The baby Defense Unit takes approximately 3 days and 20 hours to fully mature at default rates - over many real-world days, demanding serious time investment. The most labor-intensive part is the baby phase (0–10% maturation) when it can't use a Feeding Trough yet.

Each baby inherits stats from both parents with a chance of mutation - +2 wild levels to a random stat plus a color change. Use the breeding calculator to plan food requirements, incubation timers, and maturation phases.

Maturation has three phases: Baby (0–10%) lasts ~556 min and requires constant hand-feeding. Juvenile (10–50%) spans ~37h - it can eat from a Trough now. Adolescent (50–100%) takes ~46h - continues eating from troughs, nearly fully grown.

Imprint bonuses are significant: a fully imprinted Defense Unit gains 30% extra damage and damage resistance with its imprinter mounted. You'll be asked to cuddle, walk, or feed specific kibble at regular intervals during maturation.

The raising calculator above shows exactly how much food you need for each maturation phase of the Defense Unit. Expect ~556 minutes of active care during the Baby phase before it graduates to trough-feeding as a Juvenile.

The multiplier feature helps plan large-scale Defense Unit raises by totaling food across all babies. Different food types have different spoil timers - factor that into which food you stockpile.