Taking care of a cow plant

Nicwebb82

So I downloaded a room of two cow plants from the gallery because I wanted to see what they were like. But even with watering them, feeding them everyday, they still died 3 sims days later. What am I doing wrong? How do you keep them alive? Do you have to feed them other sims?

Polyrhythm

They'll live off of the food your sims give them.
The important thing to note is if they actually eat. Sometimes they'll just sniff the food and shake their head, and the sim puts the food away, in which case they didn't eat.

That's the only thing I can think of though...Not sure why else they'd be dying so fast if they are actually eating.

Nicwebb82

I know if they stick their cake tongue out it means that are really hungry. If they are still hungry do they still shake their heads? I was assuming that shaking their heads meant they weren't hungry anymore.

Polyrhythm

Yes shaking their head means they don't want to eat.
I usually fed them before they stuck their tongue out to be safe. I know the tongue means they're hungry and they'll definitely eat, but I'm not sure of the exact period of time between sticking out their tongue and death

I guess the best thing to do would be to check if they'll eat at least twice a day that way they won't starve for sure. It's a lot of maintenance, but I'm not sure why they'd die otherwise.

Nicwebb82

I was only feeding them once a day. So maybe I should try for twice a day. And keep more of an eye out on them. Too bad we can't name them.

theyellowshoe

This happened to my Cowplant, I really didn't mean for it to die!

Sid1701D9

Err it cute off my post

Cow plants are interesting creatures, that can survive the first 24 hours after feeling. You can tell when cow plants are hungry because there are 3 phases of the cake tongue. If it is not out not hungry. If it is barely sticking out it will eat if fed, but not hungry enough for Sims. If the tongue is sticking far out it is really hungry.

I let mine die because my sims seem to like the cake, they kept running out to eat it.

Dannydanbo

I wonder what happens when a cowplant eats the Tragic Clown and your sim drinks the milk? Do they become really sad?

StilleWater

My Sim would always feed b4 bed and b4 work and when he came home from work the plant would be dead. That happened 5 different times and yes when my sim was home he would play with it and feed it several times while home.

Cement

I sorta rotate feedings around the house and I have about 6? in the house I play in. Only cowplants that seem to be planted on a certain corner of my house tend to die out while the other few are troopers and seem to stay alive since I've planted them for a while. (2 of them are fairly new, though.)

They can die by overfeeding if I remember right. There was a thread where simmers mentioned cowplant behavior somewhere...
They usually eat twice a day, and someone mentioned they would stick out a cake whenever you have visitors, too. So it'd be best if they had some sort of reliant schedule. They also don't usually eat the sims that feed them. (Or digest?)
They also won't digest sims that have a green bladder, so if you're worried about your sims dying from them, you can always make sure their hunger doesn't drop too low.

I'm not sure what would increase the duration of them being alive, but I can play my house sometime to see how long it takes a new cowplant to live since mine seem pretty hardy these days lol

Shades302

if you hire a gardener will they tend to the cowplant? I know when I had a cowplant I just waited till I saw the cake to feed him, but I forgot him one day and then when I was like 'I should check---oh.. R.I.P.'

EnkiSchmidt

Quoted from Carl's Sims 4 Guide, hope it helps:
"If a Cow Plant is growing hungry, which happens after about 12 hours of not being fed, it will offer up cake. [...] If the cow plant isn't fed after about 8-10 hours of this happening, it will die, leaving behind a rather cool-looking skeleton."

I play rotationally and when I leave a household I put the cowplant in the family inventory, just in case. I think unlike other plants they can die when they are left in inactive households.

Sid1701D9

No, they won't die in inactive households, because I had mine that way. They will if you visit a inactive lot, because the timer is by lot.

Apple9

I don't tend to get cow plants unless I am doing a challenge which needs one because I'm kind of scared that they'll eat my sims but I still find them adorable

xDarkxkidx

Am I the onlyone that finds Cow plant useless?
you have to makeit kill naother sim to get life?
that is not how it was back in the other sims games.
I feel really furstrated over i have to kill a simmer to be able to milk it! :'( :'( :'(

JennCsimmer

My cow plants are always dying

idontgiveasmurf

I give up. I was none stop feeding they would shake their head and then cake would come out immediately after. I was just feeding over and over and they seem to never stop being hungry. Now im fishing away from the lot til they die.

Ayradyss

My experience with the cow plant hunger cycle is pretty messed up too -- it seems that they refuse food more often than not, but then the next time I look at them, they've already starved to death and there's just a 'skeleton.' I'm not sure if it's really working as intended.

As for worrying about them eating Sims, there's really not much need for that in TS4. The first time a Sim 'takes the cake,' they get spat out after being drained of emotion. So that's really not terribly dangerous. Only if they try to grab the cake a second time when they're already 'drained' will they actually be fully eaten and die. It's way safer than it ever was in earlier incarnations.

GalacticGal

The Patriarch of my family was always very diligent in feeding and caring for the Cowplant. Sometimes, he even volunteered himself as food. Happily, he was usually spat back out again. I finally got fed up (no pun intended) having to keep a constant eye on things. Eventually, the evil thing died. When I went to set up a new save, I wanted to use the same built. When I realized it was one with the Cowplant, I quickly exchanged it for an earlier rendition of the lot. Phew! I have no desire to have another of those Beasties. LOL