Minecraft is one of the most interesting games of today. Being a sandbox video game, it gives you seemingly endless ways to create the virtual world you’ve always dreamed of. But what makes it really fun is that it also involves concepts of reality to make things more interesting – even in terms of breeding turtles.
Why would you want to breed turtles, you ask? Like in real life, Minecraft turtles produce and drop scute. This scute is a valuable resource that is necessary to create a turtle helmet or for brewing certain potions. And the virtual byproduct of these processes will help improve your player’s abilities.
So if you’re interested in obtaining these scutes, it’s necessary to learn how to breed turtles in Minecraft first. And lucky for you, this is what we intend to teach you in this article.
Step 1: Harvest Two Seagrass
Before proceeding to the breeding proper, you have to collect enough seagrass for your turtles.
Luckily, seagrass is readily available in the Ocean biome. Within a few minutes, you will be able to harvest enough for breeding turtles.
In Minecraft, seagrass grows underwater and can only be mined using shears. To do so, start by locating areas where there is a growth of seagrass. They appear as blocks of sand with a seaweed-like growth on them. Once you find a block of sand with seagrass, you can now start harvesting.
To begin harvesting, your player should have his shears at hand. You can simply do this by clicking the shears icon in the Hotbar.
Now armed with shears, the next step is to position the pointer on the seagrass you want to cut. You can confirm if it is pointing in the right direction because the block of sand will illuminate. And with the block of seagrass properly highlighted, you can now cut the seagrass with the shears.
Bear in mind that this takes place underwater – this means that the seagrass will float upon being cut. If you don’t catch it in time, it will disappear and you have to repeat the process.
To successfully breed turtles in Minecraft, you will need two seagrass items. If you plan to stop at breeding one time, then two of these will suffice. But if you plan on breeding them more than once, or if you wish to accelerate the growth of the baby turtles, then you might have to harvest more seagrass.
Step 2: Look for Two Turtles
Even if Minecraft is just a video game, breeding turtles in its virtual world is similar to breeding turtles in real life – you will need two turtles to mate.
This is why the next step is to look for two turtles to breed. Fortunately, turtles can be easily found in the beach biome in the Overworld. Turtles roam freely in this biome, so catching two of them for breeding won’t take up too much of your time.
In some instances, these turtles can be quite elusive. Since you are at the Beach biome, you can create sand walls to trap the two turtles together. This will also save you a lot of time in having to run after each turtle all the time.
Don’t worry if this seems too tricky at first. You’ll get the hang of it as you play along.
Step 3: Feed Each Turtle with Seagrass
Now that you finally caught two turtles, you can now feed them with the seagrass you previously harvested.
You can do so by feeding them one at a time. You can use the appropriate game controls to select one turtle and feed him first and repeat the process for the second turtle.
After feeding the turtles, you will notice that hearts will appear above them. And the turtles who used to walk passively in random directions will then move towards each other.
Step 4: Wait for the Mother Turtle to Lay the Eggs
Once the two turtles have already moved towards each other, you have nothing left to do but wait. They will have the hearts above their heads for a while, so you have to be patient until then. Don’t worry, it only takes a few moments.
Once the hearts disappear, this indicates that the mother turtle is ready to lay her eggs. And just like in real life, a Minecraft mother turtle will also dig on the sand to bury her eggs.
At this point, we strongly suggest keeping a close eye on the mother turtle. Minecraft turtles only lay their eggs in two areas: on the part of the Beach biome they call home, or in areas where nests were formerly dug.
If the breeding spot you chose is neither of these areas, the mother turtle will swim towards her home or a familiar nesting site. It’s best to follow her where she goes.
Once she reaches her ideal nesting site, watch as she digs her way through the sand to lay her eggs.
Step 5: Wait for the Eggs to Hatch
At this point, the mother turtle has already laid the eggs that you will need in the future.
Much like in the real world, Minecraft turtle eggs also need an incubation period before they hatch. While it won’t take as long as 60 days, these eggs will take around 4 to 5 days before they hatch, and that can be quite the long wait for a video game. Nevertheless, once these eggs start to hatch, all your efforts will surely pay off.
And that’s all it takes. Now you know how to breed turtles in Minecraft. It’s that easy!
Final Notes
Before we end this article, here are some notes and tips that we want to share with you to make the most of your turtle-breeding journey.
- Minecraft turtles will lay around 4 eggs at a time. If you think your player needs more than 4 turtles, then it’s best to breed the turtles again.
- Speaking of breeding the parent turtles again, you can’t do so instantly. You have to wait for five minutes before you will be allowed to breed turtles again.
- If you plan on successively breeding turtles after their cool times, then it’s best to harvest as much seagrass first before you start breeding. This keeps you from having to move from the Ocean to the Beach biomes and vice versa.
- You have the option to accelerate the baby turtle’s growth into adulthood. By feeding him 1 seagrass, he progresses into adulthood by 10%. Thus, you can feed him 10 seagrass items to accelerate his growth completely. And when a baby turtle reaches adulthood, he will instantly drop 1 scute.
- Turtles and turtle eggs can be attacked by predatory mobs. Since these eggs only hatch after a few days, you should do your best to protect them from being attacked.
- Each console has a different control panel for each of these movements. As much as possible, familiarize yourself with the control panel first to prevent mistakes that could cause a delay as you play.
Conclusion
Breeding turtles on Minecraft gives you an idea of how it’s like to breed them in real life. Even hatching the eggs would require an incubation period, and their nests are also prone to predatory attacks. If anything, this is a great way to inspire us to start protecting turtles in real life.
Now that you know how to breed turtles in Minecraft, we hope your player gets all the upgrades he needs to make the most of the game.