diff --git a/src/server/load-pet-data.js b/src/server/load-pet-data.js
index bb520ab5..f5c42a00 100644
--- a/src/server/load-pet-data.js
+++ b/src/server/load-pet-data.js
@@ -6,20 +6,38 @@ async function neopetsAmfphpCall(methodName, args) {
     encodeURIComponent(methodName) +
     "/" +
     args.map(encodeURIComponent).join("/");
-  return await fetch(url).then((res) => res.json());
+
+  const res = await fetch(url);
+  if (!res.ok) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `[AMFPHP] HTTP request failed, got status ${res.status} ${res.statusText}`
+    );
+  }
+
+  return res.json();
 }
 
 export async function loadPetMetaData(petName) {
-  const response = await neopetsAmfphpCall("PetService.getPet", [petName]);
-  return response;
+  return neopetsAmfphpCall("PetService.getPet", [petName]);
 }
 
 export async function loadCustomPetData(petName) {
+  // HACK: The json.php amfphp endpoint is known not to support string
+  // arguments with leading digits. (It aggressively parses them as ints lmao.)
+  // So, we work around it by converting the pet name to its image hash, then
+  // prepending "@", which is a special code that can *also* be used in the
+  // CustomPetService in place of name, to get a pet's appearance from its image
+  // hash.
+  if (petName.match(/^[0-9]/)) {
+    const imageHash = await loadImageHashFromPetName(petName);
+    console.debug(
+      `[loadCustomPetData] Converted pet name ${petName} to @${imageHash}`
+    );
+    petName = "@" + imageHash;
+  }
+
   try {
-    const response = await neopetsAmfphpCall("CustomPetService.getViewerData", [
-      petName,
-    ]);
-    return response;
+    return neopetsAmfphpCall("CustomPetService.getViewerData", [petName]);
   } catch (error) {
     // If Neopets.com fails to find valid customization data, we return null.
     if (
@@ -33,6 +51,30 @@ export async function loadCustomPetData(petName) {
   }
 }
 
+const PETS_CP_URL_PATTERN = /https?:\/\/pets\.neopets\.com\/cp\/([a-z0-9]+)\/[0-9]+\/[0-9]+\.png/;
+async function loadImageHashFromPetName(petName) {
+  const res = await fetch(`https://pets.neopets.com/cpn/${petName}/1/1.png`, {
+    redirect: "manual",
+  });
+  if (res.status !== 302) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `[loadImageHashFromPetName] expected /cpn/ URL to redirect with status ` +
+        `302, but instead got status ${res.status} ${res.statusText}`
+    );
+  }
+
+  const newUrl = res.headers.get("location");
+  const newUrlMatch = newUrl.match(PETS_CP_URL_PATTERN);
+  if (newUrlMatch == null) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `[loadImageHashFromPetName] expected /cpn/ URL to redirect to a /cp/ ` +
+        `URL matching ${PETS_CP_URL_PATTERN}, but got ${newUrl}`
+    );
+  }
+
+  return newUrlMatch[1];
+}
+
 export async function loadNCMallPreviewImageHash(basicImageHash, itemIds) {
   const query = new URLSearchParams();
   query.append("selPetsci", basicImageHash);
diff --git a/src/server/types/Pet.js b/src/server/types/Pet.js
index 8cd1f18d..17c3e555 100644
--- a/src/server/types/Pet.js
+++ b/src/server/types/Pet.js
@@ -57,16 +57,22 @@ const resolvers = {
       }
 
       // Next, look for a pet state matching the same pose. (This can happen if
-      // modeling data for this pet hasn't saved yet.)
-      const pose = getPoseFromPetData(petMetaData, customPetData);
-      petState = petStates.find((ps) => getPoseFromPetState(ps) === pose);
-      if (petState) {
-        console.warn(
-          `Warning: For pet "${name}", fell back to pet state ${petState.id} ` +
-            `because it matches pose ${pose}. Actual pet state for these ` +
-            `assets not found: ${swfAssetIdsString}`
-        );
-        return { id: petState.id };
+      // modeling data for this pet hasn't saved yet.) (We might skip this step
+      // if we couldn't load either the custom pet data or metadata, which is
+      // expected if e.g. the pet name starts with a leading digit, so we can
+      // use a workaround for the custom pet data but the JSON endpoint for
+      // metadata fails.)
+      if (petMetaData != null && customPetData != null) {
+        const pose = getPoseFromPetData(petMetaData, customPetData);
+        petState = petStates.find((ps) => getPoseFromPetState(ps) === pose);
+        if (petState) {
+          console.warn(
+            `Warning: For pet "${name}", fell back to pet state ${petState.id} ` +
+              `because it matches pose ${pose}. Actual pet state for these ` +
+              `assets not found: ${swfAssetIdsString}`
+          );
+          return { id: petState.id };
+        }
       }
 
       // Finally, look for an UNKNOWN pet state. (This can happen if modeling
@@ -119,10 +125,17 @@ const resolvers = {
     ) => {
       const [customPetData, petMetaData] = await Promise.all([
         loadCustomPetData(petName),
-        loadPetMetaData(petName),
+        loadPetMetaData(petName).catch((error) => {
+          console.warn(`Couldn't load metadata for pet ${petName}: `, error);
+          return null;
+        }),
       ]);
 
-      if (customPetData != null && process.env["USE_NEW_MODELING"] === "1") {
+      if (
+        customPetData != null &&
+        petMetaData != null &&
+        process.env["USE_NEW_MODELING"] === "1"
+      ) {
         await saveModelingData(customPetData, petMetaData, {
           db,
           petTypeBySpeciesAndColorLoader,