Well, I thought he was on Land 1 because the miracle of discussion was food.
You can only get Water Food Well and or Lightning on land 1.
But then again isn't the Food miracle a pretty basic one?
So, yes, Ampersand could very well be in any story mode land, even Creature Isle!
You have access to the miracles, but you have to fly around the map using miracle bubbles instead of just casting the miracle with your own power, so it's rather inconvenient. I'd rather wait til land 2 or use a skirmish map.
The cause of the creature tips only showing up when I hover my hand isn't what land I'm on, since it does the same thing on skirmish maps, land 2, etc.. It also feels the need to remind me to "hold your hand over the creature to find out what he's thinking" and "clicking the action button on an object will cause your creature to pick it up" constantly...
Yes, unfortunately that is a side effect of having "Creature Tips" on, I think. I'm not even sure if you need to have that checked to know what he's thinking. Here's a tip in case you decide to keep that on: Quickly pause and un-pause the game to make the message disappear when it pops up. Because while these useless messages are up, it prevents you from seeing other messages that could be more important at the time.
An example would be... Say you see your creature pick up a villager. Obviously, you want to know what he is planning. Is he gonna eat them? Is he feeling playful? Or is he gonna make them breed? Oh no, the game isn't telling you what's going on, but instead its reminding you for the five-thousandth time that clicking on stuff does things! Just quickly tap P twice, and the game will bring up the message you want.
And he did actually eat from the stores once when I was watching him, though I doubt he'll do it again soon...
Well, if you ever see your creature eat from the store, please screen cap it(print screen key on windows, paste it into most any paint program.) I've really never seen it, and thought it might be a myth. If you figure out how to teach him to do it consistently, you absolutely must share.
Also he seems to have trouble picking up the difference between being encouraged to eat at 40% hunger and discouraged from eating at 0-20% hunger...
Those numbers are too close together. I wouldn't worry about it. Just worry about how much he actually eats. He should be taking a bit more at 40 than at 20. And he shouldn't be gaining any fat. You also don't want him to eat after 50%, because then he starts
losing fat. A bit of fat makes your creature look better in my opinion, and some claim it raises endurance in battle. It also provides a fail-safe if your creature doesn't have time to eat. If he has no fat, he will start losing health when he's too hungry.