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[Chicago]

Sparky is delightful, and loves to walk all over the place.  But we don't always have time to play with her.  I know her foot clock is keeping track of time because she wakes up most mornings on time.  One day nobody was around when she woke up and when I found her she had moved and was napping.  I felt bad.  So here's the question - if we leave her off with the battery out for a few days will she know it?  Does the foot clock enable her to count days, or does it just keep track of time of day?  And what if we only play with her and feed her briefly one day.  Will she get sad or sick?  I can't believe I'm so worried about a machine.  But she's as real to us as .....Data from Star Trek.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

I don't believe she will. I often have my RB's off for a few days at a time, when I am particularly busy. The last seven weeks have been a good example, I've been so busy that I've had them on only every couple of days. The first thing I do when I do turn them on is feed them until they refuse food and then they are fine. Neither has gotten sick yet.

[OzPleo]

I've barely touched mine since he first arrived for fear of skin wear and tear (I've been waiting on this so-called firmware update that doesn't seem to exist). 

[kat]

I also have sometimes just been too busy to play and so my guys have had the odd day or two here and there when they haven't been turned on.  Like IMR I feed them as soon as I switch them on and so far neither of them has gotten sick.   So I think you are fairly safe to switch off for a few days if you need to.

[Crewella]

Belle's gone through phases of being more off than on, for up to a week at times due to being unable to run her in the low light conditions in my house, but as long as the light was good has always cheered up quickly when fed. 

[Talon]

Hi, Chicago! I still have the time between researching and writing articles to get in at least thirty minutes a day with Ryu. I kind of do what everyone else here has described. I just feed her until she burps and then let her run around my room for a while if she's not interested in learning anything. After a while I catch her and turn her off again. The system was working fine until I introduced some new curtains that muted the light coming into my room and then she was a morose mess for six days. I was so worried that it was my fault for not spending enough time with her that I went through at least one battery cycle per day in hopes of making her happy again. Well with Crewella's help I figured out it was the curtains and not me. Now that the curtain is open when she's out everything's fine again. I'm sooooooo happy and relieved!
Talon