Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Like the egg it hatched from, it is a very shiny gold.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

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.

This unfortunate hatchling was named while his human was very ill and temperamental. Despite what his name implies, Sniffle Scales is unusually healthy for his breed and has never contracted any sort of hatchling sickness. Although his human gave him a rather silly name, he quite likes it and enjoys hearing it spoken aloud.