How to Tame Foxes in Minecraft

Last Updated: January 11, 2022

Foxes in Minecraft can make extremely cute pets. Fortunately, even though they're untamable (they'll never follow you like tamed wolves or cats do), you can get them to trust you, which stops them from running away if you get too close.

Steps

1
Locate a Taiga biome, Giant Tree Taiga or Snow Taiga biome. Normal Red Foxes will only spawn in Taiga and Giant Tree Taiga biomes while the white Arctic Foxes can only spawn in the Snowy Taiga. All three biome families can be identified by their dense spruce forests, ferns, and patches of sweet berry bushes.
- The Taiga biome is a colder counterpart to normal forests, sporting darker grass and large boulders made out of both normal and mossy cobblestone half-buried in the ground.
- The Giant Tree Taiga biome is similar to the normal Taiga, except some of the trees have thicker 2x2 trunks. These generate alongside their normal 1x1 trunk counterparts. A number of grass blocks are also replaced by podzol and coarse dirt.
- The Snowy Taiga biome is effectively a snow-covered and more hilly version of the normal Taiga; rivers here are often partially (or completely) frozen. Igloos can sometimes generate here.
  - Not to be confused with the Snowy Tundra biome, which is essentially a snow-covered Plains biome. Trees in this biome are scarce, and foxes don't spawn here at all.
2
Gather some sweet berries. Patches of sweet berry bushes can be found in every type of taiga biome, with each chunk having a ¹⁄₁₂ chance to generate a random patch. Once ready for harvest, large red dots appear all over the bush.
- Punching sweet berry bushes won't drop the berries on Java, although it does on Bedrock.
- Gather enough to be able to breed two foxes and grow a kit into an adult.
- Some bushes may have had their berries eaten by a fox. You can either wait for them to regrow or bonemeal the bush.
- Glow berries may also be used, however, they're much harder to acquire since, outside of custom worlds (Java) or experimental gameplay (Bedrock), they can only generate inside minecart chests within abandoned mineshafts.^{[1]
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3
Locate two adult foxes. You'll need two foxes in order to breed them with each other.
- Unlike ocelots (untamable in updates 1.14 and beyond), who'll trust you after being fed a few fish, wild foxes, both the adults and the kits, will never trust you. Only foxes that you've bred yourself will trust you.
- If one or both of the foxes you find are kits (babies), simply feed them sweet berries to speed up their growth.
- Keep an eye out for the drops of chickens, rabbits, and/or fish on the ground or in the water, as foxes love hunting them and will pounce on them if nearby.
4
Lure the foxes toward you. Hold the berries in your hand and sneak closer. This will lure nearby foxes, causing them to creep closer towards you.
- Try not to move while luring them - otherwise, you'll scare them away.
- Consider holding the berries in your offhand if you're playing on Java Edition. That'll make your job easier later on.
5
Breed the two foxes. Once they get close enough, feed the sweet berries to both foxes to send them into love mode (red hearts start floating around them). They'll then mate (rub against each other) for a few seconds before producing a baby.
- The parents have a slight cooldown after mating, during which time they can't be fed. They can still be lured by holding berries near them though.
6
Put a leash on the kit. Baby animals always follow nearby adults of the same species (ie. child following a parent), so unless you leash them, they'll follow their parents whenever they run away from you.
- Leashes are also necessary to move the fox back to your base, as they won't follow behind you on their own, even if they trust you.
7
Feed the kit until it becomes an adult. Once leashed, the kit might start running around crazily trying to follow its parents. It'll calm down once it's fully grown though.
8
Enjoy your new pet fox. Congratulations, you now have a pet fox that won't run away from you!

Community Q&A

Question

Does this mean that the fox will always follow me, never attempting to leave me?

Christina Whitmore

Community Answer

No, not quite. The fox will still wander around, except it won't run away. It'll walk off, essentially. It could stay by you if it wants to, but I keep all my foxes in my base.
Question

Will the fox get a collar once tamed?

Christina Whitmore

Community Answer

No, just a heart for you. It won't follow you either. The only good thing that comes from this is that you have a wild animal that trusts you.

Things You'll Need

Sweet berries or Glow berries
A lead
Bonemeal (optional)

Warnings

Both polar bears and wild/untamed wolves prey on nearby foxes (which run instead of fighting back). Bring a weapon that can one-shot them in the likely event you'll need to fight them off.

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