Minecraft armadillo guide: How to find, breeding, uses, and more

Shortly after its announcement, the armadillo quickly became the favored Minecraft mob among fans. It won the mob vote against the penguin and the crab and is set to be released with the Minecraft 1.21 update.

As part of a Bedrock Edition beta update, the developer introduced the mob as an experimental feature. This allows players to interact with it, discover potential bugs and glitches, and provide feedback.

This article explores all the disclosed details about the new armadillo mob.

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Everything to know about armadillo in Minecraft

The armadillo is a shy mob that becomes startled and curls up into its shell when you sprint nearby. It shows the same response when undead mobs or players riding other mobs are in close proximity.

While rolled up in its shell, the mob takes three seconds to scan for potential dangers. If no threats are detected, it emerges from its protective shell.

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Where to find

Savanna biome (Image via Mojang)

To encounter the new armadillo mob, you need to explore the savanna biome, as it exclusively spawns in this particular environment. Despite it being relatively easy to find, it appears that the mob is not spawning very frequently in the Minecraft beta version.

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Breeding and drops

Players can get armadillo scutes using a brush (Image via Mojang)

If you manage to locate two armadillos, they can easily breed them by offering spider eyes.

If the armadillos are at a distance from each other, you have the option to attract one by holding a spider eye or using a leash to bring one to the location of the other. The offspring born from the pairing can grow faster if fed spider eyes.

Interestingly, the farming mechanics for this mob differ from the usual, as killing an armadillo does not yield any items. To obtain an item from it, you need to use a brush on the mob. This action results in the drop of an armadillo scute, a new crafting ingredient for another item.

You can use the brush on the armadillo an infinite number of times, and the mob will continue to drop scutes without a cooldown. However, this process quickly depletes the durability points of the brush.

The absence of a cooldown in the farming process is a bit unusual, and it could potentially be a bug in the beta version. If this is unintentional, this issue might get addressed in the near future with a fix or an update.

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Uses of armadillo scutes

Wolf armor crafting recipe in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

With the scutes obtained from the armadillo, you can craft armor for their pet wolves. This has been a long-requested feature by the playerbase and likely contributed to the mob winning the vote.

A pet wolf with an armor (Image via Mojang)

The wolf armor offers the same level of protection as diamond horse armor does for horses. Notably, it doesn't have durability points, and if the equipped wolf dies, the armor is dropped.