Minecraft Axolotl Finding, Taming, And Breeding Guide

Minecraft axolotls may be cute, but they can be a pain to find, let alone tame and breed. While other animals in Minecraft are plentiful, like cows and pigs, axolotls can only be found in one specific biome, and a somewhat rare one at that. At the time of writing, Minecraft axolotls can only be found in the experimental snapshot (Java) or latest beta (Bedrock) versions of the game though, so make sure you're not playing on the main release. If you want to know all about Minecraft axolotls, here's everything you need to know, including how to find, tame, and breed them.

Minecraft Axolotls: How To Find Them

Click to enlarge

To reiterate what is mentioned above, you can only find axoltols in Minecraft if you're playing on one of the pre-release versions of the game, because they haven't been added to the full release yet. This will change with the upcoming Caves & Cliffs update though, and we'll update this guide when it does.

Once you're playing on the correct version of the game, the Minecraft axolotl spawn location will only appear in Lush Caves biomes. These are a new form of cave biome that feature much more greenery and plant life than you'd usually expect to find underground, and this is the only place in Minecraft that axolotls can spawn naturally, without mods of course.

Within Lush Caves, axolotls can only spawn in water blocks that are below sea level (Y=63) and in total darkness. They can spawn in groups of one to four at a time, and come in five colours: blue, cyan, gold, wild (brown), and leucistic (pink).

Minecraft Axolotls: How To Tame Them

Click to enlarge

Since axolotls are peaceful towards players, you don't need to worry about taking damage from them or anything like that. All you need to tame them is a bucket of water: interact with the axolotl with the bucket of water equipped, and it will turn into a bucket of axolotl that you can take with you. When you return to your base and have a water source for your pet axolotls to live in, just empty the bucket the same way. You can also rename axolotls by placing the bucket of axolotl in an anvil.

Alternatively, a much more difficult but also more fun way is to attach a lead to the axolotl you want to tame. While axolotls move slow on land, on a lead they're much quicker, although they will die after five minutes out of the water.

Minecraft Axolotls: How To Breed Them

Click to enlarge

So you're back at base, and you have at least two axolotls chilling in the water. How do you breed them? The process is similar to breeding most other animals in the game, but you need to feed them buckets of tropical fish until the two axolotls enter love mode. At this point, a baby axolotl will spawn, which has a 1/1200 chance to be blue, or will inherit the colour of one of the parents at random. You can't breed the adult axolotls again for one minute in Bedrock edition or five minutes in Java.

Other important things to note about Minecraft axolotls is that they'll attack all other aquatic mobs other than turtles, dolphins, and other axolotls. This includes drowned. Axolotls can also play dead underwater to stop hostile mobs from attacking them, which grants Regeneration 1. So axolotls can be a handy ally to have if you're fighting underwater.

For more Minecraft goodness, why not read about the Minecraft Sonic the Hedgehog DLC?