Customizing Moodle is like ranching a herd of Zombie Robots... and only fools want to ranch Zombie Robots. However, if your heart is set, I will offer a set of strategies and techniques to minimize the likelihood that your herd of Zombie Robots grows into an unmanageable horde of Killer Zombie Robots that consumes half of the herd and half of your CS department every time you upgrade. Areas covered will include Common Zombie Robot Facts and Myths, General Containment Strategies (repository), Robot Branding (repository plus issue tracker), Robot Construction 101 (php patterns), and why Robot Testing is Better for Beginners.