Minecraft: How to Tame and Breed Animals

Learn how to tame and breed wild animals in Minecraft. Domesticating them easily can be of great help to you on your journey.

Tame Minecraft — There are many animals that you can tame (Source: Mojang)

Taming and breeding animals in Minecraft can become a good lifestyle for all players. You can’t “tame” all animals, but you can breed a lot of the untameable ones as well. The reason behind both of these actions can vary greatly.

You might want to tame a wolf or an ocelot for company and combat. Similarly, you would want to breed sheep or chickens to ultimately enhance your food production along with some other resource that they can give you.

Taming Mobs in Minecraft

The following mobs in Minecraft are tameable:

Horse, Donkey, and Mule: You don’t need an item to tame these three mobs. Instead, walk up close to them and repeatedly interact with them. This will let you ride their backs for a while before you get off. Keep repeating these steps until you see “hearts” floating around. This means these mobs have been tamed. Bring a saddle with you to take them home after that.
Llama: Similar to the above-mentioned mobs, Llamas don’t need an item to be tamed. Keep trying to ride them repeatedly until hearts pop up. However, you can’t saddle them up to control them. Instead, use a Lead to guide them to the location you want.
Wolf: Wolves can be pretty aggressive when encountered in the wild. However, these ferocious mobs can also be tamed. This time, you need to have Bones in your inventory. Keep multiple on your hand because one may not be enough. Interacting will eventually have hearts pop up from the Wolf, giving it a collar.

Breeding horses in Minecraft is quite straightforward. (Source: Mojang Studios, @TheAetherGamer/YouTube) — Horses in Minecraft (Source: Mojang Studios, @TheAetherGamer/YouTube)

Parrot: Do NOT give these flying birds a cookie; it can be poisonous for them. Instead, have Seeds of any kind with you. Feeding a Parrot Seeds will tame it, and you can then order it around to either follow you or sit somewhere. You can also walk into your Parrot to let it perch on one of your shoulders and carry it around.
Cat: Catch some Raw Salmon or Raw Cod from the nearest body of water. You can also find it in village chests if you are lucky. Next, once you spot a cat you like, crouch and equip the raw fish we mentioned. Crouch slowly to the furry little mob and feed it until hearts pop up. A collar will then appear on the cat, marking it as your own.

All of the above-mentioned animals are tamed differently and also bred differently. One noteworthy thing here is that although not all mobs can be tamed, you can still earn “trust” from a lot of them. So, whichever mob trusts you, you can breed most of them, and farm them for your own uses.

Breeding Animals in Minecraft

Breeding lets you farm more of the same mob (Source: Mojang)

Minecraft does not complicate mob breeding. All you have to do is get a pair of the same mob, earn their trust by feeding them, and place them in captivity. Now you must feed the couple some specific items to get an offspring:

Tamed Wolves: Any raw or cooked meat except fish
Tamed Cats/Wild Ocelots: Raw Cod or Raw Salmon
Tamed Horses/Tamed Donkeys: Golden Apples and Golden Carrots
Sheep/Cows/Goats/Mooshrooms: Wheat
Pigs: Carrots, Potatoes, or Beetroot
Chicken: Seeds
Rabbits: Dandelions, Carrots, or Golden Carrots
Turtles: Seagrass
Pandas: Bamboo (keep eight Bamboo blocks within five blocks from both Pandas)
Foxes: Sweet Berries or Glow Berries
Bees: Flowers
Frog: Slimeball
Axolotl: Bucket full of Tropical Fish
Camel: Cactus
Strider: Warped Fungus
Hoglin: Crimson Fungus
Sniffer: Torchflower Seeds
Armadillo: Spider Eyes

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