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Minecraft animal breeding chart

Which food breeds each animal on a Java Minecraft server, plus love mode, breeding cooldown and baby growth times, and which animals need taming first.

Updated 3 min read
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Table of contents

Most animals that breed in Minecraft want their own food, and a few need something done first, such as taming. This chart lists the food for the common breedable animals on a Java server, then the timings that apply to all of them.

Checked against Minecraft Java Edition 26.3, October 2026.

How breeding works

  1. Get two adult animals of the same kind close together.
  2. Feed each one its breeding food. Hearts appear and each animal goes into love mode.
  3. The two walk to each other. A baby appears, and the pair drop experience worth 1 to 7 points.

Love mode lasts 30 seconds, so feed both animals within that window. Holding an animal's food also makes it follow you, which is the easy way to lead a herd into a pen. Most animals produce the baby on the spot. Chickens do both, laying eggs as well as producing chicks. Turtles, frogs and sniffers lay eggs instead, which is covered below.

Timings that apply to everything

WhatHow long
Love mode after feeding30 seconds
Wait before the parents can breed again5 minutes
Baby growing up20 minutes (40 for a snifflet)
Each feeding of a babyCuts the remaining growth time by 10 percent

Breeding foods

AnimalFoodNotes
Cow, goat, sheepWheat
MooshroomWheatBreeds only with another mooshroom
PigCarrot, potato or beetroot
ChickenWheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, beetroot seeds, torchflower seeds or a pitcher pod
RabbitCarrot, golden carrot or dandelion
Horse, donkeyGolden apple, enchanted golden apple or golden carrotTame it first. A horse and a donkey produce a mule, and mules cannot breed
Llama, trader llamaHay baleTame it first. Wheat only heals and grows them
WolfAny meat, including rotten flesh, plus fish and rabbit stewTame it first
Cat, ocelotRaw cod or raw salmonA cat must be tamed first
FoxSweet berries or glow berriesThe baby trusts the player who bred it
BeeAny flower or flowering plant, such as cherry leaves, except wither rose and open eyeblossomThose two give the bee an effect instead of starting love mode
PandaBambooBamboo has to be growing nearby
AxolotlBucket of tropical fishNot the loose fish
NautilusAny raw or cooked fish, or a bucket of cod, salmon, pufferfish or tropical fishTame it first by feeding it pufferfish or a bucket of pufferfish. It must be at full health to breed
CamelCactus
StriderWarped fungus
HoglinCrimson fungus
ArmadilloSpider eye
TurtleSeagrassOne turtle lays eggs on sand
FrogSlimeballOne frog lays frogspawn in water
SnifferTorchflower seedsDrops an egg item to place and hatch

Villagers are different. They never breed from being fed. They need enough free beds and enough food in their inventory, and trading can also make them willing. Get a sniffer in Minecraft covers the sniffer egg step by step.

Keep a baby small

A golden dandelion pauses a baby's growth, and feeding it a second one lets it grow again. Craft one from a dandelion surrounded by eight gold nuggets.

On your server

Everything here is the normal game and needs no plugin. The chart is for Java Edition, which is what your server runs. If a large farm leaves the server feeling slow, Why is my server lagging? Find the cause shows how to find what is responsible.

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