your shirt with its claws or (if available) its tail, and push, thus securing itself against your skin and allowing you to freely move around.
You’ll probably be tempted to pull back your sleeve and stare at the adorable little thing for a while. Go ahead! Just remember to replace the sleeve when you’re finished staring so that your BOTIMAL® can secure itself to your body again.
Exhausted from its bath, its hatch, its preceding separation from human warmth, and all the new sensory input from which the ovum formerly protected it, your BOTIMAL® will fall asleep quickly. Let it. And once you grow tired of watching it sleep, you should, by all means, feel free to do things around the house or engage in light play with friends. Just don’t forget your BOTIMAL® is there, and that, although resilient, it isn’t invulnerable—it can get hurt very easily. So: no sports while cuddling! No roughhousing either! And although you’ll surely be tempted to fall asleep with your BOTIMAL®: don’t. There’s nothing worse than waking up to find a beloved friend irreparably smashed and/or suffocated beneath one’s body, even if that friend is only a robot. Before going to bed, return your BOTIMAL® to its PillowNest® and shut the lid.