What Do Armadillos Eat in Minecraft? Full Food Guide

Armadillos eat spider eyes in Minecraft. That’s the only food item you can use on Armadillos, which works for both breeding and speeding up baby Armadillo growth. However, you can’t tame Armadillos by feeding them.

Overall, Spider Eyes in Minecraft serve two purposes for Armadillos, breeding and growth boost.

We’ve interacted quite a bit with Armadillos in Minecraft whenever we needed Wolf Armor, and this guide covers everything about Armadillo feeding, including what they eat, how breeding works, why they sometimes refuse food, and the practical differences between feeding and taming.

Spider Eyes: The Only Food Armadillos Eat in Minecraft

Armadillos in Minecraft only respond to Spider Eyes. No other food items work on Armadillos. If you’re looking to breed Armadillos or speed up the growth of baby Armadillos, you can only use Spider Eyes.

Armadillos only eating Spider Eyes is also a source of confusion amongst many players. Most animals use different food items for varying purposes.

If you’re planning to set up a comprehensive farm in Minecraft, you’ll also need to have Pig food for their breeding, everything that Horses eat, and also food items for Sheep to eat. All Minecraft animals have different requirements for taming and breeding.

Spider Eyes drop from regular Spiders and Cave Spiders. Both variants commonly spawn at night in the overworld and inside dark caves. We find regular Spiders easier to farm than Cave Spiders, which have toxic bites.

How to Breed Armadillos With Spider Eyes in Minecraft

You can breed two adult Armadillos by feeding them Spider Eyes while they’re close together. They’ll produce one baby Armadillo and drop 1–7 experience orbs.

The Armadillo breeding process works like this:

• Find two adult Armadillos
• Hold Spider Eyes
• Right-click each Armadillo
• Wait for the baby to spawn

Breeding fails if an Armadillo rolls up after eating, which prevents them from reaching their mate. When that’s the case, the Armadillo needs another Spider Eye to try breeding again.

Why Armadillos Won’t Eat in Minecraft and How to Fix It

Armadillos can refuse to eat when they’re rolled up in Minecraft. In this state, Armadillos can’t eat and won’t move. Armadillos also cannot breed while in a defensive state.

Armadillos roll up when they detect specific threats and movements, like:

• Sprinting
  • Your movement speed can trigger armadillos to roll up.
• Using a mount
  • Riding horses or other mobs can scare armadillos.
• Taking damage
  • Any hit makes them curl up for protection.
• Undead mobs nearby
  • Zombies, skeletons, and similar creatures cause rolling.

How to Make Armadillos Unroll

You can unroll Armadillos in Minecraft by waiting three seconds after all threats disappear. The Armadillo unrolls automatically once it confirms safety.

To unroll an Armadillo, you should:

• Do not sprint
• Get off your mount
• Do not damage armadillos
• Remove any undead mobs around the armadillos
• Get armadillos in contact with water
• Use a lead on an armadillo

Armadillos peek out occasionally while rolled to check their surroundings. If they still detect danger during a peek, they stay curled. Remove yourself from the 7-block radius, stop sprinting, and stay still. Water contact or attaching a lead forces immediate unrolling regardless of nearby threats.

How to Feed Armadillos Without Scaring Them

You should walk instead of sprinting while feeding Armadillos in Minecraft to avoid scaring them. Sprinting triggers their roll-up defense even when you’re just trying to feed them.

Here’s everything you can do to feed armadillos without scaring them:

• Clear undead mobs first
  • Take down zombies and skeletons within 7 blocks.
• Wait for uncurling
  • Let already-rolled Armadillos peek and relax first.
• Hold the Spider Eyes visible
  • Armadillos follow players showing food.
• Don’t mount animals nearby
  • Riding Horses and other animals frightens armadillos.

Can You Tame Armadillos in Minecraft?

No, you can’t tame armadillos in Minecraft. Armadillos never become tamed pets, regardless of how many Spider Eyes you feed them.

Armadillos follow you while you hold Spider Eyes, but they won’t obey commands or defend you like tamed wolves. Armadillos don’t have a taming feature in Minecraft. Armadillos function like cows or chickens in that sense. You can farm them, but never tame them.

What Spider Eyes Do for Baby Armadillos in Minecraft

Spider Eyes accelerate baby Armadillo growth by 10% in Minecraft. The growth boost stacks with no cooldown between feedings.

Baby Armadillos normally take 20 minutes to grow. Feeding one Spider Eye reduces the timer to 18 minutes, and feeding ten allows baby armadillos to grow instantly.

When Armadillo Food Actually Matters in Minecraft

Spider Eyes for Armadillos have two main functions, which are breeding and increasing baby growth.

Here’s when you actually need to feed Armadillos:

• Starting a Scute farm
  • Breeding builds your Armadillo population for passive scute drops. Turtle farming is also a decent alternative to Armadillo farms.
• Making Wolf Armor quickly
  • Growing baby Armadillos fast gives you more Scute sources sooner.
• Relocating Armadillos
  • Hold Spider Eyes to lead them across long distances.

You never need to feed Armadillos to collect Scutes. Adult Armadillos automatically drop one Scute every 5–10 minutes. Brushing them with a brush tool also drops one Scute per use with no timer. Neither method requires food.

Feeding and Breeding Armadillos in Minecraft Made Simple

In summary, Armadillos only eat Spider Eyes in Minecraft. You can feed two adults to breed them, or feed babies to cut their 20-minute growth timer by 10% per eye.

We’ve found the hardest part isn’t getting Spider Eyes (they’re everywhere at night). It’s remembering to walk instead of sprinting when approaching Armadillos. One rushed movement, and your Armadillo curls up, forcing you to wait those three seconds for it to relax again.

Here’s everything that matters one last time:

• Spider Eyes help increase baby Armadillo growth speed and also enable breeding.
• A nearby threat cancels the breeding process after you feed an Armadillo.
• You can’t tame Armadillos.
• You can brush Armadillos to immediately get scutes.

While you can experiment with farming in single-player Minecraft sessions, you can also explore the best Skyblock Minecraft servers and other similar server types on MineRank.

Armadillo FAQs in Minecraft

Can you tame armadillos in Minecraft?

No, you can’t tame Armadillos in Minecraft. They follow you while you hold spider eyes, but they never become loyal pets like wolves or cats. You can breed and farm Armadillos, but taming them isn’t possible.

Why do armadillos eat spider eyes in Minecraft?

Armadillos only eat spider eyes in Minecraft purely because it’s a design decision by Mojang. The choice also makes sense thematically since real armadillos eat insects.

What do you do with armadillos in Minecraft?

You can breed Armadillos to build a Scute farm in Minecraft. Adult armadillos drop one Scute every 5-10 minutes passively. You can also use a brush on Armadillos to manually collect Scutes, which can be used while crafting wolf armor.

Is an armadillo in Minecraft rare?

No, Armadillos spawn commonly in savannas and badlands biomes in Minecraft. They appear in groups of 2–3 in savannas and 1–2 in badlands variants.

What are Minecraft armadillos afraid of?

Minecraft Armadillos fear sprinting players, mounted players, undead mobs, and any source of damage. When threatened, they roll up into a defensive cube shape.

How rare is a spider eye in Minecraft?

Minecraft Spiders aren’t rare at all. Regular Spiders and Cave Spiders drop them commonly when defeated.

What do I get for defeating an armadillo in Minecraft?

You get pretty much nothing useful after defeating an Armadillo in Minecraft. Adult Armadillos only drop 1–3 experience points when defeated by a player or tamed wolf. Baby Armadillos drop nothing at all.