Armadillo in Minecraft: Everything You Need to Know

There are lots of different mobs in Minecraft, with some looking cute while others being terrifying. But let’s be real, you always want more adorable mobs to join the game so you can pet them and add them to your village builds. Today, we’ll cover one of those cuties – the armadillo, a mob added in Minecraft 1.20.5 minor update. We’ll share everything you need to know about the armadillo, from its spawning location to its basic properties. So, with that said, let’s begin!

What is the Armadillo in Minecraft

Armadillo is an adorable neutral mob. It will curl in a ball if it feels threatened. These threats to armadillo include:

• Sprinting players
• Players on mounts or in vehicles
• Undead mobs like zombies, wither skeletons, and more

Armadillo will usually get scared from these threats even if they are around 5-7 blocks away. When an armadillo is rolled up into a call, it will not walk or eat. Also, it won’t curl in a ball if it’s in water, air, fleeing, or being led.

Armadillo will unroll if it doesn’t detect threats for three seconds. This sweet mob, for those unaware, was the winner of the Minecraft Mob Vote 2023. It won the battle against the crab and the penguin. Keep reading to discover why the community chose the armadillo over these two mobs.

Where Does the Armadillo Spawn?

Armadillos love warm climates and naturally spawn in all variants of savanna and badlands biomes. Moreover, they seem to be quite rare, so you’ll have to explore one of these areas thoroughly to locate a couple of armadillos.

Minecraft Armadillo: Basic Properties

Now that we know what the armadillo is and where it can be found, let’s examine its properties, starting with its health and then its breeding mechanics and drops.

Health

Small mobs usually have low HP, and the armadillo is no different. This little animal has 12 health points total, or only six hearts. This means that the armadillo is quite fragile and can easily die if attacked.

Moreover, while the armadillo is curled in a ball, its hard shell actually protects it from oncoming damage. This is why weak hits like punches don’t deal any damage to the armadillo. Also, it will occasionally peek out of its shell to see if there are any threats nearby.

Armadillos are not immune to fall damage and will die if they fall from a height equal to or greater than 15 blocks. They also take damage from fire or lava as well as can drown in water. If an armadillo takes damage, it will roll up and stay like that for a longer period than if it was just scared.

Breeding

Armadillos spawn pretty rarely, but fortunately, we can breed them. This will not only allow you to have an adorable army of cute baby armadillos, but it’ll also offer infinite armadillo drops (more on this below). To breed armadillos, you’ll need two adults and two pieces of their favorite food, i.e., spider eyes.

Yes, armadillos eat spider eyes. Anyway, in case you didn’t know, spider eyes can only be obtained by killing the spider mob. This means you won’t get them if the spiders die due to fall damage or fire damage. They only drop eyes if the player or a tamed wolf defeats them.

Furthermore, looting Minecraft enchantment helps increase the chance, and the number of spider eyes drops. You may also obtain spider eyes by killing witches and looting desert pyramid chests.

Once you get the spider eyes, right-click the adult armadillos with them, and they will enter love mode. After that, the two animals will get close to each other, and a baby armadillo will soon spawn.

The baby can then take a few minutes to grow up, but this process can be accelerated by feeding it more spider eyes. If the armadillos are curled up, they won’t accept food, so they cannot breed. You must wait for the cooldown to wear off to breed them again.

Because armadillos love spider eyes, spiders and cave spiders are scared of them, like skeletons are afraid of wolves. So, if you hate spider noises, bring these cuties to your base, and you won’t be bothered by spiders any time soon.

Drops

Now, let’s focus on the most important property of armadillos. Don’t worry as no armadillo killing will be done. If you go ahead and make a brush tool in Minecraft, you can use it on an adult armadillo, and it’ll drop one armadillo scute.

You will be able to obtain it regardless of whether the armadillo is curled up or not. In addition, there is no cooldown between the brush uses on an armadillo, as you can use it repeatedly without stopping. However, there is a catch.

Using a brush in this way will deplete its durability rapidly. So, depending on the game edition, you can get only 4-5 scutes from an armadillo with one unenchanted brush.

So, you will need at least two unenchanted brushes to get sufficient scutes to make one wolf armor. If you put the unbreaking enchantment on the brush, it will last significantly longer. Moreover, a dispenser filled with brushes can also harvest the armadillo scutes, which allows us to automate this process.

The armadillo can drop the scutes by itself occasionally – one every 5-10 minutes. Scutes are also useful if you want to repair the wolf armor. Hold them in your main hand and use them on a wolf with damaged wolf armor to restore 8 durability.

You will get some XP to breed two armadillos besides the scutes. And in case you’re curious, you only get XP from killing the adult armadillo and absolutely nothing after slaying a baby armadillo.

And that’s all you need to do about the armadillo mob in Minecraft. It’s a wonderful addition to the game and finally makes the long-asked-for feature a reality. So, in our opinion, the armadillo won the competition fair and square. With that said, what are your thoughts on this adorable animal? Tell us in the comments below!