How to tame a Fox in Minecraft and make a new friend
If you want to tame a fox in Minecraft and breed them, here's how
A Minecraft fox can quickly become your favourite pet. Not only are these passive Minecraft mobs adorable, but they're also useful as sidekicks who can fend off attackers and collect items. The difficulty, of course, is to find foxes in the wild and tame them. Once you get at least two Minecraft foxes, you can also start breeding them.
To help you get a cute fox friend in Minecraft, this guide will show you how to find foxes and gain their trust.
Where to find a Fox in Minecraft
One thing to note about Minecraft foxes is that they’re nocturnal animals, which means that anyone beginning their search might want to do so when it’s dark - foxes will still be around during the day, but as they'll be asleep, they're harder to spot.
Of course, things get a little more dangerous when you’re around at night in Minecraft, so newcomers are going to want to make sure that they can fend off something that might want to turn your new pet into dinner before they go fox-searching. Be sure to protect yourself with proper gear too - if you wish to be safe from zombie attacks, nothing is stronger than a set of Minecraft Netherite armor. It's best to bring a Recovery Compass too.
Foxes can be found in taiga biomes at night, usually because they like nesting in leafy forests. You can find foxes in the following taiga biomes: taiga, giant tree taiga, and snow taiga biomes. You can also find them in taiga villages if those are kicking around your world. The best Minecraft seeds can spawn you near a Taiga biome.
There’s a small chance for foxes to spawn as cubs, and if you’re in a snow taiga biome, then the foxes will be white instead of the classic russet with white tails.
How to tame a fox in Minecraft
So, night has fallen and you’ve found a fox, but they keep scampering away from you. Like other skittish creatures in Minecraft, foxes are a little shy, so you have to sneak to approach them. However, an easy way to bridge the gap between humankind and foxkind is to have some Minecraft Glow Berries or Sweet Berries on hand. They love this stuff, so make sure you’ve got a handful before sneaking up to them and interacting with the fox. Little hearts blooming overhead will indicate that they’ve received your gift.
Once you’ve been able to do this enough times - we found that four or so helpings of Glow Berries or Sweet Berries did the trick - the happy critter will be tamed and become your friend. Note that foxes won't follow you everywhere like wolves or cats, but they will defend you if enemies are around, much like Minecraft axolotl.
If you feed two foxes in the same vicinity as each other with Berries and tame them both, they have a chance to procreate! Foxes that trust you will also occasionally bring you things that they pick up in their mouths, and though we mostly received feathers, we’re sure that there are other cool items that they can fetch if given the chance.
Bred foxes in Minecraft are automatically tame
Wanting to tame an army of foxes in Minecraft would probably be a bit like chucking Glow Berries or Sweet Berries into an animal-shaped vacuum if not for one simple save: any fox cub that’s the product of two tamed foxes will automatically be born tame. That’s right.
You only really have to use those Berries on the original breeding pair of foxes and once that’s done, their offspring will be automatically tame and warm up to you. We noticed that they were quick to scamper off once the sun rose, so you’re going to want to fence them in near your Minecraft house if keeping a large fox pack is something that you want to do. Fox cubs will stick close to their parents instead of following the player around, so you don’t have to worry about having a hanger-on while you’re knee-deep in bashing enemies. Foxes that are trusting enough will harm enemies who are harming you, though we'd want to leave cubs out of it for now.
Now that you’ve got a better idea of how to tame a fox in Minecraft, all that’s left is to venture forth into the biomes of your choice and to pick up some loyal pets for yourself. Just arm yourself with Berries, patience, and supplies for some night-time scouting until you find these furry, soon-to-be friends.
Minecraft foxes can carry single items, but if you want a pet to collect lots of resources for you, try to adopt some Minecraft Allay mobs.
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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.