Frozen Female Hatchling
Name: unnamed
Species: Jerboa Rat
Birthday: Sunday, May 2, 2010
Owner: Sunrunner
Element: Neutral 
Soft and small, jerboa rats make adorable hatchlings. They easily fit in the palm of a hand, and need only a few seeds to make a meal. Given a few strips of cloth, jerboa rats will quickly make a nest, where they proceed to nestle up and go to sleep. While these hatchlings spend much time asleep or eating, they go on more and more frequent outings with parents as they age. If an adult of their kind is not present to teach them, a jerboa hatchling will never develop their magical talents.
These rats are able to comfortably live in deserts or jungles, wherever some people still live primitively. They are curiously tame by nature, choosing to live near humans for protection and to hone their powers. Jerboa rats may be diminutive, but their great speed enables them to escape predators, as well as their unique markings that allow them to camouflage. The males are more red than the females, though they bear the same white spots that blend in so well with sand. Female jerboa rats are more tan, and it is they who raise the young, teaching them how to forage and evade harm. Like most magical creatures, these animals do not bear more than one offspring at a time, and therefore value their young greatly. It is not until they are nearly full grown that adult jerboa rats begin to take hatchlings on serious outings. Because these creatures live in the presence of humans, hatchlings are seldom bored enough to wander off into danger. Adult jerboa rats are extremely alert and careful. For those that live in the desert, they create burrows where they remain during the heat of the day, coming out at night when the most dangerous predators are asleep.
Sprite art: Niwer (hatchling) | Description: Damien