Mandate Gossalizard

The mandate gossalizard replaced its ancestor the eerie gossalizard. Without any light it became blind and lost all of its pigment. It appears pinkish due to their red blood. Already deaf and now blind, all they could do is feel around for prey. This became very difficult so they eventually learned how to weave their silky webs into traps to catch prey. That way they could just sit and wait until something touched the web and then they could rush out to the vibrations and eat it.

Their webs are very primitive and are more or less long strands of silk stretched across from one wall of the cave to the other. They keep their bodies in touch with the web in order to feel the vibrations of anything touching it. When something touches the web they must quickly rush towards it since their webs are not that strong.

Since they are cold-blooded they can last for months without eating and rarely move. When they do move it's to catch prey, build webs or mate. As they grow they must shed their exoskeleton. During this time their new exoskeleton is very soft so they will go into pools of water to better remove their old one.

While they can lay up to 25 eggs, most offspring do not reach adulthood. Offspring that get caught in other webs are sometimes mistaken as prey and are thus eaten by other mandate gossalizards. Like their ancestors, females will eat the male after mating. This gives her the nutrients she needs to produce young, even if there are no prey around.