How does the rover work?

[geodave]

For example, does it become a blob at some point? And, if it does, can it spread slime?

[H2O]

No, there is no blob behavior, the cycle is:

Red Teeth (flashing red & yellow/cyan)
Glider (red & yellow dots rotate slowly clockwise)
Ant (red & yellow dots rotate quickly counterclockwise)
Pink Ball (flashing red & yellow/yellow & red)
Blue Teeth (flashing pink & black/red & yellow)
Fireball (red & yellow dots rotate slowly counterclockwise)
Centipede (red & yellow dots rotate quickly clockwise)
Walker (flashing pink & black/cyan)

and regardless of it's current state of movement, it always follows the specific rules for a rover for tiles it can interact with e.g. dirt, gravel, sockets,...