Feeding a camel one cactus restores 2 health points (one heart), speeds up a baby camel’s growth, and, when you feed two adult camels, puts them into love mode so they can breed a baby camel.
Camels also follow any player holding a cactus, which makes it easy to walk one camel or a whole caravan across a desert biome or through a desert village.
Long caravan trips across the desert are much more fun with friends. Take a look at our best Minecraft server hosting list to find a server that can handle big survival worlds full of camels, bases, and exploration.
Minecraft Animals
With the Minecraft Server Hosting 1.20 Trails & Tales update, camels joined desert villages as new rideable and breedable mobs. Each camel is a tall passive camel mob that naturally spawns in the center of a desert village and does not respawn once killed, so every adult camel you find is worth keeping alive. A saddled camel can carry up to two players, walk steadily across sand blocks in desert biomes, and step over 1.5-block-high walls and fences without jumping. They also have a dash move: holding and releasing the jump key makes the camel lunge forward in a long stride, which is great for crossing small gaps in dunes or canyon cuts.
What do Camels Eat in Minecraft? Here’s the Scoop.
The answer to “what do camels eat in Minecraft” is simple: camels eat cactus. Cactus is the only food item that camels will accept, so wheat, hay bales, carrots, or other common animal food does nothing for them. If you hold a cactus in your hand, nearby Minecraft camels will turn their heads, walk towards you, and follow you as long as you stay within about ten blocks.
Desert villages with camel stables become even more useful once you unlock strong villager trades there. Our Minecraft villager trading guide for 1.21 explains how to level librarians and other professions so your camel outpost doubles as a gear hub.
Why Cactus is the Chosen Delicacy?
Cactus fits the camel mob perfectly because both live in desert biomes. Cactus blocks naturally generate on sand blocks in hot, dry areas, so players exploring a desert biome or badlands rarely run out of them. You can break cactus blocks by hand or with any tool, pick up the drops, and re-plant them on sand or red sand to grow more.
A basic cactus farm only needs a few sand blocks, some cactus, and a place for the drops to land. The cactus automatically breaks when a neighbouring block touches it, so you can let the plants grow, nudge them with fences or temporary blocks, and collect the pieces in hoppers or water streams. Once this is set up, you always have enough cactus to feed camels, heal them, and use them for breeding.
Feeding camels, cactus serves two primary purposes:
Restoration: If a camel sustains injury, offering it a cactus replenishes its health.
Breeding: Providing cactus to two camels initiates “love mode,” enabling them to produce a baby camel.
Feeding Your Camel
Feeding camels in Minecraft is straightforward once you know the trick. Put a cactus on your hotbar and hold it in your main hand, walk up to the camel until the “Feed” prompt appears, and use the interact button on the camel. Hearts will appear if an adult camel has just entered love mode, and green particles will appear if you have just helped a baby camel grow.
You do not need to tame camels before feeding or riding them. As soon as you place a saddle on a camel’s back, you can ride it, and up to two players can sit on the same saddled camel at once. Food is not required to keep camels alive, but cactus is a handy way to heal them, breed new camels, and move them around the desert more easily.
When you travel across desert biomes with a camel caravan, a reliable way to cook food and mark your base helps a lot. Learn how to make a campfire in Minecraft to set up simple cooking spots and tall smoke signals your camels can walk back to.
Aspiring to maintain an endless supply of cactus for your desert allies? Establish a low-maintenance cactus farm using the following method:
If you plan to keep several camels, it is worth setting up a small cactus farm instead of hand-harvesting cactus blocks in every desert biome you visit. Place a line of sand blocks, plant one cactus on each, and build a frame of fences or other blocks next to the spaces where the cactus will grow. As each cactus grows to full height it touches the frame, breaks automatically, and drops an item that can fall onto hoppers or into a simple water channel. This compact farm runs on its own while you explore, giving you more than enough cactus to feed, breed, and heal a whole herd of camels.
Frequently Asked Questions
What food do camels eat in Minecraft?
Camels eat cactus in Minecraft, and cactus is the only food item they will accept.
How do you breed camels in Minecraft?
Feed one cactus to each of two adult camels to put them into love mode; they will produce a baby camel, then need a five-minute cooldown before breeding again.
Can feeding camels cactus heal them?
Feed one cactus to each of two adult camels to put them into love mode; they will produce a baby camel, then need a five-minute cooldown before breeding again.
Do camels follow players holding cactus?
Camels follow players who hold a cactus, as long as they stay within roughly ten blocks of the player.
Do camels need food to survive in Minecraft?
No. Camels do not starve if you ignore them, but cactus is useful for healing them, breeding new camels, and speeding up baby camel growth.
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