Breeding

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Two villagers breeding.
A baby wolf with its parents.

Breeding is a game mechanic that allows certain mobs, including villagers and many animals, to produce offspring.

Some mobs have similar mechanics that are not classified as breeding.

Mechanics[edit | edit source]

A cow following the player.

Most animals that can be bred have a food item used to lead and breed it (there are a few special cases, described below). Once an animal notices a player holding its food, it follows the player until either the player is out of range, the player stops holding the item, it begins the breeding process, or it is attacked. Baby animals behave the same way. Most animals are uninterested in food lying on the ground, and those that are do not breed from eating this food; animals breed only when fed by a player. One item per parent is needed to breed a single baby.

Love mode[edit | edit source]

When an animal is fed its food, it enters "love mode", preparing to breed with another animal of the same species that is also in love mode. Animals that are in love mode emit heart particles constantly ‌[Bedrock Edition only](see MC-93826). When both animals are fed, they pathfind toward each other, up to eight blocks away. The two animals walk into each other for about two and a half seconds, and then drop 1–7XP and end love mode to produce their offspring, the method of which depends on the animal. Most animals immediately spawn a baby animal at the feet of the parents, usually of the same species as their parents, with the exception of mules, which cannot breed with each other and must be bred via the union of a horse and donkey. Some animals lay eggs, but the method and location they perform this varies from animal to animal. Chickens are the only animals that can both directly produce babies and lay eggs, as well as the only animals that lay eggs without being fed. After breeding, the parents cannot be fed to breed again for five minutes, but they (and their babies) always follow players holding breeding items. An animal exits love mode if it does not breed 30 seconds after being fed, but it immediately becomes able to be fed and enter love mode again.

The number of animals that are produced starting from a single pair of animals, assuming the offspring is fully grown before breeding again, is represented by this sequence: (OEIS A061418)

a1=2a2=3a3=4a4=6a5=9a6=13a7=19⋮an+1=⌊32an⌋⋮

where ⌊x⌋ is the floor function.

The nth term of the sequence can also be computed with this formula: an=⌈K×(3/2)n⌉ where K=1.08151366859... and ⌈x⌉ is the ceiling function. The constant K is defined to be (2/3)×K(3) (see OEIS A083286)

Breeding foods[edit | edit source]

Mob Items Other
These mobs must be tamed by repeatedly mounting them before they can breed. They can be tamed faster by being fed. A horse breeding with a donkey produces a mule. Mules cannot breed.

The following items cannot be used for leading or breeding, but can be used to feed an untamed horse, donkey, or mule, grow a baby, or for healing:

Sheep can grow faster if they eat grass or grass blocks. They cannot be hand-fed these items; they eat them only if they are placed in the world.
Pig Pigs can also be led, but not bred, with a carrot on a stick.
Chicken
Chickens directly produce a chick when bred. They also automatically produce eggs, and do so without having to be fed.
Wolf (Tamed)
Wolves must be tamed by being given enough bones before they can be fed anything else, and do not enter love mode from eating bones. Tamed wolves can be fed to restore health, and must be at full health to enter love mode.

In Bedrock Edition, the following can also be used for healing, but cannot be used for breeding or growing a baby wolf:

Cats must be tamed by being given enough food before they can breed. Tamed cats can be fed to restore health, and must be at full health to enter love mode.

When fed, ocelots trust the player that fed them, and do not run away. An ocelot does not need to be trusting to breed.

Axolotl Only bucketed tropical fish can be used to breed axolotls. Tropical fish items cannot be used.

A water bucket is returned upon feeding.

Llamas must be tamed by repeatedly mounting them before they can breed. They can be tamed faster by being fed. Llamas and trader llamas can crossbreed, and the offspring is always a normal llama.

Wheat can also be used to feed an untamed llama, grow a baby, or for healing, but it cannot be used to lead or breed llamas.

Rabbit Rabbits always run from players unless they hold a breeding item, even if they are fed or grown from a baby by a player.
Turtle Turtles lay eggs on sand when bred that take a few days to hatch into baby turtles. They lay eggs only at the place they spawned or were hatched. Turtle eggs can be obtained only with Silk Touch, hatch only when placed on sand, and hatch significantly faster at night. Turtle eggs can be trampled and broken, and zombies and their variants do so deliberately.
Panda Pandas can eat bamboo and other food items without player input, but breed only when fed by a player.

Pandas breed only if there are at least eight bamboo plants placed in a radius of five blocks around them.

Fox Foxes can eat berries and other food items without player input, but breed only when fed by a player.

The baby fox always trusts the player that bred the foxes, even when it grows up, and does not run away when approached.

Bee All flowers and flowering blocks work. Feeding bees wither roses does not give them the Wither effect or anger them.
Strider Striders can also be led, but not bred, with a warped fungus on a stick.
Hoglin Hoglins continue to attack during the breeding process. Hoglins that are fleeing from warped fungi, nether portals or respawn anchors cannot be bred.

Zoglins cannot breed.

Frog Frogs lay eggs on water that take ten minutes to hatch into tadpoles. These eggs cannot be obtained in item form or moved.
Camel Although they are fed cactus to breed and do not take damage from it, camels still take damage from touching it when it is placed in the world.
Sniffer Sniffers lay eggs when bred that take twenty minutes (or ten, if the egg is placed on a moss block) to hatch into a snifflet. They lay their eggs in item form, and they must be placed by a player.
Armadillo When an armadillo is rolled up it can't eat.

Villagers[edit | edit source]

Main article: Villager § Breeding
A group of villager children playing tag.

Villagers do not breed automatically when given food. Villager breeding depends on both the number of valid beds in the area (see the village page for full details), as well as whether the villagers are "willing." A villager may become willing if they have 3 bread, 12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots in their inventory. They may also become willing as a result of trading with a player. When they breed, they produce a smaller villager. Unlike many baby animals, baby villagers do not have big heads in Java Edition. Zombie villagers and wandering traders cannot breed, and baby zombie villagers do not grow up.

Baby mobs[edit | edit source]

An example of how a bred sheep inherits a mixture of its parents' colors when possible.

Baby mobs are smaller variations of their adult counterparts, having small bodies, relatively big heads (with some exceptions), and faster walking speeds. Their sounds are the same as their adult variants but 50% faster and are pitched up by 6 semitones. The only exception to this are tadpoles, which are a wholly unique mob from frogs. Many baby mobs have different interactions or behavior compared to their elders that depends on the mob. For example, baby sheep cannot be sheared for their wool, baby cows, baby mooshrooms and baby goats cannot be milked, and baby piglins take gold but do not barter. Most baby mobs do not drop loot or experience when killed, with the exception of items they pick up. Baby mobs that do drop loot or experience consist of the following:

Most baby animals choose and follow an adult within 8 blocks of the same species, regardless of whether it is their parent. Babies can choose new targets to follow whenever they do not have a valid target, such as when the previous target dies or moves further than 16 blocks away. Tamed baby wolves and baby cats follow their owner if the parent is absent or sitting. Baby animals that do not follow adults consist of:

Baby mobs that are not animals never follow adult mobs.

When a baby of a species with different fur/pattern variants is born, they usually inherit the pattern of one of their parents, chosen at random, with some exceptions:

  • In the case of sheep, if the parents have "compatible" colors (meaning that their corresponding dye items could be combined into a third dye), the baby inherits a mix of the parents' colors‌[Java Edition only].
  • In the case of mooshrooms, breeding two of the same variant has a 1⁄1024 chance to spawn a mooshroom of the opposite variant. Breeding two mooshrooms of differing variants has an equal chance of a baby mooshroom of either type.
  • In the case of horses, there is a 13⁄45 chance of having a random color/markings instead of matching either of its parents.
  • In the case of axolotls, a baby axolotl bred by a player (not found in the world) has a 1⁄1200 chance to be the rare blue variant, with this being the only way to obtain this variant. Otherwise, it inherits the color of one of its parents at random.
  • Frogs do not inherit their variants from their parents. A frog's variant is determined by the biome it matures from a tadpole in.

Baby animals can be manually spawned by using spawn eggs on a grown animal. This also works on zombies or variants. Baby animals may also be spawned using the /summon command with a negative Age tag; for example, using /summon sheep ~ ~ ~ {Age:-100} spawns a baby sheep at the player's position, that matures in 100 ticks (5 seconds). For baby mobs that don't grow up like zombies and piglins, the IsBaby:1 tag is used instead.

picture of two graphs showing grow time relationship of feedings to minutes
Feed graphic for baby animals in Java Edition.

Most baby mobs take 20 minutes to grow up. This can be accelerated by feeding them their breeding item. Green sparkles appear similar to those caused by bone meal. in Java Edition, each feeding usually reduces the remaining time before the animal grows up by 10%. The less time remains, the less time is saved by each feeding, making it inefficient to feed an animal continuously until it becomes an adult. After the eighth feeding, the time saved by one feeding is less than a minute, as shown in the graph. in Bedrock Edition, each feeding saves 10% of the total time rather than the remaining time, so no more than ten feedings are needed to age up a single baby.

Horses, donkeys, and llamas have different mechanics: different breeding items grow babies by different amounts, and each item ages babies by a constant time rather than a percentage of the remaining time. Skeleton horses and zombie horses are not breedable, but they can be fed while being ridden by another mob.

Baby zombies, zombie villagers, husks, drowned, zombified piglins, piglins, and zoglins do not grow up, and none of these mobs can breed.

Polar bears have a baby form that can grow up into an adult, but cannot be bred. This also applies to squid, glow squid and dolphins.

Ageable[edit | edit source]

These baby mobs age naturally, with the exception of the undead horses in Bedrock Edition.

Non-ageable[edit | edit source]

These baby mobs are all monsters and they do not grow up. The only baby monster that can grow up are baby hoglins.

Similar mechanics[edit | edit source]

Allay duplication[edit | edit source]

An allay duplicating.

If an allay is given an amethyst shard while it is dancing due to a nearby jukebox playing any music disc, it splits into two allays (itself and a new allay) and the amethyst shard is consumed. After duplication, both allays have a five minute cooldown before being able to duplicate again. Allays do not have a baby form.

Shulker duplication[edit | edit source]

There is a chance for a new shulker of the same color to spawn when a shulker is hit with a shulker bullet (including one of its own).

The following conditions must be met:

  • When the shulker gets hit and then has less than half its health remaining, there is a 25% chance for it to teleport without spawning a new shulker instead of checking the conditions below.
  • The hit shulker must have its lid open.
  • The hit shulker needs to find somewhere to teleport. For this, it takes a random block in a 17×17×17 cuboid centered on the shulker and then checks if the block has a valid face to teleport to. If not it proceeds to try this up to 4 more times. If no valid face is found, the attempt fails.
  • Each other shulker within 8 blocks of the hit shulker decreases the odds of success by 20%. When five or more other shulkers are nearby, no shulkers can spawn, but the hit shulker still teleports.

If the attempt succeeds a new shulker spawns where the old shulker was before it teleported. Shulkers do not have a baby form, and, other than the above criteria, have no duplication cooldown.

Achievements[edit | edit source]

[hide]
IconAchievementIn-game descriptionActual requirements (if different)Gamerscore earnedTrophy type (PS)
PS4Other
RepopulationBreed two cows with wheat.Breed two cows or two mooshrooms.15Bronze
ZoologistBreed two pandas with bamboo.—40Gold

Advancements[edit | edit source]

IconAdvancementIn-game descriptionActual requirements (if different)
The Parrots and the BatsBreed two animals together
Breed a pair of any of these 26 mobs:[hide]
A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.
Two by TwoBreed all the animals!
Breed a pair of each of these 25 mobs:[hide]
A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.

History[edit | edit source]

[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0September 9, 2011Jeb tweets that animal breeding is pushed to Beta 1.9.
September 25, 2011Notch also tweets an image of dozens of sheep crowded together, saying "They won't stop breeding!!!"
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2Introduced breeding. Cows, mooshrooms, sheep, pigs, and chickens follow players holding wheat and enter love mode when fed wheat.
Animals breed instantly, without any "cooldown".
No baby animals yet; all animals are born fully-grown.
All sheep are born with white wool, irrespective of their parentage.
Snow golems can enter love mode when fed with wheat; when in love mode, they attack other snow golems, do not seek for a partner and cannot actually breed. Snow golems also attack players holding wheat.
Untamed wolves can enter love mode when fed with wheat, but they do not seek for a partner, cannot actually breed, and do not follow players holding wheat.
October 3, 2011Notch tweets the first image of a baby cow and a baby pig.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3Added baby cows, baby mooshrooms, baby sheep, baby pigs, and baby chickens. Newborn animals are spawned as babies instead of adults. Babies cannot be led with wheat and wander on their own instead of following adult mobs.
After breeding, animals enter a 5-minute cooldown before they can enter love mode again. During this cooldown, adult animals follow baby animals of the same type and cannot be led with wheat.
Added baby wolves, only obtainable via external editors as wolves cannot breed.
Snow golems can no longer enter love mode and no longer attack players holding wheat.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5In multiplayer, baby animals are now correctly rendered as babies instead of adults.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6Baby sheep can be either of their parents' colors, even if they were dyed.
1.2.112w03aTamed wolves can be bred with any type of meat to produce babies. Untamed wolves can no longer be fed with wheat; they enter love mode if fed with meat, but they cannot breed.
12w04aCats (tamed ocelots) can be bred with raw fish for babies.
12w07aAdded baby villagers. Villagers automatically enter love mode and breed in order to repopulate a village, based on the amount of houses available.
Baby animals and adult animals during breeding cooldown now follow players holding wheat.
Baby animals now follow adults, and adults in breeding cooldown no longer follow babies.
1.3.112w22aBreeding now give experience.
1.4.212w32aZombies that infect baby villagers now create baby zombie villagers, which are faster than normal zombies, do not age, and survive in sunlight.
Added baby zombies and baby zombie pigmen, only available via external editors.
12w36aPigs are now responsive to carrots, chickens to seeds, with cows and sheep still breeding with wheat.
1.4.41.4.3Baby sheep now have a mix of the parents' colors, if the parents' colors are 'compatible' (able to be crafted together as dyes).
preBaby animals can be spawned by using a spawn egg on an adult animal of the same type. This does not work with zombies and zombie pigmen.
1.513w06aBaby mobs now have smaller hitboxes compared to their adult counterparts.
1.6.113w16aAdded horses and donkeys, which can breed using golden apples or golden carrots to produce babies. Breeding a horse and a donkey together produces a baby mule, which is infertile.
1.6.2preBaby zombies and baby zombie pigmen now spawn naturally among regular ones. Like baby zombie villagers, they do not grow up.
1.814w02aBaby animals can be grown faster by being fed. Each feeding reduces the remaining time to maturity by 10%, having no effect if less than 9 seconds remain. 28 feedings reduce the remaining time to around a minute, from the initial time of 20 minutes. In addition, baby sheep reach maturity one minute sooner for every time they consume grass.
14w26cWheat's acceleration of baby horses growth has been reduced.
14w27aAdded rabbits, which can be bred using dandelions, carrots or golden carrots to produce babies.
pre1Chickens can no longer be bred using melon seeds, pumpkin seeds or nether wart.
1.915w31aChickens now use melon seeds, pumpkin seeds and beetroot seeds to breed, in addition to wheat seeds.
1.1016w20aAdded polar bears and their baby variant. Polar bears cannot breed; babies spawn naturally and grow up on their own.
Added husks and baby husks, which do not grow up.
1.1116w39aAdded llamas, which can be bred using hay bales to produce babies.
1.1318w07aAdded turtles, which can be bred using raw cod. Unlike other animals, which immediately produce a baby, one of the two turtles lays eggs which eventually hatch into baby turtles.
18w07bTurtles are now bred using seagrass instead of raw cod.
18w11aAdded drowned and baby drowned, which do not grow up.
1.1418w43aAdded pandas, which can be bred using bamboo to produce babies if certain conditions are met.
19w07aAdded foxes, which can be bred using sweet berries to produce babies.
1.1519w34aAdded bees, which can be bred using flowers to produce babies.
19w37a5% of cows, mooshrooms, sheep, pigs, and chickens, and 10% of wolves, llamas, and horses now naturally spawn as babies.
19w46aDrowned, husk, zombie, and zombie villager spawn eggs can now be used on adult versions of these mobs to spawn baby variants.
1.1620w07aAdded baby hoglins.
Hoglins can now be bred using crimson fungi.
Added piglins and baby piglins, which do not grow up.
20w13aAdded striders, which can be bred using warped fungi to produce babies.
20w14aAdded zoglins and baby zoglins, which do now grow up.
1.1720w51aAdded axolotls, which can be bred using tropical fish or buckets of tropical fish to produce babies.
21w13aAdded goats, which can be bred using wheat to produce babies.
21w20aAxolots can only be fed buckets of tropical fish.
1.1922w11aAdded frogs, which can be bred using slimeballs. Unlike most other animals, which immediately produce a baby, one of the two frogs lays frogspawn, which eventually hatches into tadpoles.
1.19.3
Experiment
Update 1.20		22w42aAdded camels, which can be bred using cactus to produce babies.
22w44aTurtles now have a breeding delay like other mobs.[4]
1.19.4
Experiment
Update 1.20		23w07aAdded sniffers, which can be bred using torchflower seeds to produce snifflets.
1.2023w12aBreeding sniffers now produces a sniffer egg, which, once placed, eventually hatches into a snifflet.
1.20.523w51aAdded armadillos, which can be bred using spider eyes to produce babies.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.2.0Added sheep and baby sheep, pigs and baby pigs.
Baby animals exist in the game, though there is currently no way to get them to spawn.
v0.3.0Added cows and calves, chickens and chicks.
v0.6.0Baby animals now spawn naturally. Breeding has not been added yet.
v0.8.0build 1Introduced breeding. Animals follow players holding specific food (wheat for cows and sheep, wheat seeds for chickens, carrots or potatoes for pigs).
Cows and sheep can be fed wheat to enter love mode and breed, but pigs and chickens cannot be fed yet.
build 4Pigs and chickens can be fed food to enter love mode and breed.
In addition to wheat seeds, chickens can be fed pumpkin seeds, melon seeds and beetroot seeds, but don't follow players holding them.
v0.9.0build 1Added mooshrooms and mooshroom calves.
v0.11.0build 11Mobs must be touching to breed (previously they could breed with any mob in an 8 block radius, regardless of obstruction).
Added baby zombies.
v0.12.1build 1Villagers can now breed.
Breeding is now done through a Feed button.
Added baby zombie villagers.
Added baby ocelots and tamed baby cats.
v0.13.0build 1Added rabbits, which can be bred to produce baby rabbits.
v0.14.0build 1Baby zombies now have 15% chance to mount mobs.
v0.15.0build 1Added husks and baby husks.
Added horses, donkeys, and mules, all of which except mules can breed to produce baby variants.
Added zombie horses and skeleton horses, which include baby variants.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Added polar bears and baby polar bears. Unlike other mobs, polar bears attack any player, if a baby polar bear is nearby.
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Added llamas and baby llamas.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.2.13beta 1.2.13.8Added drowned and their baby variants.
1.4.0beta 1.2.20.1Added dolphins, which can be bred to produce baby dolphins.
Baby zombies now burn in daylight.
1.5.0beta 1.5.0.0Baby zombies now sink underwater.
Feeding dolphins raw fish no longer breed them; dolphin calves now spawn naturally.
beta 1.5.0.4Added turtles and turtle hatchlings.
1.8.0beta 1.8.0.8Added pandas and baby pandas.
Added seven more cat textures and their baby variants.
Feeding ocelots now breed them, instead of taming them.
Feeding a baby ocelot raw fish now increase its growth speed, instead of taming it.
1.13.0beta 1.13.0.1Added foxes and baby foxes.
1.14.0beta 1.14.0.1Added bees and baby bees.
1.16.0beta 1.16.0.51Added hoglins and baby hoglins.
Added piglins and baby piglins.
beta 1.16.0.57Added zoglins and baby zoglins.
Added striders and baby striders.
1.16.200beta 1.16.200.52Added goats and baby goats.
1.17.0
Experiment
Caves and Cliffs		beta 1.16.230.52Added axolotls and baby axolotls.
1.19.0
Experiment
Wild Update		beta 1.18.10.24Added frogs and tadpoles.
1.19.50Preview 1.19.50.21Added camels and baby camels.
1.19.70
Experiment
Sniffer		Preview 1.19.70.23Added sniffers and snifflets.
1.20.60
Experiment
Armadillo and Wolf Armor		Preview 1.20.60.23Added armadillos and baby armadillos.
1.20.70
Experiment
Armadillo and Wolf Armor		Preview 1.20.70.21When fed, now emit both sounds and particles.
1.20.80Preview 1.20.80.20Armadillos and baby armadillos are now available without using the "Armadillo and Wolf Armor" experimental toggle.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360Xbox OnePS3PS4PS VitaWii USwitch
TU7CU11.001.001.00Patch 11.0.1Added breeding.
TU11Added a message when the player tries to breed an animal when the spawn limits have been reached.
TU12Added baby villagers.
TU13Added a limit to the amount of villagers spawned by breeding.
TU141.04Baby mobs can be spawned by using Left trigger on that mob using its spawn egg.
TU19CU71.121.121.12Added horses and donkeys, which can breed using golden apples or golden carrots to produce babies. Breeding a horse and a donkey together produces a baby mule, which is infertile.
TU31CU191.221.221.22Patch 3Baby animals can be grown faster by being fed. Each feeding reduces the remaining time to maturity by 10%.
Added rabbits, which can be bred using dandelions, carrots or golden carrots to produce babies.
TU43CU331.361.361.36Patch 13Added polar bears and their baby variant. Polar bears cannot breed; babies spawn naturally and grow up on their own.
TU46CU361.381.381.38Patch 15Added husks and baby husks, which do not grow up.
TU54CU441.521.521.52Patch 241.0.4Added llamas, which can be bred using hay bales to produce babies.
TU69 1.761.761.76Patch 38 Added turtles, which can be bred using sea grass. Unlike other animals, which immediately produce a baby, one of the two turtles lays eggs which eventually hatch into baby turtles.
Added dolphins and their baby variant. Dolphins cannot breed; babies spawn naturally and grow up on their own.
Added drowned and baby drowned, which do not grow up.
1.83 Added pandas, which can be bred using bamboo to produce babies if certain conditions are met.

Issues[edit | edit source]

Issues relating to "Breeding" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • Any two adult animals of the same species can breed with each other, even if one animal is the parent of the other.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Screenshots[edit | edit source]

  • A family of wolves in a snowy plains biome as well as a baby cat.

    A family of wolves in a snowy plains biome as well as a baby cat.

  • Early image of sheep breeding.

    Early image of sheep breeding.

  • Early image of baby animals.

    Early image of baby animals.

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ MC-260272 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. ↑ MC-158608 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  3. ↑ Jump up to: a b c d MC-185516 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  4. ↑ MC-137306 — Turtles don't have breeding delay — resolved as "Fixed".

Navigation[edit | edit source]

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