Leetle Tree

The Leetle Tree, a non-dragon sprite, was dropped after the Yulebucks ceased dropping and before January 1st, 2009. It is classified as a frozen egg on scrolls, and has a limit of one per scroll. When the Leetle Tree first was released, it was able to gain stats (as in views, unique views and clicks). Some people even added it to hatcheries to see if it was going to grow. It was only changed later on that frozen things (and adults) no longer gained views, unique views and clicks. Therefore the only Leetle Trees with stats are the ones released in 2008 all other Leetle Trees that were released after that weren't able to gain stats. TJ09 coded the Leetle Trees to drop in between normal cave dragons rather than en masse. Between that and the excessive lag still plaguing the site at that time, very few users were able to catch one. They are unbreedable and unabandonable, so they became unobtainable after the drops stopped. They were a spur of the moment release, resulting from a late-night discussion that occurred in the DC IRC channel.

Kila, their spriter, had indicated that she had further plans for them and that there might be variations on the original design. In October 2010, these plans were realized when all the Leetle Trees on site changed into an autumn version; instead of looking like a miniature pine tree, they turned into deciduous trees with bright red leaves falling off. For Halloween's week the Leetle Tree sprite changed again, showing a dead tree with a full moon behind it before reverting to the autumn sprite. Winter brought a snowy pine-tree sprite, interrupted by a decorated pine tree sprite for the Christmas season. On December 28 of 2010, Leetle Trees began to drop again: they were released en masse only during the first hour, after which they were released again between normal cave dragons. TJ09 stated that the Leetle Trees will be around for "a while". Then in the following spring it changed again, becoming a cherry tree with pink blossoms, and in summer it changed in a sunny palm tree with coconuts. On April Fools' Day 2011, during the "Carrot Cave" event, the sprite changed into a broccoli and, being an egg, it was referred to as "Seed" on a scroll. From then on, it turned into a broccoli at every following April Fools Day. The Leetle Tree also had an Earth Day sprite ready, but for two years it was never coded in by TJ and on 22nd April the Leetle Tree keept on showing its Spring sprite. Then this error got finally fixed and now the Earth Day sprite correctly shows up on every 22nd April.

Leetle Trees are still available for everyone, dropping in the Forest biome along with the other eggs, but with a very low rate. As in the beginning, only one Leetle Tree is allowed per scroll. If a player grabs another Leetle Tree, they get the breed limit message. Leetle Trees cannot be killed; if a user tries, they display the message: "The Leetle Tree is too cute to kill."

Leetle Trees were the inspiration for TJ's Leetle Adoptables site. They are featured on the site as an obtainable leetle.

Official Description
"Oh my. There is a Leetle Tree among the eggs."

Sprite Artist

 * Kila

Sprite
These are the regular appearances of the Leetle Tree appropriate to the season or holiday during the course of the year.

Special Leetle Tree
TheDarkCynder is currently the only user who received a bred out of season Leetle Tree with the name Cookco Khoo. Its parent was a Leetle Tree named "Kilaicious" but as it seems it deceased during the year in 2013.

Thanks to Hot on Fire, who had the chance to get a close and personal interview with TheDarkCynder, the full story was revealed.

Here is what TheDarkCynder had to say about the event:

"TheDarkCynder"

- Alright, well, it was a night on that chat that was fairly quiet. And about 1:00AM EST. We were discussing Leetle Trees, if we thought they would come back or not. TJ came in, and a few people started asking him to breed his thuweds, while the rest were asking him about the Leetle Trees. I said "TJ, you should really make a Thuwed Leetle Tree" thinking if he made one, it'd be a nice joke. So there was a pause and he showed us a link to a Leetle Tree with "Kilalicious" as both parents. A few minutes later he asked my scroll name (I was on as TDC.) I told him TheDarkCynder and he said "That's what I thought." He then showed me a link with a scroll number and asked me to confirm if it was my scroll. It was. I was confused, and someone said "Congrats, TDC, if he does it" By then I was starting to think about what he was up to, and I became anxious. After a few minutes, he asked the chatroom what he should name it. He answered himself, be saying that the Syrian name for 'Leetle Tree' was Cookco Khoo. A long few minutes past, and I said that I had to go. My internet would shut off in less than a minute. Right before it did, he said "Check your scroll" I had the window up and managed to refresh before it shut off. By then it had been shut off, but the window was still there, I just coulden't click anything. I carefully scanned my scroll until I saw the Leetle Tree under my ice dragon. —That's the story.

Hot on Fire also asked TheDarkCynder how she felt about the whole situation and the aftermath:

"TheDarkCynder"

- My feelings about it? Well at first I was over excited, and jumping around. A few minutes later I wondered if he would take it away… Prehaps it was just a joke of the moment. I pushed the thought back, and was barely able to sleep. When I woke up, I /instantly/ jumped on my laptop. I was in another channel, telling them about the previous night. The words spread to #DC when chaos broke out. I hesitated, not wanting it to come out so fast as TJ might find that overwhelming and take it away from me, but he came on and when people asked, he said it was going to stay with me. About an hour later, a thread came up about it in 'help' and PMs on the fourms started coming in. It's currently listed under 'Trivia' in the Book of DC Records under 'Site Discussion' on the forum.

Conjecture
When Spring 2013 turned, Leetle Trees were initally out of sync with the Seasonals (i.e. were still Winter themed when Seasonals were breeding Spring varieties). TJ was notified and within a couple of hours the Leetle Trees had switched to the Spring theming. This suggests that the Leetle Tree seasons have been made to match those of Seasonal dragons.