Sand Shifter
Sand Shifters, or just Shifters for short, are drakes that live in sandy regions such as the domain of the Kingdom of Savria. These animals live in arid enviroments, deserts, shrubland, ect. They use their bodies to shift themselves under the sand using a rapid shaking motion, as an ambush tactic and for escape during defence, although these drakes have very little predators if any at all. Shifters, like most Drakes, are on the edges of civilization. Although they live in non-populated or sparsley populated areas, they have no quams on trapping and consuming sentient life.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Being a rather big reptile, the length of the Drake spans to an average of fifteen feet, head to tail end. Although this is the average, some shifters have been recorded to reach thirty feet, if their hunting ground is rich in prey, and they have no competitors. Smaller varitites are due to tough competition such as other shifters, predators, and sentients. They have four, rather short legs for their size, only lifting themselves a few feet from the ground, making their "height" out to be around only a foot or two, depending on the extension of their legs. These short legs are still great at locomotion, giving them great short sprints towards ambushed prey from their sand traps.
Their bodies flatten onto the surface in which they spend most of their time resting and basking to process any meals. In this state, they are most vurnable, as they become lethargic depending on the meal size. To counteract this, their bodies are prime for storing fat, often in their tail, which forms a ball. This ball has plenty of spikes surrounding it, acting as a flail to chasing predators. The back of their neck has spikes aswell, pointing towards their tail, used to protect their head from any airborn oppurtinists. They also have scaled adorning their whole body, mainly small in size. The exception is from the start of their neck to about the start of their first set of legs, their scales are much larger in size, with a more brown/tanish color depending on the morph. Their feet have five toes in the front with four in the back, with sharpened nails used to dig their sand traps, rarely used offensively.
Growth Rate & Stages
The first stage of life for this drake is an egg, in a clutch of about thirty, their fellow siblings. They will stay in this egg state on an average of fifteen weeks, before their bodies are large enough to break out of their own shells. When in their egg, like all reptiles, they will consume the yolk to gain their strength. They are at their most vurnable in this state, relying completly on their mother to protect them from predators. Sex depends on the temperature, cooler temperatures lead to more males whilst hotter temperatures lead to more females. Because of this, female populations are slightly smaller, as the eggs closer to the surface are easier to be eaten than those deeper below the surface. Egg consumption is rare, though, as a shifter will never leave their post, and potential predators usually attack at night, when the shifter is awake, versus the heat of the day.
Once out of their shells, the hatchlings will often climb aboard the mother, climbing on her body to stay inbetween the spikes of her head to avoid birds of prey. A group of these hatchlings are refered to as a stack. Any eggs not hatched, which are about ten percent of the eggs, are eaten by the hatchlings before they start to rot, consuming any stillborn eggs to bolster their growth. At this early age, hatchlings have no prominant sexual features, such as the males red tipped horns. Their bodies are much softer than that of their mother, aswell as their spikes being tiny stubs ontop of their heads, and their tails having the same. These hatchlings have bright yellow stripes along their tan bodies, giving them the same look that crocodile hatchlings possess. Due to their ever growing body being flooded with hormones, they are able to produce fire like their mother once was, using this to scare off any potential prey that may fall to them. These hatchlings know how to shift during birth, and after some time basking on their mothers head from eating their own yolk and that of their stillborn siblings, will burrow into the ground next to their mother. During this time, most of their food comes from their mothers catches, as they can only process bugs if avaliable. The mother uses her freshly cracked eggs as a trap aswell, much like the regurgitation technique.
After around a month, these hatchlings become juveniles. In this state, their spikes are much more prominant, and males can start to be distinguished by their dull colorings on their spikes. Only about twenty of the hatchlings reach this state, due to complications of health, predatation, or lack of food. Their hissing and trilling becomes much louder at this stage, alerting the mother of any complications she may not have heard before. Their spiral colorations are more faded, giving way to their dull tan colors of adulthood. The young juveniles still rely much on their mother for food, but have become more prominant in catching small prey such as mice or lizards, and have grown to an average of three feet long, still dwarfed by their mother.
The young stay with their mother for about two years, before they are big enough to venture on their own, and are considered young adults. Around fifteen of the juveniles make it to this stage. Although not to their full size, these young adults are around five feet, big enough to defend themselves whilst also small enough to out pace most land predators. One by one the stack will leave their mother in search for their own hunting spot. In this state of scouting, only around ten will make it to a desirable hunting position, and live long enough into full adulthood. During this time, they will grow rapidly in size depending on the success of their ambushes. Hunter will often leave the smaller young adults alone, marking their hunting spot to come back later for their prize if they haven't moved. Larger predators such as wolves or coyotes will hunt the shifters at this young age, since they are small enough to preditate, and have lost their ability to breathe fire by the time they venture on their own.
On average, shifters will reach full maturity at fifteen years of age. Although they can still grow until death, they have reached their average length at this point, and have become full adults. During the first year of adulthood, the males will find their mates during the mating season. Their horns now have red tips, aswell as fully grown ball tails, and they are eager to show off. The cycle begins anew for these shifters, and most live to the ripe old age of forty-five, although some have been known to live as long as a hundred.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Shifters are ambush predators, they "shift" their bodies on the sand, quickly enveloping their bodies to stay hidden. Prey as small as a rabbit can be sensed, with vibrations in the ground, causing the drake to snap and lunge towards their prey. The only time they cannot sense their prey is during their sleep state, which is usually in the middle of the day, since most desert creatures travel at night. If the meal is large enough, they will have to retreat to the surface to process their meal. They are left vurnable in this state, as they are slugish once eating their prey, and often overheat if they have to sprint to catch their meal. Due to their unability to retreat from potential hunters and predators, they will stand up and puff their bodies to look larger, aswell as hiss. Their larger scaled near their neck will flame and shake, causing a rattling sound, and even their tail will thud against the ground all in an attempt to scare off any intruders to their territory. In vain attempts, they may sprint away in a chance to shift again, to hide in the sand, flailing their tail in attempt to hit any chasers. If any creature that the drake feels is not a threat happens upon them basking, they may attempt to score a second meal, looking unasuming before attempting a sprint.
Shifters use most of their time to wait for prey, but if not sucessful after a large amount of time, they may unsurface in search for more valuable hunting grounds. This migration can be exhausting, and is only observed when a shifter has no other options. Starved shifters may have smaller tails due to a lack of fat storage, and will be more agressive during their traveling. Usually this tactic is sucessful though, and the shifter can find more plentiful prey. Another reason for resurfacing is to defecate, as to not make a mess of their resting spot, which they must do after a few days of eating a meal. This is a key sign for hunters that a drake is nearby.
Another hunting tactic by the shifter is reguritating unusable parts of their prey, such as tougher hides or bones, onto the surface of their traps. They will stick their mouth above the sand, puke out the contents of their stomach, and wait for any scavengers to pick any remains. During this process, they will wait for a gathering to occur, and attempt to catch any prey they can lunge on. This can be another sign a drake is nearby, but by the time you examine the bones, it may be too late for you.
Shifters will shed, more often during younger ages. During their shedding periods, the drakes will dig even deeper under the sand in the hopes of finding more humid enviroments. Once they have shed their skin, they will attempt to eat any sheddings if possible, then return back to their original den. This process can take a few days.
Behaviour
Being a solitary species, shifters will only interact each other during mating season. During this time, a male will travel to seek a female, following their scent that they secrete during this season. The male will follow the scent, often scaring or fighting off any competition for the potential mate, flailing their tail and puffing up their bodies. These confrontations rarely lead to fights, and if they do fight, it rarely leads to death. Once they have the female alone, the female will surface, and watch as the male tries to gain her interest. The male will keep themselves puffed up, flail out their scales, and their spikes will flush more red than usual. If this is sucessful, the female will allow the male to fertilize her eggs, and then the two part ways. The male then has a long treck back home, or to a new ambush spot, having to rest along the way.
The female then makes a small pit on the surface of the sand, lays her batch of around thirty eggs. Burrying the eggs too deep would not allow enough heat for the eggs to hatch, so the female has to stay ontop of the surface to protect from any opportunists. This is a dangerous time for the female, as it takes around 15 weeks for her eggs to hatch. Lower temperatures will lead to more males, whilst higher temperatures lead to more females. Any preditation of the eggs happens on the layer closest to the surface, and because of this, males have a larger population then females due to potential female eggs being preditized more often. The consumption of these eggs are rare, though, as a drake will never leave her eggs, even if death is assured. During this protection period, a hormone is released into the drakes body, allowing for temporary ability to breathe fire. Although in short ranges of about five to feet, these burts of flame keep most predators away from the broody mother and her young. Until her children are ready to leave her protection, her body will continue to produce this hormone, and her ability of fire will only diminish a few days after her children have left.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
These drakes eyes are not well adapted to the surface lights, since they are often underground sleeping or waiting for their prey. Although they have slightly worse eyesight, they can feel vibrations in the sand from up to fifty feet away. Once up above on the surface, either to bask for their meal or to find new hunting grounds, this vibration link is much weaker. To combat this, the drakes have a "third eye" on the back of their head. If a shadow is casted over this third eye, the drake can sense it, and quickly retreats back into their hole.
Sand shifters have ears on the side of their head, acting as their ears. Their ears are fairly strong, better at detecting noise above their sand traps. They use these ears as a replacement for their poor eyesight, listening for any potential prey when below the ground, and potential predators when basking.
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