Breeding animals in Hytale is a bit of a head-scratcher right now because, well, breeding isn’t in the game yet. That doesn’t mean you can’t put together a cozy little farm, though. You absolutely can fill pens with rabbits, sheep, pigs, and cows — you just need to capture them first. And with a little patience, they’ll even grow to like you… or at least tolerate you.
Here’s how to set up an animal pen, capture critters, and gently nudge them toward being tame in Hytale.
How to capture animals in Hytale
As things stand in early access, you can’t breed animals, but you can capture them. One approach is to build a big fenced area, leave a gap, and try to coax a herd (pigs, sheep, horses, etc.) to wander in before you close it up. It works in theory, but in practice it’s tough — most wildlife bolts the second they spot you.
The much cleaner option is crafting a capture crate at the farmer’s workbench. You’ll need four pieces of wood and 50 essence of life. Hold the crate and left-click on a small animal to scoop it up. No bait required.
The catch: only the smallest animals fit inside a capture crate. That includes most critters and baby versions of larger creatures. Examples:
- Calves
- Lambs
- Foals
- Rabbits (all sizes)
- Baby pigs
- Baby swine
- Mice
- Frogs
- Meerkats
- Armadillos
Once you’ve got one, carry the crate back to your farm. Build an enclosure first — wild animals sprint the moment you release them. You can craft fences at the builder’s workbench by dropping any wood into the input slot; one piece of wood turns into two fence sections.
To let an animal out of the crate, equip it and left-click again.
There’s also been some confusion around the craftable feed bag (farmer’s workbench). Its description implies it “lures” animals, but testing across multiple species suggests it doesn’t actually work like a lead or bait item outside a pen.
How to tame animals in Hytale
Breeding isn’t possible, but you can tame animals — to a point. Newly released animals start fully wild and will flee on sight. After spending about a day inside a closed pen with a feed bag available as food, you’ll start seeing heart icons above them, which signals they’ve become tame.
Temper expectations: tamed animals won’t follow you around, and they won’t start breeding. The big difference is they stop panicking — once tamed, they largely ignore you instead of scattering.
In testing, taming didn’t kick in without a feed bag inside the enclosure. To craft a feed bag, visit the farmer’s workbench and use 10 wheat, five vegetables, five fruits, and 10 essence of life. Note that capturing a semi-tamed animal again resets it to fully wild.
And if you’re eyeing the chicken coop, it doesn’t appear to function yet. Both freshly captured and previously tamed chickens make a break for it instead of settling in.
Since animals currently can’t reproduce, the most reliable way to gather hides and leather is still hunting wildlife in the open. Proper taming and breeding systems are expected later; when those arrive, this guide will be updated to reflect the new mechanics.