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Sniffers are one of Minecraft's most fascinating passive mobs, introduced with a twist of archaeology and ancient discovery. But before you can enjoy a Sniffer in your world, you first need to learn how to obtain a sniffer egg.

The sniffer egg is essential for hatching these creatures and exploring their seed-digging behavior. There are two main ways to get a sniffer egg: by brushing suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins, or by breeding two adult sniffers using torchflower seeds.

Finding Sniffer Eggs in Warm Ocean Biomes

To start, head to a warm ocean biome. This unique environment is the only place where ocean ruins—more specifically, warm ocean ruins—generate. These ruins often contain suspicious sand, a special type of block used in Minecraft's archaeology system.

Once you find suspicious sand, equip a brush and start brushing. Using any other tool may turn it into a broken block and cause you to lose any hidden item inside. In fact, obtaining breaking the block's direct item form via anything other than a brush results in a broken dig and missed opportunity.

Each suspicious sand block has a small chance—around 6.7%—to yield a sniffer egg, so you may need to try brushing multiple suspicious sand blocks scattered in the warm ocean ocean ruins. The egg is distinct and notable; the sniffer egg shown during brushing is large and easily identifiable.

Brushing the Sniffer Egg and Hatching

After discovering a sniffer egg, be cautious. Sniffer eggs, unlike turtle eggs, do not stack and can be picked up safely. Once you collect it, you can place it on any block to hatch. However, placing it on a moss block accelerates the process, halving the time it takes.

The sniffer egg hatches after about 20 minutes on a regular block, but on a moss block, it only takes 10 minutes. Placing the sniffer egg on a sniffer egg hatches block like moss or dirt triggers subtle crack subtitles, plop subtitles, and hatch subtitles, marking the stages of hatching. The sniffer egg crack sound indicates progress, and hit subtitles may play when interacting with the egg.

The sniffer egg's hatch state is tracked internally, using metadata bits default to determine when the egg is ready. This state is stored within block states and is randomly incremented over time, eventually resulting in a baby sniffer.

What Does A Sniffer Do In Minecraft?

The sniffer mob is a peaceful, passive creature. Once your sniffer egg hatch is complete, a baby sniffer appears. As it grows into an adult sniffer, it begins performing its primary role: finding ancient plant seeds.

The Sniffer uses its large nose to search through dirt, grass, and moss blocks. When it smells interesting blocks, it begins to dig. This behavior results in uncovering torchflower seeds and pitcher pods, both of which are exclusive decorative plants. The animation includes a slight block jump, and the dig emits step subtitles.

Sniffers wander passively and don’t attack players or mobs. Their main contribution to gameplay is seed collection and plant discovery, enriching both survival and decorative aspects of Minecraft.

How To Tame A Sniffer In Minecraft

Although you can't tame a Sniffer like a wolf or cat, you can breed them and lead them with torchflower seeds. Once your sniffer egg hatches into an adult sniffer, feeding it torchflower seeds will make it follow you temporarily and enter "love mode" if another adult sniffer is nearby.

To summarize:

  • You cannot saddle or directly control a Sniffer.

  • You can encourage sniffing behavior by standing nearby with seeds.

  • You can breed them to produce more sniffer eggs.

Their gentle behavior and ability to find rare seeds make them a wonderful companion mob, especially for builders and collectors.

Can You Ride A Sniffer In Minecraft?

In vanilla Minecraft, you cannot ride a Sniffer through regular gameplay. However, players in Creative Mode or using cheats can do so using commands.

Use the following command:

/ride [username] mount @e[type=minecraft:sniffer,limit=1,distance=..10]

This mounts the nearest Sniffer to your player. To dismount, either press SHIFT or use the command:

/ride [username] dismount

For a more immersive experience, consider mods like Hellion’s Sniffer+, which allow you to place saddles and chests on Sniffers, explore a sniffer block biome, and improve interactions beyond what is offered in vanilla. Be aware, this is not compatible with only all editions, so Bedrock players may need alternate giveable item identical tile addons.

How To Get Sniffer Eggs In Minecraft

There are two reliable methods to get sniffer eggs:

Method 1: Excavating Ocean Ruins

  • Search for warm ocean biomes.

  • Locate ocean ruins, which contain suspicious sand.

  • Equip a brush and begin brushing suspicious sand.

  • Carefully uncover the contents to possibly reveal sniffer eggs.

If you fail initially, continue exploring as sniffer eggs are somewhat rare.

Method 2: Breeding Two Adult Sniffers

  • First, acquire and hatch at least one sniffer egg from suspicious sand.

  • Once two adult sniffers are available, feed both torchflower seeds.

  • When in love mode, they will produce a sniffer egg, which appears as a block form item.

  • You can collect the egg, and place it on a supporting block like a moss block to hatch faster.

The egg produced will follow the same rules and mechanics as naturally-found eggs. After the breeding process, a 5-minute cooldown begins before another egg can be produced.

Breeding Sniffers In Minecraft

To breed sniffers:

  1. Find or hatch two adult sniffers.

  2. Feed each of them a torchflower seed.

  3. They will enter love mode and produce a sniffer egg.

Place this egg on any block to begin hatching. For faster results, use a moss block. The hatching speed doubles on moss, compared to regular blocks. The egg undergoes a slow transformation—it slowly hatches through randomly incremented metadata states. Listen for crack subtitles, plop subtitles, and step subtitles as the egg matures.

This block's direct item form can be safely collected if needed. But be careful: if it becomes a broken block, you'll lose the egg.

Over time, the sniffer egg's hatch state progresses until a baby sniffer emerges. This marks a rewarding end to a patient process involving archaeology, breeding, and plant discovery.

Conclusion

The sniffer egg is an exciting addition to Minecraft’s gameplay, offering both a new way to interact with the world and new decorative plant options. Whether you’re brushing suspicious sand in ancient ocean ruins or breeding two adult sniffers, the journey to obtain and hatch a sniffer egg is rich with exploration and surprises. Though you can’t tame or ride them traditionally, Sniffers are valuable companions who smell interesting things, enriching your world with vibrant flora.

So grab your brush, dive into the warm ocean, and start your quest for the next great passive mob in Minecraft.