Headscratchers / Star Trek Voyager S 1 E 1 "Caretaker"

• If the Caretaker was looking for a "mate" (for the purpose of producing offspring), why was he kidnapping males?
  • From species far below his on the evolutionary scale, nonetheless?
  • Bizarre Alien Biology. He is a giant blob monster, after all. Who knows how he mates, or how his hyper-advanced technology can facilitate the issue?
• Neelix is amazed by the abundance of water on Voyager, saying the only baths he gets are with sand. This fits with the Ocampa's planet, which lacks rainfall and is extremely lacking in water, but Neelix is characterized as a well-traveled guide who has been everywhere and knows all sorts of people. Does the entire Delta Quadrant lack water?
  • No, his exact words are: "No one around here wastes water in this manner. Good sand scrub, that's the best that we can hope for."