Neopets on Holding Accounts will be Released Once More

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Neopets on Holding Accounts will be Released Once More

Posted by Kenny on April 8, 2026, 4:00 pm NST

An exciting update from today's New Features:

Attention, Neopians! Starting today, we’re giving a second chance to Neopets that no longer have owners. We've been busy clearing out holding accounts and are officially increasing the release of these Neopets back into the Pound randomly, on a weekly basis! These Neopets will appear at random times, so keep your eyes peeled! Head over to The Neopian Pound today and see who's looking for a forever home!

The update is light on specifics, but it sounds like the pound_release holding account will once again be trickling pets back into the Pound for adoption.

Some context: pound_release was a TNT account first created back in 2007 to hold pets that could not be fully abandoned while the Pound was under maintenance for a full year. From April 29, 2008, through November 22, 2019, it released a few pets twice daily into the Pound. Tracking pets held on this account with desirable names and paint jobs was a popular pastime!

pound_release stopped functioning for unknown reasons on November 22, 2019. It's unknown if its mechanics will be the same or different now, but you can read more about it on our Pound Browsing guide! We'll update you as the mechanics become clear, or if TNT provides further information.

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Doesn't sound like this will include frozen or abandoned accounts? I hate that its so vague.

by redlux on April 8, 2026 4:24 PM NST

Why won't they just delete them, so people can get the names they want?

by sterlinglyons on April 8, 2026 4:52 PM NST

@sterlinglyons That's a really good question, I'd like to know the answer too!

by sakaarson on April 8, 2026 4:55 PM NST

@sterlinglyons Maybe so that the pound_release pets can keep their ages? If we do get the purge at some point, pets on purged accounts will get deleted and not pounded, but pound_release pets have been traditionally put back into the pound where they came from.

by rabid_mon_goose on April 8, 2026 5:10 PM NST

well I guess we see the purge in 8 years

by academy on April 8, 2026 5:38 PM NST

I hope this also applies to pets that say 'Not Born Yet!'. There's a few that I've wanted for so many years but are locked

by rhianafaeriedoll on April 8, 2026 6:06 PM NST

whoa, return of pound release! maybe! i hope while they're looking at the pound they maybe start figuring out how to fix the stuck pets problem, since otherwise a loooot of those pets are going from one mystery void into another mystery void

by sentehisshou on April 8, 2026 6:24 PM NST

I AM THRILLED FOR POUND RELEASE.
Still want the purge.
But this is a start.
Not born yet pets would also be a delight, yes!

by nobody on April 8, 2026 8:28 PM NST

@rhianafaeriedoll: Most of those pets are owned by normal inactive users. This release sounds like it will be for pound_release, so you will have wait for a purge to get any NYB names.

Though a related fun fact: While NYB pets can't normally end up in the pound (pets need to be at least 168 hours old to be abandoned), staff can move them into the pound without their status changing. They will stay at 0 hours old until they are adopted.

by ziporen on April 8, 2026 10:15 PM NST

I wonder how many seriously powerful battledome pets we're going to see in this.

Paint and species changes are dirt-cheap nowadays except for more limited colours like Robot and Void. I'm definitely more interested in seeing what battlers pop out.

by duskshadowbrony on April 9, 2026 8:57 AM NST

pound_release is mostly pets abandoned between April 2007 and April 2008. doubt there were that many high-stat pets back then esp compared to today's concept of what that means.

you're right about paint jobs, it was also popular back in the day as a source for UCs which is irrelevant now. I think atp it's mostly about good names that might be in there.

by kenny on April 9, 2026 9:54 AM NST JN Staff

Should just allow people a NC option to rename pets *eye roll*

by someday_soon328 on April 9, 2026 9:56 AM NST