Meat stores
Food Stores
The Food Stores hold edible colony supplies. Food is not one universal pile. Different foods have different uses, freshness, species rules, spoilage speed, and risk.
Food Types
Food may include:
- Meat - Useful for foxes and other meat-eating species where supported.
- Fish - Often gained through fishing and usually spoils quickly unless preserved.
- Berries, roots, mushrooms, and plant foods - Important for herbivores and mixed diets.
- Dried or preserved foods - Last longer but may be weaker, less filling, or require preparation.
- Special foods - Event, biome, or system-specific foods with their own rules.
Species Diets
Not every pet can eat every food.
- Foxes are omnivores and can eat meat.
- Rabbits are herbivores and do not eat meat.
- Rabbit meat may be usable by foxes in some systems, but rabbits themselves cannot eat it.
Spoilage
Food can spoil. Meat and fish usually spoil faster than many plant foods. Heat, humidity, storage quality, and time can all make food decay faster.
Spoiled food can contribute to sickness, pests, predators, rot pressure, and unsafe colony conditions.
Preservation
Some foods can be dried, salted, smoked, or otherwise preserved where supported. Preserved food lasts longer, but preservation may require supplies, weather, salt, tools, or preparation time.
Where Food Comes From
Food can come from:
- Hunting
- Fishing
- Exploring
- Harvesting Resources
- Events, trades, gifts, and special systems.
Processing and Remains
Some animal-based foods or materials may come from hunting, fishing, or deceased-care processing.
Deceased-care processing is separate from ordinary food gathering. It can be practical, grim, risky, or culturally difficult depending on species, contamination, and colony context.
Read Deceased Care.
Unsafe Food
Do not feed pets unsafe food if the system warns you. Spoiled meat, tainted fish, contaminated remains, strange mushrooms, or rotten scraps can cause illness.
Colony Pulse
Low food, spoiled food, species diet problems, rot pressure, pests, and contamination may appear in Colony Pulse.
Related Pages
Echo Note - Rot attracts trouble
Spoiled food can attract pests, predators, parasites, scavengers, and sickness pressure. Meat and fish are especially risky when ignored.
~Echo