Pep Salamander

Artwork

The **Pep Salamander** (Javasuchus coffeinulacerta) is a species created and designed by **Frostbite\_Carno** The Pep Salamander inhabits the Jonah's Mythical Ark universe.

## Subspecies

* J. C. Capulunubes
* J. C. Cocoanubes
* J. C. Mochanubes

## Appearance and Anatomy

The Pep Salamander has a flat, long appearance, sharing similarities to the Koolasuchus, a prehistoric amphibian with a flat head, along with sharing similarities to Kaprosuchus and protosuchus in overall body shape. It has smokestack-like tubular structures sprouting from its back, and its head, and it's entire body is covered in small, closely packed scales. It has long legs built for sprinting after land-based prey that escape its initial ambush and Its hind legs are slightly longer than its front, giving it a very distinct gait, they are good runners and good swimmers. It also has a back hump. They also tend to have a creamy colored glowing mist leaking out of their mouths, and exhaust pipes.

They are anywhere from very light brown to coffee brown in color, and their feet are always darker in color to the rest of their bodies, they may have subtle brown or light brown spots and swirls on their bodies, and they have a striped pattern on their eyes, which can make it look like they are bloodshot but they aren't. Their eyes and nostrils, as well as their mouths glow a bright bioluminescent creamy color. Some individual's teeth stick out like a crocodile.

The subspecies, "Javasuchus C. Cocoanubes", or the "Cocoa Salamander" looks just like the regular one (J.C. Capulunubes) but it is much darker in color, usually very very dark brown, and often having white speckles on their bodies, and sometimes their feet are actually lighter in color. They also have noticeably shorter legs then the main species.

The subspecies J.C. Mochanubes is a darkish brown, usually with some darker brown spots or swirls.

## Ecology

### Behavior and Intelligence

Pep Salamanders are jittery and hyperactive animals, and usually cant sit still, they are mildly social, living in small groups of up to 3 or 4, they spend their time roaming the swamps or sometimes wander far from the swamps into forests, their scaly skin may make them look reptilian, but they are certainly not the only scaly amphibians in Valliera. The generally wont hunt humanoids but they WILL attack you and do some pretty bad damage if you are in it's territory. they are semiaquatic, animals liking to swim through rivers as well as traveling on foot. they can spray vapor out of their backs and mouths that posses high levels of caffeine, which is an alkaloid substance that is usually only found in plants, such as cocoa beans, kola nuts, tea leaves and coffee beans, and these are the only non-plant organisms that can produce the stuff, and have a waking effect on the victim, but they use this high concentration of caffeine in their bodies to boost their speed when hunting, but the pep salamander cant sleep itself, they may occasionally rest after a large meal, but it never sleeps, but it doesn't need to. They also love rain, frolicking in the mud whenever a storm breaks.

The Cocoa salamanders are similar to a degree, but they are much calmer, more secretive, and are actually capable of sleeping, and the Cocoa salamander is also capable of shooting jets of mud out of its mouth.

The Mocha salamander is somewhere in the middle, and even rarer then the cocoa salamander.

It is often associated with, but not closely related to it's arch enemy, the Hazefrog. Which is a giant frog that is the complete opposite of the pep salamander, the only way a pep salamander would sleep is if it got sprayed by a haze frog and inhaled it's fumes. there is also the tic-tac lizard, which is one of the fastest mythicals in Valliera, and one of the only creatures the pep salamander can't chase down, which enrages it.

### Diet

they hunt small to medium sized animals with their long legs and immense speed that they gain from their long legs and caffeine boost, they are ambush and pursuit predators, sometime a small group will chase down a creature, and then take it down as a dis-organized group, or sometimes they will wait at the egde of the water like a crocodile and lunge at and chase whatever comes to get a drink

Cocoa salamanders have a different approach however, they will barry themselves in the dirt, leaving only their beady eyes and the exhaust pipes on their backs visible, and start releasing hot mist and vapor from it's smoke-stack tubes. Cocoa salamanders are well-known for their uncanny ability to emit/produce a tantalizing scent compared to the sweet aroma of chocolate and cocoa beans, this smell stimulates hunger in other creatures nearby to lure them right into their jaws.

The Mocha Salamander does several of these hunting strategies. it is theorized that the mocha salamander isn't even a subspecies at all but is simply a hybrid of the two formers, but more research would be needed.

### Reproduction

When a female is ready to mate, she will begin producing alot of special vapor from her back with special chemical which will signal to male pep salamanders in the surrounding area, that she wants to reproduce, once the male tracks her down and finds her, the male will begin by sniffing the females exhaust pipes. If she is receptive, **the female then moves into a static display which involves intense tail fanning and wafting pheromones towards the male,** The male will then mount the female and begin thrusting. in the invent that multiple males come to the female, they will fight each other and whichever one wins the battle will get to mate.

After mating the male and female will find a body of water and the female will lay 10-25 jelly-covered eggs, called spawn, usually in still, fresh water, often among water plants. the male and female will then watch the eggs together for the next 3 weeks until the eggs hatch, the resulting young, known as tadpoles, at first look like legless blobs with tails, are aquatic and have feathery, external gills, Once the eggs have hatched, usually the male will leave since his job is done, and the female will take care of the babies for 3 more weeks, until they metamorphosis, and once they develop their protective scales and start crawling onto land, they are on their own. sometimes the male and female will stay together as a pair even after they are done raising the young, but sometimes not.

## Trivia

* Me and my friends call hazefrogs Nyquil frogs as a joke, and I made the joke "Nyquill Frog when he meets the Caffeine Salamander:" to which my friends thought it was hilarious so I made an entire creature based around that joke