Turtles in Minecraft: How to tame, breed, and get scutes
Minecraft players can obtain scutes from turtles which makes them useful. If you’re yet to have a turtle, here’s a guide to breeding turtles in Minecraft that also covers what do they eat and where to find them.
The Minecraft Overworld is filled with a ton of animals and mobs. While some like Iron Golems help in defending villages, others like foxes and cats are largely kept as pets for their adorable non-hostile behavior.
Even though horses, cats, and foxes are some of the most sought-after pets in Minecraft, it is never too late to get a turtle as well. They are one of the few aquatic mobs that can survive indefinitely outside water.
Most importantly, turtles are the only source of scutes in Minecraft, and here’s how to find, tame, and breed them.
- Where to find turtles in Minecraft
- What do turtles eat in Minecraft?
- How to tame turtles in Minecraft
- How to breed turtles in Minecraft
- How to hatch turtle eggs in Minecraft
- How to get scutes from turtles in Minecraft
Where to find turtles in Minecraft
Minecraft players can find turtles in beach biomes where they spawn on sand blocks. Naturally, finding a turtle is the first step toward breeding it.
- Read More: How to make a pickaxe in Minecraft
Do note that turtles do not spawn on snowy or stone beaches. You’ll find them only on sand blocks which makes them slightly rare.
Lastly, turtles spawn four blocks within the sea level and in places with light level 8 or higher. These conditions should make your turtle hunt in the game more effortless and precise.
Turtles walk slowly on the land but their movement speed increases significantly in the water. Being passive mobs, they flee when attacked.
What do turtles eat in Minecraft?
Turtles in Minecraft eat seagrass and this food item also helps in breeding them. To find seagrass, players must explore the bottom of oceans and other water sources. The plant grows near kelp and is fairly easy to obtain.
It is worth noting that seagrass can only be mined with shears. If you use any other tool, it will drop nothing. Use this crafting recipe to make shears in Minecraft:
To manually grow seagrass, you can place bone meal on a non-transparent underwater block.
How to tame turtles in Minecraft
You cannot tame a turtle in Minecraft but if you’re holding seagrass, it will follow you. This greatly helps in controlling turtles’ movement and getting them to breed. A turtle follows a player if they’re holding seagrass and are located within ten blocks.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
- Read More: How to find a village in Minecraft
Turtles cannot be attached to leads like horses and dogs. Having said that, you can put them in boats or carts.
How to breed turtles in Minecraft
You need seagrass to breed turtles in Minecraft. Go to a beach biome and search for turtles on the shore. Use the plant to attract nearby turtles and when two turtles are close to each other, feed them both seagrass.
- Read More: How to make a composter in Minecraft
With this, the turtles should enter love mode and one of them will go to its home beach (the beach where it originally spawned). It will dig the sand block nearest to its spawn point for a few seconds and lay 1-4 turtle eggs. You must follow the turtle to its home to hatch the eggs.
Luckily, turtles in Minecraft do not have a breeding cooldown. As soon as a turtle lays the eggs, it is ready for breeding again, and this way, you can have a massive turtle farm in no time.
How to hatch turtle eggs in Minecraft
Turtle eggs in Minecraft mostly hatch during the night and the entire process takes up to 4-5 in-game nights. There’s a 90% chance that the eggs with hatch before seven nights. A player has to stay near the eggs (within 128 blocks) for them to hatch.
You can’t really speed up the hatching process but protecting turtle eggs from hostile mobs like zoglins, zombies, and husks is a must. Place a torch or a light source near the eggs to protect them from undead mobs. With time, you’ll be able to observe cracks and there are three different stages that signify that the eggs are about to hatch.
Moreover, to relocate/mine the eggs, you’ll have to use the Silk Touch enchantment on your tools. However, mining also resets the hatching progress to zero.
All in all, protecting the turtle eggs from mobs while they naturally crack is the only way to effectively hatch them.
How to get scutes from turtles in Minecraft
Baby turtles in Minecraft drop scutes when they mature into adults. This is the only way to obtain scutes, and here are some of their uses:
- Scutes help in making a turtle shell that increases your underwater breathing time by 10 seconds.
- The turtle shell is also an ingredient used to make The Potion of the Turtle Master. The potion increases resistance but also adds slowness.
To boost the growth of a baby turtle by 10 percent, just feed it seagrass. Repeating the procedure will allow you to have mature turtles quickly.
- Read More: How to hatch a dragon egg in Minecraft
This was everything to know about turtles in Minecraft. They might not be as useful as cats or llamas, but having them near your in-game house won’t really take up any valuable resources except seagrass.
For more content on the sandbox title, check out how to make a fence in Minecraft and how to make an elevator.
Image Credits: Mojang