Pound Surfing
Introduction
Whether you do it legitimately or illegitimately, Pound Surfing can be a very time-consuming and extremely tedious. Thousands if not millions of players are constantly ‘surfing’ the pound, making the competition almost unbearable. Fortunately, there are less-stressful ways of obtaining your dream pet. Just follow these tips and you should be well on your way.
Things You Need to Know
1. TNT doesn’t care about Auto-Adopters
I know this sounds preposterous, but hear me out. I’ve heard this ‘rumor’ from several sources and because of personal experience, I concur. For three years, I used my Auto-Adopter (carelessly, like letting it run overnight) and I haven’t been frozen once. According to some, most people spend hours legitimately ‘surfing’ through the pound, which makes it ‘impossible/difficult’ for TNT to pinpoint who’s using programs-especially with the amount of people surfing.
While this rumor is debatable, I can say there is a low freeze rate-if any.
2. Remember to have enough neopoints on hand when Pound Surfing
Especially if you’re looking for a pet with decent stats, you need to keep a good amount of neopoints just in case.
Here’s a formula to help determine the pound fee:
(Strength + Defense + Movement + 60) x Level
For example, if you want to a adopt a Level 3 Starry Kau with a Strength of 10, Defense of 6, and a Movement of 5, here’s how you would write it:
(10 + 6 + 5 + 60) x 3
Which equals…
243 Neopoints
Don’t like doing math? Sites like Jellyneo.com or Neopound.com have Pound Calculators. That, and you always Google the equation. 😛
3. Use Accounts aged at least 4 Months when Pound Surfing
Due to certain restrictions placed on ‘newbie’ accounts, only accounts aged four months and older can adopt pets over level 1, Limited Edition pets (from Tonus to Draiks), and certain colors. If your accounts aren’t old enough, then here’s a list of colors you can adopt:
Blue
Brown
Checkered
Glowing
Green
Invisible
Orange
Pink
Purple
Red
Shadow
Silver
Skunk
Speckled
Split
White
Yellow
4. Learn Color Value
Depending on supply and demand, the value of color is subject to change. Consider more than one source and make your own conclusions regarding the worth of a pet’s color. You’d be surprised what people are willing to exchange their draiks and krawks for.
5. Know Your Terms
UC = Unconverted
BD = Battledome
WN = Well-named
VWN = Very well-named
BN = Badly-named (be careful not to confuse this term with ‘BD’ aka ‘Battledome’!)
AUTO = Said offer will automatically confirm trade
UFT = Up for Trade
UFA = Up for Adoption
UFQA = Up for Quick Adoption
NTY = No thank you
RB = Royal Boy
RG = Royal Girl
IQ = Island Quiggle
6. If you surf illegitimately, COVER YOUR TRACKS
If you have Neofriends, don’t leave your program running overnight! Your Neofriends can tell when and how long you’ve been online thanks to that Neofriends (Beta!) box on the bottom lefthand side of the screen. If possible, find another account to surf. If you absolutely have to surf on your Neofriend-infested account, run your program no more than ten hours a day. It would also be a good idea to mix it up a bit. Like run the program four hours one day and eight hours another day. Something along those lines. Remember to act like a human!
Techniques
There are several ways to Pound Surf. Whether you choose to surf legitimately or illegitimately, the chances of obtaining a good pet require the same amount of patience and determination. However, here are some ways to find a good pet:
1. Check the Pound Board.
Occasionally, you will find a ‘POUNDING’ thread in which the user states he/she will pound a pet at a certain time. Even if the pet isn’t one you particularly like, have a go at it. Chances are, someone else may want that Darigan Yurble. 
2. Use Google Search
This is a great way to find ‘Stuck’ pets (pets that can’t be found through browsing). Just use a search engine (I recommend Google) and type this in the search bar
(colour/species) “owner: in the pound” site neopets.com/petlookup
Replace (colour/species) with the color or pet you want
Example:
Cybunny “owner: in the pound” site neopets.com/petlookup
or
Darigan “owner: in the pound” site neopets.com/petlookup
This is a well-known technique, so don’t expect to find what you’re looking for on your first try.
You can also use Google Search to find expensive petpets! Type this in the search bar:
has a petpet! the (species/color) owner: Pound
Example:
has a petpet! the Maraquan Quetzal owner: Pound
CAUTION: Make sure the petpet isn’t zapped.
On a brighter note, zapped petpets can still give avatars! 8D
3. Use An Auto-Adopter
I personally use Sid’s Auto Adopter to find my pets. Someone on Youtube (possibly Sid himself, it’s been a few years since) provided a demonstration video, plus the download. However, I would recommend using Darkztar’s Auto Adopters since the Sid’s Auto Adopter program can no longer be found on Youtube, but at HiddenBelow.com (a fellow cheating site). All AA’s work the same and they generally have an extremely low freeze rate. While the chances of obtaining a Draik or a Krawk is still rather slim, you can find all sorts of goodies with minimal effort on your part.
You can also use your AA to obtain expensive petpets! Just watch out for zapped ones!
Conclusion
That concludes the guide. I hope this helps! ^^ If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to message me.
Pound Catches
Here’s a list of the pets I managed to catch with the AA:
