How to Breed Two Sniffers in Minecraft

Use torchflower seeds to breed this special Minecraft mob

Co-authored by Janice Tieperman

Last Updated: August 5, 2024 Fact Checked

The sniffer is a unique passive mob that was added to the Minecraft universe after winning the 2022 Minecraft Live mob vote.^{[1]
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Research source} Unlike common mobs, like chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses, you can’t find sniffers organically in the wild—you have to collect their eggs from warm ocean ruins, and then breed them with rare torchflower seeds. We’ll walk you through the entire process, so you can add this unique and helpful mob to your own game in no time.

Quick Steps

Retrieve 2 sniffer egg from warm ocean ruins using a brush.
Place the sniffer eggs on moss blocks.
Wait 10 minutes for the sniffer eggs to hatch.
Let the sniffers dig up some torchflower seeds.
Feed the torchflower seeds to both sniffers.
Wait for the sniffers to lay an egg.

1

Visit warm ocean ruins.

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Warm oceans typically spawn near badlands and deserts. Their ocean water is a lighter blue/teal tone, and they often feature a lot of fun and colorful sites, like coral blocks, coral, coral fans, and sea grass.^{[2]
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Research source} As you dive down and explore, look for warm ocean ruins, which resemble arched sandstone structures.^{[3]
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- You’ll need to make a Potion of Water Breathing to help you stay underwater for long periods of time without drowning.
- Warning: Unless you’re playing in Peaceful mode, there’s a chance that hostile mobs (like Drowned) could attack you while you’re exploring.

2

Collect 2 sniffer eggs from suspicious sand.

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Suspicious sand blocks have a darker tint to them than regular sand. These blocks won’t yield any sniffer eggs if you break them, so it’s important to inspect them with a brush. Each suspicious sand block has a 6.7% chance of yielding a sniffer egg, so it may take several tries (or even several warm ocean ruins) before you find 2.^{[4]
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- Don’t have a brush? Craft one using a feather, a copper ingot, and a wooden stick.^{[5]
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3

Place the eggs on a moss block and wait for them to hatch.

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Sniffer eggs hatch in around 10 minutes on moss blocks. If you can’t find any moss blocks nearby, that’s okay—just place them on something else. It’ll just take the eggs about 20 minutes to hatch when they aren’t set on moss blocks.^{[6]
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- When the sniffers hatch, they’ll be baby sniffers (also known as snifflets).

4

Wait 40 minutes for the snifflets to grow up.

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Focus on another in-game project for the time being as they grow up.^{[7]
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5

Wait for the sniffers to dig up torchflower seeds.

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Pay attention to your adult sniffers as they wander around your world, especially when they start to sniff and dig at the ground. Once they’re finished investigating, see if they’ve dug up some torchflower seeds for you to collect.

6

Feed the torchflower seeds to each sniffer.

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While holding onto the torchflower seeds in your player’s hand, feed one to each adult sniffer. You’ll see hearts appear both sniffers, which means that they’ve started to breed.

7

Wait for the sniffers to lay an egg.

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Keep in mind that sniffers can only lay eggs once every 5 minutes, so focus on collecting torchflower seeds in the meantime so you can continue to grow your sniffer army.