There are several unique mobs in Minecraft, including the recently added camel mob and Sniffer, the ancient seed-finding mob. One of the cutest mobs in Minecraft will, however, have to be the panda. They have several types with different personalities and facial expressions. If you want to capture and collect all the types, you will need to understand how breeding works in Minecraft. Some special mob variants, like the infamous blue axolotl or the brown panda, are only obtainable through breeding. So, in this guide, we will show you how you can breed pandas in Minecraft.
The panda mob is the only mob that has some additional breeding requirements in Minecraft, so keep reading to find out what they are. We have also details the various panda variants and their personalities towards the end.
Who is the panda mob in Minecraft?
Pandas are rare neutral mobs that spawn in jungle biomes and its variants. When they are attacked by a player, they attack back, but just once. Pandas is an interesting mob, as it has many different personalities, which determine what the panda will look like, as well as its behavior.
Items Required to Breed Pandas
Breeding pandas is really not a difficult task, as all you need is bamboo. You will need two pieces of bamboo to feed the pandas and get them into “love mode,” but you may also need more, depending on where you breed them. So, collect more than two bamboo, just in case.
Bamboo is a block found in the jungle and bamboo jungle biomes in Minecraft. You can break the bamboo with any tool, but a sword does the job fastest. You may also get bamboo by:
- Fishing in the jungle biomes
- Searching chests of jungle temples and shipwrecks
Where to Find Pandas in Minecraft
Pandas spawn on grass blocks at a light level greater than 8 and only in the jungle biome and its variants. You will most often find a group of 1 or 2 pandas. They are quite rare but are a bit more common in the bamboo jungles, where they can also spawn as cubs.
Since there is a lot of podzol (dirt-type block) in bamboo jungles, you could take the time and replace it with grass to maximize the chances of pandas spawning in that region. Furthermore, pandas will have a random personality assigned to them, but ones with a normal persona are the most common.
How to Breed Pandas in Minecraft
After you find two pandas and collect two pieces of bamboo, follow the steps below to breed them.
- First, walk up to one panda and right-click it with the bamboo selected.
- Then, do the same thing with the other panda, and you will see heart particles over their head.
- You may see them shaking their heads and eating the bamboo if you feed them again. They do enter the “love mode” (indicated by the heart particles), but don’t want to breed yet. This is the confusing part about pandas, and thankfully, the solution is fairly simple. They require a simple addition to their surroundings.
- In Java edition, pandas require at least one block of bamboo within a 5-block radius in order to breed. Also, bamboo shoots don’t count, but only a block of bamboo.
- In Bedrock edition, there should be at least 8 bamboo blocks in the 5-block radius around each panda for them to breed.
- Once the pandas agree to breed, they will do a regular breeding routine, like other breedable mobs in Minecraft, and get close to each other.
- Shortly after that, you will see a cute panda cub spawn, as well as a bit of XP.
If you bred the pandas in the jungle biome, there could have been bamboo blocks present already. So, your pandas may have bred normally the first time. In addition, you can feed the panda cub some bamboo to speed up its growth.
All Panda Variants in Minecraft
When two pandas breed in Minecraft, they produce a panda cub with a random personality, depending on the gene they have passed. It’s related to real-world genetics, therefore, it’s a bit complicated. If you’d like to read more about the behind-the-scenes values, you can visit Minecraft Wiki. Similar to breeding horses in Minecraft, the pandas get different personalities, which is also reflected in their appearance. Here are the panda variants you will find in Minecraft:
- Normal Panda
The normal panda is the most common of them all. When it comes to its appearance, it just has a simple frown. This variant has no specific actions or features, it’s just a regular black and white panda.
- Lazy Panda
Lazy pandas have a smile on their face and are rather laid back. Literally! They like lying on their backs, but when they are walking, lazy pandas are slower than other panda personalities, and therefore, they are the slowest land mobs in the game. You’ll have a bit of trouble getting them to follow you while holding bamboo.
- Worried Panda
Worried pandas have wide-open eyes and slightly opened mouth. They steer clear of the player and most hostile mobs. Furthermore, these pandas shake and hide their faces when a thunderstorm is happening. So, make sure they sleep regularly. Also, they don’t want to eat bamboo or cake on their own.
- Playful Panda
Playful pandas are cute and goofy, identified by their tongues sticking out of their mouths. Panda cubs like to roll and jump around, but this variant does that even in the adult phase. They can occasionally roll off cliffs and seriously hurt themselves, so having them in a fenced-off area is a good idea.
- Aggressive Panda
Aggressive pandas have a distinctive tough and angry look on their faces, thanks to the thick eyebrows. While other pandas will attack you once after they’ve been attacked, aggressive pandas will not stop after the first hit. They will attack until the target is killed or until the target goes out of range. These pandas also get angry towards any attacker that’s hurt another panda. Although these creatures are slow, they have the same reach as the player.
- Weak Panda
Weak pandas have teary eyes and runny noses. They’re fairly fragile, with half the health of other pandas. Also, they sneeze more than usual as cubs than other panda cub variants.
- Brown Panda
Brown pandas are the rarest panda variant in Minecraft. They don’t have any particular behavior patterns and look like normal pandas, but are brown and white, instead of the regular black and white colors.
So, that’s what you need to know about breeding pandas in Minecraft. What is your favorite panda variant? Will you try to get pandas with all the personalities, including the super rare brown panda? Tell us in the comments below!
