This hatchling appears to be... dead?

Perhaps not. It seems to be active during the night.

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

Hailing from a family line of no particular beauty, this female's disappearance didn't cause much of a shock among the local dragons. Eggs vanished all the time, unfortunately, and unless her parents had the gold to hire a mercenary, chances are she wouldn't be found again. Needless to say, her parents didn't... but the missing egg resurfaced all the same. She wasn't an egg any longer, however, and she found herself more affectionate towards her vampiric mother than her real one. Prowling among the nests of those who dismissed her disappearance as trivial, she now steals away their own precious eggs one by one, cheerfully raising herself a new slew of dark brothers and pale sisters.