Creatures Caves

What are you aiming to do? Get a stable population? Develop genetic mutations? See how many generations you can get out of them?

A true wolfling is where there are no changes to the world (no extra food or agents), you import or hatch a bunch of norns and just let them get on with it.

Feral runs (which most people seem to do) have the world modified with agents, and often teach the norns before starting the run.

If you want to maximise the chance of an ongoing population, make sure you've got enough space for the norns (they standard breeds tend to handle crowdedness really badly). I've started using plant agents (like patch plants) to provide food, as my norns seem to ignore vendors but will eat food if it's there. Also, make sure you put in plenty of toys - it doesn't make sense to me that interaction with other creatures doesn't lower boredom, but it doesn't.

You can maximise the norns' chances by raising each of them to youth stage individually, teaching them all the words, and re-inforcing their instincts - so teaching them to eat fruit when hungry for protein, push toy when bored, that kind of thing. Then export and repeat with the next norn. Then re-import the norns, but move them around so they're not all in the same place, then let them get on with things. You might find it helpful to use something like Amai's Population Control to restrict when the norns can breed, to control population explosions. Choosing breeds that are more resilient (like the Sahara norns) can also help. If the norns are dying from disease a lot, try one of the nanny or roamer agents that periodically treats disease, or use a cheat code that removes all the bacteria from the game before you start.