5 interesting facts about sniffer in Minecraft 1.20 update

Minecraft's 2022 Mob Vote victor is a creature known as the sniffer, which is slated to be released in the 1.20 Trails & Tales update. However, the ancient mob has been made available in ongoing snapshots and previews for update 1.20, allowing players to get an initial impression before it is completely implemented.

The sniffer will be the latest mob addition to Minecraft in Trails & Tales alongside the camel, and many players are already getting excited to see what it can do. Currently, the sniffer can be interacted with and used in beta versions, but it hasn't had all of its features introduced.

Be that as it may, there are still more than a few fun facts to know about this all-new Minecraft mob.

---

5 lesser-known facts about Minecraft's sniffer mob

1) They can drop moss blocks

Sniffers can drop moss blocks upon death (Image via Mojang)

While a sniffer's death can certainly be sad to see, the mob does have item and experience drops like many of its in-game counterparts. Upon death, sniffers drop one to three experience points when killed by a player or a tamed wolf. However, killing a sniffer in this way also has a 10% chance of the sniffer dropping a moss block. This small percentage chance can be increased with the Looting enchantment.

Since moss blocks are typically only found within lush caves, sniffers present a new way to collect moss blocks in Minecraft's Survival Mode.

---

2) Snifflet heads

When two sniffers are bred with torchflower seeds, they produce a baby sniffer known as a snifflet. This progeny is somewhat smaller than its full-grown parents, and oddly enough, there is a size discrepancy between Minecraft editions.

According to earlier information provided to players by Mojang's news blog, snifflets have larger heads in Bedrock Edition than they do in Java Edition. It's unclear as to why this is the case, but it's a fun little snippet of information to think about as players create entire populations of sniffers within their worlds.

---

3) They can only dig on certain blocks

Sniffers love digging for plant seeds, but can only do so in some areas (Image via Mojang)

As most fans know by now, sniffers primarily dig underground to find ancient plant seeds in Minecraft. Currently, the mob can only find the seeds of torchflowers, but more plants may become available to dig in the Trails & Tales update. Though sniffers can dig these seeds up, they have to do so on specific blocks. Therefore, players should keep sniffers out of certain biomes if they want the lumbering creature to dig up seeds as intended.

As of Minecraft 1.20's betas, the sniffer can dig for seeds in dirt, grass, podzol, rooted dirt, coarse dirt, moss, mud, and muddy mangrove roots.

---

4) Activity cooldowns

Due to their cooldowns, having multiple sniffers in Minecraft should be more productive (Image via Mojang)

Like many creatures in the game, sniffers can't breed or find seeds in immediate succession. After breeding, they will be placed on a five-minute cooldown before they can be fed more torchflower seeds for breeding purposes. However, players can still feed sniffers torchflower seeds to heal them in the event that they take damage.

Additionally, after a sniffer digs up seeds, there will be an eight-minute cooldown before it can dig for more. It may roam and sniff during this time, but the sniffer won't be able to find any more seeds until the eight minutes are up.

Since this is the case, it's likely a wise move for Minecraft players to breed several sniffers. This will allow more seeds to be found even when some of the sniffers in the group are on cooldown.

---

5) They're lead-friendly

Keep your sniffer close by leashing it with a lead (Image via Mojang)

When sniffers are idle or are hunting for seeds in Minecraft, they don't pay much attention to where they're going. They'll avoid ground hazards and falls as best they can, but they don't account for every danger. Fortunately, like many in-game mobs, sniffers can have a lead attached to them by the player. This can help keep a sniffer near the player or a designated location.

The mob will still hunt for seeds even if it is attached to a lead. However, players should be careful not to wander too far away, as doing so will break the lead. If this happens, the mob will be free to roam around and continue its search for seeds.