Copper Dragons were released on May 26, 2013 as part of Dragon Cave's "7th Birthday" release. Each day from May 22, 2013 to May 28, 2013 a new dragon was released. Copper Dragons were the fifth dragons to be released.
On May 21, 2021, the Pennybright variant was released as part of Dragon Cave's 15th Birthday release.
Official descriptions
Egg
This egg gleams with a reddish shine.
Hatchling
Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It spends a lot of time stalking and pouncing playfully on the tails of adult dragons nearby.
Mature hatchling
Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It spends a lot of time stalking and pouncing playfully on the tails of adult dragons nearby.
And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.
Adult
Copper Dragons are masters of stealth, slipping silently and swiftly through the forests and jungles where they live. Often hunting in groups, their prey rarely know they are being stalked until the dragon’s at their throat. In the air they are agile and skilled. Copper Dragons prize family groups, spending large amounts of time teaching their young skills. So great is their love of life and family that they will sometimes adopt orphaned dragons of other breeds to raise.
Sprite artists
- Fiona BlueFire (All)
- Nakase (All)
Sprites
| Series | Egg | Hatchling | Mature hatchling | Adult |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liver of Sulfur Female |
|
|
File:Copper liver of sulfur female hatchling.png | File:Copper liver of sulfur female.png |
| Liver of Sulfur Male |
|
| ||
| Rainbow Female |
|
|
|
File:Copper rainbow female.png |
| Rainbow Male |
|
File:Copper rainbow male.png | ||
| Verdigris Female |
|
|
|
File:Copper verdigris female.png |
| Verdigris Male |
File:Copper verdigris male hatchling.png | File:Copper verdigris male.png | ||
| Pennybright Female |
|
|
|
File:Copper Pennybright female.png |
| Pennybright Male |
|
File:Copper Pennybright male.png |
Egg sequece
| Stage 0 | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 | Dead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
File:Copper Dragon1 crack 1.png | File:Copper Dragon1 crack 2.png | File:Copper Dragon1 crack 3.png | File:Copper Dragon1 crack 4.png | File:Copper Dragon1 crack 5.png | File:Copper1 dead egg.png |
| Stage 0 | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 | Dead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
File:Copper Dragon2 crack 1.png | File:Copper Dragon2 crack 2.png | File:Copper Dragon2 crack 3.png | File:Copper Dragon2 crack 4.png | File:Copper Dragon2 crack 5.png | File:Copper Dragon dead egg.png |
| Stage 0 | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 | Dead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
File:Copper Dragon3 crack 1.png | File:Copper Dragon3 crack 2.png | File:Copper Dragon3 crack 3.png | File:Copper Dragon3 crack 4.png | File:Copper Dragon3 crack 5.png | File:Copper3 dead egg.png |
| Stage 0 | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 | Dead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
File:Copper Dragon crack 1.png | File:Copper Dragon crack 2.png | File:Copper Dragon crack 3.png | File:Copper Dragon crack 4.png | 
|
File:Copper Dragon dead egg.png |
Retired sprites
| Series | Egg | Hatchling | Mature hatchling | Adult |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary event sprites | ||||
| Halloween 2015 Female |
– | File:Copper hatchi Halloween 2015.gif | File:Copper female hatchi Halloween 2015.gif | File:Copper female Halloween 2015.png |
| Halloween 2015 Male |
File:Copper male hatchi Halloween 2015.gif | File:Copper male Halloween 2015.png | ||
| Retired sprites | ||||
| Retired 2021 | – | – | – | File:Copper liver of sulfur female retired 2021-05-21.png |
| – | – | – | File:Copper rainbow female retired 2021-05-21.png | |
| – | – | – | File:Copper verdigris female retired 2021-05-21.png | |
| Original dead eggs | File:Old Copper1 dead egg.png File:Old Copper3 dead egg.png | |||
Encyclopedia entry
Appearance/Basic Anatomy
- Copper dragons are wyverns, having wing arms with a defined thumb that they can use like hands.
- A copper dragon’s scales are smooth and tightly attached to their bodies.
- Copper dragons born in humid environments take on a green blue patina. Copper dragons laid in hotter conditions take on a deep brownish patina. Copper dragons lain in milder climates take on a rainbow patina from exposure to the elements.
- The coloration in a copper dragon’s scales is more than a surface coloration, but rather affects the entire scale.
- The scales contain some metallic copper.
- Copper dragons’ muscular hind legs enable them to take off from the ground in a running flight, though leaping from heights is often preferred.
- The metallic copper in a dragon’s scales is absorbed from a diet rich in minerals.
Hatchling Behavior
- Copper hatchlings are adventurous and playful.
- They enjoy exploring the terrain.
- They are careful to stay within the area the adults have designated.
- They spend a lot of time practicing moving without causing sound and learning to understand the signs other creatures leave as they move through the area.
- When the group is threatened, older hatchlings will herd the younger ones into the center of a circle to protect them while the adults move out to meet the threat.
Adult Behavior
- Copper dragons are excellent fliers and can go long distances without needing to land and rest.
- While not especially fast, they are highly maneuverable in the air. On land they are swift runners.
- Copper dragons are also masters of stealth, able to slip soundlessly through terrain, either to avoid enemies or while hunting prey.
- Very family oriented. All of the adults spend time educating the young in survival, in hunting and gathering food, and in avoiding predators.
- Copper dragons are a proud breed, and do not tolerate what they consider shameful behavior among their family groups. Theft, dishonesty, bullying and greed are behaviors that are quickly disciplined in their young and punished when committed by adults.
- Because they teach their young so devotedly, copper dragons often mature somewhat faster than other breeds, able to become self sufficient at a younger age.
- An adult male copper will starve before he sees young ones hungry.
Habitat
- Copper dragons can live in any environment.
- The environment in which they’re laid affects the patina the dragon will carry throughout their lives.
- Copper dragons prefer to make as little impact on the environment around them as possible, so they don’t usually construct permanent nests, but will arrange whatever material that’s readily available into a nesting place when there are eggs to tend.
Diet
- Copper dragons are omnivores.
- Mainstays of their diets are large game animals, which they hunt in small parties, or wild grains often found growing along riverbanks.
- Though they are very capable predators, Copper Dragons make sure they kill quickly and cleanly when they hunt.
- Copper dragons will plant and tend patches of crops as a food source.
- Each spring, when fish are plentiful and running upstream, Copper Dragons will gather around riverbanks and catch fish.
Variant determination
For Liver of Sulfur, Rainbow, and Verdigris variants, the color of a Copper egg depends on these factors:[1]
- Cave-born Copper: Egg matches habitat.
- Bred Copper from Copper mother: Egg color matches Copper mother's color.
- Bred Copper from Copper father and non-Copper mother:
- If non-Copper mother is cave-born from a habitat: Egg color matches mother's habitat.
- If non-Copper mother has no habitat ("Cave", "Market", or bred): Egg color matches Copper father's color
The Pennybright variant, introduced in 2021, added a new variant mechanic. Pennybright eggs can only be produced by breeding a Copper dragon with a Lightning-aligned dragon.
Trivia
- The fourth color that Fiona BlueFire mentioned was the original color they began with made an appearance during the Brewing Mischief 2015 Halloween event as an "effect" sprite.
Additional Information
“
- The descriptions for these were written when there was only one color planned. I guess neither of us thought about changing that when we added the other colors. But they'll continue to drop in all biomes as they were during the release.
“
- Nakase here: The Copper dragons were first drawn when the Cave had no wyverns. If Golds had western anatomy, Silvers with asian anatomy, then Coppers should be wyverns to collect the three major anatomy styles. My plan was to make metalic dragons more accessible, so when the option of multiple colors became available it was seriously awesome. Originally when I designed Coppers they were grumpy combative creatures, and had many battle scars. Once the spriting commenced, we had to clean them up because it was way too busy, and it clashed with Fiona's breed description. -Nakase out
“
- Actually, the colors are rainbow, verdigris and liver of sulfur. A rainbow patina on copper is achieved with heat. We decided to use that as the normal coloration of the dragons, rather than a shiny plain copper, mostly because we both liked how they looked so much.
Verdigris is another name for oxidized copper. If you look at the American Statue of Liberty, you see a fine example of verdigris. Salt and high humidity are conditions that speed up the oxidation. The Coast and the Jungle seemed like the places where those conditions would be found.
Liver of sulfur is an acid that can be applied to copper to create a particular coloration. In this case we chose it for places where conditions are particularly harsh, like the Volcanoes and the Desert.
“
"3 alts" meaning 3 versions of the same dragon. There are only 3. There is no mystery 4th.
- Red - rainbow - normal → File:Copper Dragon2 male.png
- Green - verdigris - oxidized - corroded → File:Copper Dragon3 male.png
- Brown - liver of sulfur - tarnished → File:Copper Dragon1 male.png
Yes, it's a metal. But not rare!''
- Regarding their rarity:
“
- I"m just going to go on record now and say these are not classed as rares. They were never intended to be rare, despite what some think they remember seeing. They were intended to be fairly common (not cave blocker common) and I checked with TJ to make sure I was allowed to say that THEY ARE NOT RARE! Cuz they're not. A bit uncommon, maybe.
I can't control how hard they become to catch due to popularity, but they are not gold/silver rare.
- Regarding a fourth color:
“
- Just for your historical pleasure, there was a fourth color originally - bright shiny new copper. It was the base for the other colors. Originally we were going to have that be the main color and also have however many of the "alt" colors TJ let us get away with, but when we put it next to the new colors we decided it didn't make the cut. Trust us, it was a good decision.
References
- ↑ Forum post from artist Fiona; http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showtopic=150720&view=findpost&p=7427990