When it comes to cuteness, there is hardly any mob that can compete with pandas. These fun-loving creatures love to roll around, play, and eat bamboo. Yet they are also some of the rarest animals in the game. So, it's time to fix that by learning how to breed pandas in Minecraft.
How to Breed Pandas in Minecraft (2024)
The breeding mechanics of pandas are quite different from other mobs in the game. So, make sure you follow our guide thoroughly to avoid errors.
What are Pandas in Minecraft
Pandas are a very rare neutral mob in Minecraft that only spawn in the overworld dimension. They are the only animals in the game with different personality types. This makes it quite interesting to interact with them. Moreover, if you attack pandas, they turn viciously hostile and hunt you down. Not to forget, these demanding mobs have serious requirements for breeding in Minecraft.
Types of Panadas
Based on their personality and design, there are 7 types of pandas in Minecraft:
- Normal: These pandas don't have personality traits and behave like other animal mobs.
- Brown: Identical to the normal panadas, except with brown and white fur instead of black and white. The panda's brown is lighter than the brown dye in Minecraft.
- Lazy: They have an iconic smile and are the slowest mob in the game. Moreover, they don't even follow players holding food in the Java edition.
- Worried: As the name suggests, these pandas always have a worried expression. You can find them shaking and hiding their faces during a thunderstorm.
- Weak: Probably one of the cutest in the bunch, these pandas have teary eyes and a snorty nose. They have half the health of a normal panda.
- Playful: With a tongue always sticking out, these pandas love to roll over and jump around. Often, this activity leads to fall damage in Minecraft.
- Aggressive: Maintaining a constant frown and thick eyebrows, these are the most dangerous pandas in Minecraft. They become hostile if you hit them or their peers. Plus, the reach of their attacks is comparable to the players.
Where Do Pandas Spawn
Pandas are some of the rarest mobs in Minecraft. You can only find them in the uncommon jungle and bamboo jungle biomes. Luckily, our list of best Minecraft jungle seeds might help.
When you can somehow find them, the pandas have a random personality with brown being the rarest. This makes it important for you to learn how to breed pandas in Minecraft to slowly grow their population.
What Do Pandas Eat in Minecraft
Panadas in Minecraft are fond of eating cakes and bamboo. Plus, they look extremely cute while eating either of them. But, when it comes to breeding pandas, bamboo is your only option.
How to Get Bamboo
Since bamboo only spawns in the bamboo jungle biome, it is one of the rarest plants in Minecraft. But since pandas also spawn in the same area, you will seldom have to go looking for bamboo.
Nevertheless, here are a few alternate ways of collecting bamboo:
- Jungle Pyramid chests
- Shipwreck supply chests (also a source for buried treasure maps)
- Fishing in jungle biomes
- Killing Pandas (not recommended)
How to Breed Pandas in Minecraft
Unlike all the other animal mobs in Minecraft, you cannot breed pandas just by giving them food. Instead, you need to fulfill certain conditions and make them comfortable. This mechanic is similar to breeding villagers in Minecraft and also reflects the real-world habits of pandas.
Conditions for Breeding
If you want to breed two pandas in Minecraft, their surroundings must meet these conditions:
- Java Edition: At least 1 bamboo block within a 7×7×3 area of each panda.
- Bedrock/PE: At least 8 bamboo blocks for each panda within a 5-block radius.
Keep in mind that you need to let your bamboo grow for breeding to work, the bamboo shoots don't count. Our guide on how to crop in Minecraft might come in handy here. But, if you fail to meet the conditions, the pandas will keep eating your bamboo without breeding.
Steps to Breed Pandas in Minecraft
Once your bamboo has grown, follow these steps to breed pandas in Minecraft:
1. First, hold a piece of bamboo in your hand and make two pandas follow you. Unfortunately, you cannot use a lead to move them around.
2. Next, get both of your pandas near the area where you have planted your bamboo. It's often best to breed them in a bamboo jungle to avoid the hassle.
3. Finally, feed one piece of bamboo to each of the panda to make a baby panda spawn. The parents have a 5-minute cooldown before you can breed them again.
4. It takes around 15-20 minutes for a baby panda to grow. Their personality depends upon the genes of their parents.
Genes of Pandas
Every panda in Minecraft has two types of genes: the main gene, which decides the personality of a panda, and a hidden gene. As the name suggests, the hidden gene only shows up in the baby of a panda and that too when the main gene is recessive.
When you breed pandas in Minecraft, both parents pass one of their genes to the baby. They receive a random respective main and hidden gene. But, there is also a 1 in 32 chance for a gene mutation that results in a new gene.
Expanding upon the main gene theory, the weak and brown personalities of pandas are quite recessive. So, you can only get babies with these personalities when the parents have one of them too. Otherwise, you will have to breed hundreds of pandas in Minecraft while hoping for rare mutations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why won't my pandas breed?
Pandas only breed in Minecraft when they are surrounded by blocks of bamboo. Moreover, the game doesn't count bamboo shoots as blocks so you must allow them to fully grow.
How rare are brown pandas in Minecraft?
Similar to the real world, brown pandas are the rarest type of pandas in Minecraft. They have an extremely low spawn rate and it is also quite hard to get more of them through breeding. But, you can fix it by using some of the best Minecraft animal mods.
Why is it so hard to breed pandas in Minecraft?
Pandas have one of the hardest breeding mechanics in Minecraft.
How do you tame a panda in Minecraft?
Unfortunately, there is no way to tame a panda in Minecraft. You can even trap them using a lead. The best option is to breed pandas to get their playful variants and trap them with fences.
Breed Pandas in Minecraft to Get Rare Variants
Now that you have an unlimited supply of cute mobs, it's time to build them a house. The best option for the building materials is the new bamboo blocks in Minecraft. As for the biome, the pandas are a perfect fit for the best Minecraft cherry grove seeds. They fit right in with the blossoming pink petals. With that said, which is your favorite type of panda in Minecraft? Share your picks on our Discord server and see if the community agrees.