Dragons are creatures with nearly unlimited life spans. They can survive for long periods of time, and no one has found a dragon that has died of old age. Adolescence is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling's wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. Once they hit adolescence, hatchlings change quickly, maturing to their full forms in only 2 years.

Dragons don't communicate with each other verbally, but they will growl to scare off predators and frighten prey. Young dragons will emit an extremely high-pitched squeal when they are frightened. To communicate, they use telepathy with each other and to speak to other creatures.

Red dragons are similar to typical story book dragons. They shoot flames, can fly, etc. However, they aren't evil creatures as depicted in myths and won't go around raiding castles, killing knights, or kidnapping princesses. They live in a variety of habitats, from forests to coastlines to abandoned castles, usually in warm climates, and eat whatever living creatures they can find.

Painted Firetail, or Peacock as he is often called, is quite possibly the most self-centered dragon in the cave. He can usually be found at the lakeshore, admiring his reflection or splashing his scales to make them temporarily shinier... or to clean them off when Aethia decides that Peacock gone long enough without having mud dumped on him. When it's the latter, however, there's usually a nasty surprise awaiting him in the water as well, which has once resulted in his scales turning pink for a week. Since then, he has been terrified of paint to the point of running away in terror whenever it is mentioned.