What does the Sniffer do in Minecraft?

Minecraft 1.20 introduced the fan-favorite Sniffer to this game. After this entity won the Mob Vote back in October 2022, fans eagerly awaited its arrival. When the Trails and Tales update was released, their patience had paid off. This new mob doesn't spawn on its own, and unless players seek it out, they might have a hard time figuring out the entity.

Fortunately, Sniffers are quite interesting and do a lot more than some might expect. Here's a complete guide to what Sniffers do, where to find them, and so much more.

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What Sniffers do in the latest update of Minecraft

Sniffers wander around aimlessly, looking for seeds in the latest update. During this, they avoid anything in their way. On occasion, the Sniffer will stop to smell its surroundings. If there are any ancient seeds nearby, the entity will track them by pressing its nose to the ground.

When a Sniffer finds a seed, this entity uses its nose to dig into the ground until it gets to the torchflower seeds or a pitcher pod. At minimum, a 6×6 block space is needed for this mob to sniff out ancient seeds. Once it has done that, this entity has an eight-minute cooldown before it can track these items again.

Unfortunately, not all blocks can be dug through by this mob. Stone, sandstone, and others are just too hard for that. These Minecraft blocks can be dug through, though:

• Dirt
• Grass Block
• Podzol
• Coarse Dirt
• Rooted Dirt
• Moss Block
• Mud
• Muddy Mangrove Roots

Everything else will derail the Sniffer. Furthermore, the only other behavioral aspect of this mob is that it can breed. Since it seeks out torchflower seeds, those can also be used to breed two Sniffers in 1.20 update.

After they do, they do not spawn a baby Sniffer. Instead, they will drop an egg that can eventually hatch into a third mob. Subsequent to breeding, they require five minutes of cooldown before they can do the same again.

The egg, once it hatches, releases a baby Sniffer. This is technically called a Snifflet. These baby mobs take 48,000 game ticks to grow up into adults. This translates into two in-game Minecraft days.

The Sniffer spawns by eggs (Image via Mojang)

Sniffer eggs can only spawn in suspicious sand that generates in warm oceans. Therefore, they are pretty rare. However, once you find one, it's very easy to hatch. Keep in mind that you don't have to use any specific tool on an egg. Even mining them with your hand will suffice and yield the item.

Simply place the egg anywhere and wait. Once it's down, the hatching process begins, and Minecraft players will have a Snifflet on their hands before they know it.