Lizard-like creatures "swimming" through the sand?

I have been designing a whole solar system for my story, and I am finally able to come down to creatures on the planets. I have already asked a question about one of the planets, Veynerth, so there is more information and updated changes to the planet there. It is a deserty planet for the most part, but there's regions where there's high volcanic activity, and it actually gets very cold due to the ashes and such clouding up the atmosphere and blocking out the sun. Anyway, I wanted to create a creature that lives in the desert parts, and what I have so far is that it's a giant lizard-like creature that burrows into the sand and essentially "swims" in it, finding its prey based on the vibrations on the surface. I don't know how well that would work because I think that it having a rough, scaly body would make it hard to swim in the sand. I wanted to know if there was anything I could change about the design to make it more plausible, yet still retain that lizard-like appearance.

Extra details: They have secondary clear eyelids to protect their eyes from the sand. They don't need a whole lot of water to exist so they can spend weeks underneath the sand waiting for prey. They have trouble walking on land because they evolved to dig/swim through the sand. This makes them very slow and not so menacing if you could ever isolate one on solid ground.

Please let me know if you need me to add more details.

Apologies for my lack of artistic ability, but here's what I have sketches for what it would look like. (https://i.stack.imgur.com/sPNzN.jpg)

posted over 6 years ago

Alyssa S.‭

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