How to breed armadillos in Minecraft

Armadillos have fully arrived in Minecraft as of the Armored Paws update, complete with their own unique mechanics and utility. They occasionally drop armadillo scutes, and can also drop them from being brushed. Since these scutes are useful for crafting wolf armor, it doesn't hurt to breed a few armadillos to keep around for brushing, and breeding armadillos in Minecraft is a pretty simple process.

While armadillos can't be tamed in Minecraft, they particularly love spider eyes, their favorite snack. With these food items, players can place armadillos into Love Mode, where they will then breed with other armadillos and produce offspring. However, for new players or those generally unfamiliar with armadillos, it's worth examining how armadillo breeding works.

How to breed armadillos in Minecraft step-by-step

Step 1: Collecting Spider Eyes

Spider eyes are a requirement for armadillo breeding in Minecraft (Image via Mojang Studios)

Before setting out to find your armadillos to breed, you'll need at least two spider eyes to put them in Love Mode. These items are usually obtained by killing spiders or cave spiders, which have a 33.3% chance of dropping them. However, you can use the Looting enchantment to increase the drop chance of spider eyes from defeated spiders while also being able to collect more eyes in a single kill.

Spider eyes can also be obtained by killing witches, which can drop up to six spider eyes at once depending on how its loot table is rolled (the spider eye roll chance for the witch's loot table is 1-3 x 1/8), and this can be magnified with the Looting enchantment, allowing the witch to drop up to 15 spider eyes upon death.

Lastly, players can loot spider eyes from desert pyramid loot chests. Up to three spider eyes can be found in these chests with an appearance rate of about 28.7% in both Minecraft Java and Bedrock.

Step 2: Find Two Armadillos

At least two armadillos are needed for breeding in Minecraft (Image via Mojang Studios)

With your spider eyes in hand, it's time to find two armadillos to breed. However, to avoid wandering around aimlessly, it's best to know where to find armadillos in Minecraft since they only spawn in certain biomes. Specifically, groups of two to three armadillos will spawn in savannas, savanna plateaus, and windswept savanna biomes.

Meanwhile, groups of one to two armadillos can be found in badlands, eroded badlands, and wooded badlands. This makes finding armadillos, especially two individuals, easier in savanna biomes, but as long as you find at least two, the location doesn't matter much.

Step 3: Feed Each Armadillo a Spider Eye

Armadillos are naturally drawn to spider eyes in Minecraft (Image via Mojang Studios)

Once you have your spider eyes and have found a few armadillos in the Minecraft biome of your choice, place your spider eyes in your hotbar and select them. Then, bring your armadillos together. If you're holding spider eyes, an armadillo will follow you if you stay in a range of 10 blocks in Java Edition and 16 blocks in Bedrock Edition. Once your armadillos are close together, right-click them with spider eyes.

This should feed the armadillos the spider eyes, and hearts should appear above them to signify that they've entered Love Mode. The armadillos will then converge, and in a few moments, they'll spawn a baby armadillo.

A Final Note on Baby Armadillo Growth and Breeding Cooldowns

A baby armadillo roams the badlands (Image via Mojang Studios)

Once players have bred a baby armadillo in Minecraft, it will take 20 real-world minutes to grow into an adult. This can be sped up by feeding the baby spider eyes, which reduces the growth time by 10%. With 10 spider eyes, players can instantly grow a baby armadillo into an adult.

Additionally, the two parent armadillos will enter a breeding cooldown after producing offspring like many other mobs. By all indications, armadillos have a five-minute-long breeding cooldown like most animal mobs, so you'll need to find other armadillos to breed if you'd like to continue or at least wait five minutes for the original parents to be capable of breeding again.

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