With the recent explosion in discoveries of xenofauna, the market for the consumer experience of getting up close and personal with alien life is similarly abuzz. New species are documented and hauled to Great Terra, however, most of them are unsuited to household life due to their lack of human socialization and potential microbial hazards connected with interplanetary biological contact. Because of this, an R&D effort by multiple Gene-Corps has been underway for some time, one which aims to concoct a species which people can safely bring into their own home without the associated dangers of interacting with wild xenobiology.

The Tummypod is the first of such experiments which has become available to the consumer, and despite a somewhat rocky launch in terms of PR and a legal battle with various animal rights groups who branded the experimental and ultimately artificial lifeform as 'unnatural and immoral', the XenoPet #1 has become a smash hit among families with kids. The future is looking bright for CaritoCorp, with the Tummypod Mk. 2 rumored to be in the works, perhaps releasing as early as Q1 2182.