  Gauge-mediated models of supersymmetry-breaking imply that stable Q-balls can
form in the early universe and act as dark matter. All stable Q-balls in the
MSSM are associated with one or more flat directions. We show that while
Q-balls are produced from the fragmentation of a flat direction condensate,
they quickly evolve to a ground state that is slightly away from this flat
direction. In this process a (B+L)-ball can become electrically charged. This
is a novel form of charge acquisition with important ramifications for the
experimental search for Q-ball dark matter.
