#squiggle guide

Breeding Guide

Squiggle newt courtship is complex and can last anywhere from hours to weeks. Some more unfortunate and especially stubborn newts may find themselves courting the same partner for months. Squiggle newts can mate for life, and will often have a ‘primary’ mate that they remain with, though procreation does not necessarily need to be with this primary mate every time.

Courting involves three basic phases; wibbling, wobbling, and procreation. This happens only once adulthood has been reached. Only a squiggle newt that has six legs or more can lay eggs, and newts with more legs will be seen as more desirable. There seems to be no preference to pattern or color, which is reasonable, as squiggle newts have poor vision, and may explain their wild coloration. It is theorized that mates are chosen based on mystic signatures, which newts have an excellent sense for thanks to their antennae.

Wibbling

The first phase of courting is wibbling. Wibbling is the extension and “shivering” of the gills, in this case used for newts to show off. This is often accompanied by a ‘dance’ of sorts, though squiggle newts are not the most graceful of athletes. Features are shown prominently during wibbling, tails raised and curling from left to right, a handsome strut to show off the legs, and several dramatic, sweeping turns. Finally, a show of extension and retraction; a skill of the squiggle newts that shows off their malleable forms. Then the process repeats.

Once a squiggle newt has chosen their desired mate, they will approach and begin wibbling. The other newt may watch for anywhere from a moment to several minutes to make a decision on whether they wish to accept a courting attempt by the first newt. They can accept an offer to court by wibbling in return. This seals the courtship.

Wobbling

Once a courtship has been sealed, the egg laying squiggle newt locates a shallow body of stagnant water, usually small in size but at least 6 inches deep. Puddles, defunct fountains, water bowls, and more can be used. Most choices of nests are poor, due to a squiggle newt’s inability to comprehend water levels changing. This leads most often to eggs drying out, though squiggle newts have occasionally been seen swallowing their eggs and regurgitating them elsewhere if a location’s water level becomes too low. This evidently does not harm the eggs.

It is up to the non-laying newt to bring trinkets to build the nest. A nest is comprised of two parts; protections and distractions. Distractions are anything that floats atop the water, such as leaves or feathers, and will distract predators from the nest itself. Protections are hard things that stay at the bottom of the water, creating a protected area for the laying newt to place the cluster. Clay or porcelain cups or bowls and plant pots seem to be the most popular, though shells and conveniently shaped rocks have also been seen as a protection in the nest.

Distractions will be replenished regularly by the non-laying newt, who is the only one who will leave the nest once it is built. They will return with food and more distractions for the laying newt to eat and place.

Trinkets are accepted by the laying squiggle newt via wobbling, which is a dance-like movement where the newt wiggles its body from side to side, tossing its head gleefully. This movement can also be seen outside of courting rituals, usually when given something that they prefer. Once wobbling has completed, the laying newt will carefully place the items in the water, creating the nest.

Procreation

There comes a time in every biologist’s life where something inevitably occurs that one has difficulty explaining. Perhaps it is beautiful, perhaps it is hideous, that is how nature will be. Unfortunately, sometimes nature is also mysterious, and this can make it difficult to discover certain aspects of a species.

All that I am able to say is that once the nest is created, the two squiggle newts will begin a complex series of dances that end in the sudden and abrupt disappearance of both newts. They will return anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour later (without correlation to any other traits or behaviors) and go about their business.

Visual Quick Trait Guide.

All squiggle newts have traits that make them unique. This includes antennae, tongues, tails, noses, gills, pupils, shimmers, and color. All currently known traits have been recorded below, but it’s possible for new mutations to appear at random. Experts are unsure why there is such a wide range of traits within squiggle newt physiology, however, considering how adaptive they seem to be, it’s entirely possible that they’re just like that.

Antennae, tail, and nose traits have been occasionally known to form traits that are just combined versions of base traits. Though this would imply the traits are co-dominant, a squiggle newt will more commonly pass on only one of the base traits instead of the combined one. The genetics of it makes no sense.

Legs

Squiggle newts have an unusual number of legs. This is due to their ability to create “magical” legs that blend in with the rest of their body. These legs are built entirely from mystics, therefore they can be lost and it will simply regrow. Squiggle newts use the legs like pockets to store excess mystics in, creating reserves to dip into when in a dangerous situation, or when laying eggs. They gain legs at a rate of about a pair every decade, though this is not a hard rule due to losing a pair of legs when laying eggs.

These legs are very adaptable, and can bend to become front or back legs. Front legs are always bent near the connecting point as an “elbow”, while back legs bend near a center point as a “knee”. Back legs will bend either forward or backward, though they only bend back when running.

The feet have four long toes with small, circular pads on the bottom tip. These are extremely flexible, and will arrange depending on what the squiggle newt needs. A normal spread will arrange the toes in a half circle pointed forward, while a speed spread, used for running, will pull all toes pointing forward. A stability spread, used for climbing or balance, has all four toes pointed outward in an even cross formation.

Antennae

Antennae can look like many things, from horns to ears to strange shapes. These features are filled with a sensitive organ that allows squiggle newts to sense mystics around them. When in a place like the Hidden City, this allows them to see very well. This does not help with their general clumsiness.

When placed in a low-mystics environment, they often have difficulty “seeing” and have to rely purely on their eyes, which are meant mostly for spotting details close up and not far away things. 

Devil

Cat

Airplane

Crown

Tongues

Tongues are slightly sticky, not exactly like a chameleon’s or frog’s, but enough to hold a bug still long enough to get their mouth around them. Experts are currently unsure how sensitive to taste squiggle newts are, but they do seem to have favorites at the very least.

Round

Forked

Pointed

Tails

Tails were likely used to help squiggle newts ambulate before they learned the ability to create magical legs. Now they act as balance, and supposedly help with maneuverability, though experts have yet to see an example of this outside of underwater. Tails also can be used as a distraction if a squiggle newt is hunted. They will very rarely drop their tails in deadly situations, and the tail will squirm and distract a predator while they run.

It should be noted that running after a dropped tail is incredibly inefficient, as it takes the squiggle newt a few hours to get used to the shift in their center of gravity.

Snake

Otter

Gecko

Fae

Noses

A squiggle newt’s sense of smell is miserable. They have a worse sense of smell than a human. Their nose is really only useful for breathing. The physical decorations that occupy nearby the nostrils are used as heat and vibration sensors that give them an even better sense of everything around them.

Rhino

Mountain

Nubbins

Whiskers

Gills

Gills are what squiggle newts use to breathe underwater. They are extended only when in the water, showing off, or threatening. They are hidden behind the jaw. Gills have different forms, thought to be due to a squiggle newt’s preference for stagnant waters that have little oxygen and the species attempting to evolutionarily cope with that poor choice.

Wibbling is when a squiggle newt extends their gills and shivers them. This is done usually as a way to show off, or as a threat display. Some newts can be seen doing it when yawning or stretching.

Algae

Lionfish

Ruffles

Lace

Pupils

A squiggle newt’s eyesight is not excellent. On eyesight alone, their vision is quite poor unless very close (around 30cm or 12in for an average sized newt). Their antennae and noses help this to become more clear, but it’s thought that beneath the water, their eyes are entirely useless and they rely on antennae and nose.

Entirely unrelated to their survival, their pupils appear to have taken on strange shapes for cosmetic purposes, thought to be used for communicative purposes amongst their species instead. Their eyes are incredibly expressive; pupils will grow to show calm, happiness, or affection, while pupils will become thinner to show irritation, interest, alertness, or a threat.

Pupils are always black except for the rare mutation, while sclera can be any solid color.

Round

Cat eye

Horizontal

Crossed

Shimmers

Shimmers are small elemental mystics that squiggle newts perform. They are used primarily as defense, like a squid inking. They will expel a shimmer, often accompanied by some sort of shrill squeak.

Shimmers are either flames, ink, smoke, or “glitter” (gems the size of a grain of sand). These can be almost any color, though black only shows up in ink and smoke, and white only shows up in smoke.

Colors

Full Trait Guide

Overview

Squiggle newts are small amphibious creatures that are descended from minor demons (small elemental spirits that are summoned.) They range in size from 15cm (6in) to immeasurably large (largest confirmed sighting of 4.5m, or 15ft), though they are most commonly between the 60cm (24in) to 90cm (35in) range. They are common creatures and can be found anywhere there’s a body of water in the Hidden City, from puddles to lakes, though they enjoy stagnant, shallow water the most.

They’re generally friendly and harmless, but can give a good bite if you really make them feel threatened. More than likely they will extend their gills or spit out shimmer before biting. When in severe danger, squiggle newts will drop their tail and escape. Tails will grow back the same as before.

They hatch from small eggs that are a transparent, foggy white with little black teardrop shapes that circle counter-clockwise constantly. The babies inside the eggs will always move with gravity to stay horizontal to the ground and curling counter-clockwise.

Squiggle newts can rarely be summoned with new mutations. They evolve rapidly and are very malleable for mutation possibilities.

Squiggle newts are omnivorous, and eat mostly insects, fish, smaller amphibians and reptiles, and the occasional bird. They will eat any kind of reptile or bird egg, and enjoy a vast variety of fruit and nuts. They’re not big fans of ground veggies. Some squiggle newts have been known to eat anything put in front of them.

They are crepuscular (meaning they are awake at dawn and dusk) but have a very flexible sleep schedule, which allows them to move and hunt whenever their environment calls for it.

Life Stages

Squiggle newts start out as eggs. Their parents will guard the nest until the eggs hatch, and then the iggles are on their own.

The first phase of a squiggle newt’s life is the larval stage. These are called iggles. An iggle will have little to no adult features when they are first born; they are born a singular “base” color, and their markings come in as they grow older. Iggles also has no legs, and their gills will consist of a single line of “ruffles” until they are juveniles.

The juvenile stage, called efts, will grow in their first set of legs and the beginnings of their adult features. The head begins to form antennae, and the eyes’ sclera begins to show. Gills are visibly identifiable, as well as nose features. Markings become more prominent, and all adult colors are now visible, though may not yet be at full spread. Efts will exit the water to be on land for short periods of time, and usually remain close to the water. Their food consists mainly of bugs that come close to the water, and algae.

Once an eft grows its second pair of legs, it is at the adult stage, and can now leave the water entirely. Squiggle newts will return often to the water even as adults, using it as safety as they are much more graceful in the water than on land. Their legs will often flatten against their bodies when they swim. Those with shorter tails will often flatten the tails out in order to swim faster, using it like a paddle.

At this time, the lifespan of a squiggle newt has not been discovered. The oldest recorded squiggle newt seen is at least 120 years old according to the amount of legs it has, but this is not accurate, as legs are lost due to laying and rough treatment in the wild. It is likely older.

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