How to tame a fox minecraft

This article is about the mob in the base game. For the pet mob in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Arctic Fox.

Spawn

Grove
Snowy Taiga
Old Growth Pine Taiga
Old Growth Spruce Taiga
Taiga

Usable items
  • Glow Berries
  • Lead
  • Sweet Berries

Foxes are nocturnal passive mobs that spawn commonly in taiga, old growth taiga, and snowy taiga biomes. A fox can carry a single item in its mouth, but prefers food over other items.

Spawning[]

Foxes spawn in taiga, old growth taiga, snowy taiga and grove biomes, in groups of 2–4.

5% of them spawn as babies.

Foxes that spawned in a snowy biome are white.

Holding items[]

Foxes have a 20% chance to spawn (via spawn egg or naturally) with one of the following items in their mouth:

Drops[]

Upon death, adult foxes drop 1–2‌[JE only]/1–3‌[BE only] when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Like other baby animals, killing a baby fox yields no experience.

Foxes always drop any item they pick up and are still holding (they cannot drop food that they have eaten, for example) and drop items they spawn with naturally with a 100% chance, so:

If a fox is killed while holding a totem of undying, then the fox consumes the totem and revives itself instead of dropping the totem.

Upon successful breeding, 1–7 are dropped.

Behavior[]

Foxes move quickly like ocelots and flee from nearby players, wolves and polar bears when wild, unless the player approaches them while sneaking. They take no damage or speed reduction while moving through sweet berry bushes.

Baby foxes follow adult foxes. Breeding two adults with sweet berries or glow berries produces a kit that trusts the player, but still follows nearby adult foxes. Naturally spawned kits do not trust players.

Attacking[]

How to tame a fox minecraft

An animation showing a fox's jump during an attack on a chicken.

Foxes attack either by running up to the target or by pouncing. Like rabbits and goats, foxes can jump (pounce) more than one block high without status effects or player input. A fox prepares to pounce by tilting and lowering its head and lowering its body to become shorter. Then it leaps 2–5 blocks into the air, jumping over fences and walls if needed. If the target mob moves from its location during this sequence, the pounce misses the target. In Bedrock Edition, foxes also shake side to side before pouncing and their legs can be seen waving while in midair.

Foxes attack chickens, rabbits, cod, salmon, and tropical fish. Foxes also attack baby turtles on land only. However, foxes don't attack wolves, even if they are being attacked by them. Foxes also may attack mobs that hurt a player they trust.

Red foxes prefer to attack chickens, rabbits, and baby turtles, all of which are on land, over cod, salmon, and tropical fish; conversely, snow foxes prefer to attack cod, salmon, and tropical fish over land-dwelling creatures.

How to tame a fox minecraft

An snow fox stuck in a snow layer when attacking.

A fox that pounces into a snow layer becomes momentarily stuck, remaining face-down, emitting particles while shaking, and returning to normal shortly after.

Foxes swim to attack fish in water for food. Baby foxes following adults into the water cannot swim, and eventually drown.

Foxes attempt to run toward the closest attackable mob, even if attached to a lead, but do not attempt to break the lead. A fox wakes up from sleeping to attack a mob.

Foxes that trust the player attack zombies, drowned, husks, zombified piglins, skeletons, wither skeletons, strays, phantoms, silverfish, endermites, spiders, cave spiders, vexes, vindicators, evokers, pillagers, ravagers, blazes, endermen, goats and pandas, when those mobs attack the player. They do not attack any mob the player attacks, unlike tamed wolves. They also do not attack zombie villagers despite the fact that they are a zombie variant.

A fox that trusts the player flees from wolves and polar bears, unless the wolf or polar bear attacks the player, in which case the fox attacks in defense of the player.

When attacking phantoms, foxes do not jump to attack.

A trusting fox does not attack a tamed wolf unless the fox doesn't trust the player who tamed the wolf.

Sleeping[]

Foxes are one of the few mobs in the game that can sleep, along with cats, villagers, and bats.

During the day, if a thunderstorm is not occurring, foxes attempt to find a space with a sky light level of 14 or less and sleep. Block light has no effect on this. While it sleeps, it slowly moves its head up and down. A fox wakes if approached by a player or mob. Foxes do not flee if the player approaches while sneaking until the player gets on an adjacent block.

If the sky light at the fox's position becomes 15 or above, either due to a block above being destroyed or the fox being moved, the fox wakes up.

Foxes can drop and pick up items in their sleep.

Trusting foxes can fall asleep even if attached to a lead. They can also be moved with leads while sleeping.

Foxes do not sleep if they are within 12 blocks of an armor stand.

Screeching[]

Foxes occasionally make loud screeches during nighttime, unless a trusted player is near them.

Sitting[]

A fox sits down sometimes during the day if the fox cannot find a shaded area to sleep. The fox sits for a short time, then hops back up. Foxes sit down even when attached to a lead or in a boat. Foxes that have not been bred by the player always sit while in the Nether, even while attached to a lead.

Holding items[]

If any item is on the ground near a fox, it travels to the item and picks it up, and the item appears in the fox's mouth. However, usually a fox chooses to attack a mob over picking up an item. This behavior is not limited to food and animal products; a fox can pick up any item that the player can pick up. However, they prefer to pick up food items, and if they have already picked up non-food items, they drop the non-food items to pick up food instead. A fox can also swap a food item it is holding for a different food item. A fox eats any food item it picks up (besides cake) after 30 seconds and the fox is affected by any side effects from the food, such as poison or teleportation. For example, if a fox eats an enchanted golden apple, it obtains the absorption and effects of the enchanted apple. If a fox eats any type of soup or stew, an empty bowl is dropped. If there is a stage 3 or 4 sweet berry bush within a 16 block radius of a fox, it sprints toward the bush and eats the berries, dropping the item it was holding. It is the only mob not damaged by the sweet berry bush, and still moves quickly. If a fox picks up a weapon or an item with enchantments, including Looting and Fire Aspect, these items affect the fox's attack as if the fox is wielding the weapon in its main hand, although the item retains its durability when used by the fox. If a fox is holding a totem of undying, it receives the effects after taking fatal damage. If a fox is holding a chorus fruit, it eats the fruit and teleports accordingly. In Bedrock Edition, if a fox wields a sword with the Fire Aspect enchantment while attacking a mob on a campfire / soul campfire, it ignites the campfire and does critical damage to the entity.

Villages[]

During the night, foxes sometimes go to villages. There, they can be seen attempting to attack villager-owned chickens, which can be heard squawking. Snow foxes go to snow villages, and red foxes go to any other type of village, preferably taiga villages since foxes spawn in the taiga biome.

Breeding[]

When sweet berries or glow berries are used on two foxes, the foxes breed, producing a baby fox. The baby fox trusts the player that bred it and does not flee from that player as it grows up; however, because baby foxes also follow nearby adult foxes, an adult running away from the player may cause the baby to do the same. A lead can be useful during this time to keep the baby fox from fleeing until it has finished maturing to an adult itself, or the player can simply kill the adult foxes with a ranged weapon.

If a red fox is bred with an snow fox, the baby has a 50% chance of being either red or snow.

How to tame a fox minecraft

A tamed fox with an egg inside its mouth, notice it doesn't run away from the player.

Taming (gaining trust)[]

Breeding two foxes results in a tamed baby fox. No other action is needed to tame a fox. Tamed baby foxes still follow adult foxes, and untamed adult foxes run away from the player, potentially leading the tamed baby fox to follow. Solutions include killing the adult foxes and using a lead to hold the tamed baby fox.

Predators[]

Wild wolves are aggressive toward foxes when within 18‌[JE only]/16‌[BE only] blocks. In Java Edition, adult polar bears also sneak toward foxes to attack them; in Bedrock Edition adult polar bears attack foxes within 16 blocks. In Java Edition, baby polar bears, though normally passive to players, also attempt to attack foxes within 16 blocks, or when their adult polar bear attacks one.

Tamed foxes retreat from polar bears and wolves but not tamed wolves. A tamed wolf whose owner attacks a tamed fox also targets the fox.

Sounds[]

How to tame a fox minecraft

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Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
Foxfox121entity.fox.name

Entity data[]

Foxes have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format

  • Entity data
    • Additional fields for mobs that can breed
    • Tags common to all entities
    • Tags common to all mobs
    •  Crouching: 1 or 0 (true/false) – Whether the fox is crouching.
    •  Sitting: 1 or 0 (true/false) – Whether the fox is sitting.
    •  Sleeping: 1 or 0 (true/false) – Whether the fox is sleeping.
    •  Trusted: A list of players that the fox trusts. For a list with more than 2 elements, only the first and the last are considered.
      • : The UUID of each trusted player, stored as four ints.
    •  Type: ID of the fox's type.

[edit]

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Advancements[]

History[]

September 26, 2018Foxes are announced to be part of the biome vote at MINECON Earth 2018.
September 29, 2018Foxes are showcased at MINECON Earth 2018.
September 29, 2018Taiga wins the biome vote, meaning foxes are to be added to the game.
Java Edition
1.1419w07a
How to tame a fox minecraft
How to tame a fox minecraft
How to tame a fox minecraft
How to tame a fox minecraft
Added foxes and baby foxes.
19w08aFoxes can no longer have armor equipped onto them with a dispenser.
The bounding box and eye height of foxes have been changed, which prevents them from drowning when swimming.
Foxes that trusted the player in the previous snapshot no longer trust them.
The list tag that is used for the trusted players of foxes has been renamed from UUIDs to TrustedUUIDs.
Foxes now drop any item they're holding if they can pick up a food item.
Foxes no longer have a chance of dropping multiple of a held item when killed with the looting effect, rendering duplicating items in this fashion impossible.
19w09aSpecial effects of certain food, such as spider eyes and chorus fruit, now apply to foxes when they consume the food.
Foxes now attack tropical fish and pufferfish.
19w12aAdvancement "Two by Two" now requires foxes.
19w14aFox model is no longer to the side of the shadow.
Pre-Release 2The baby fox model is no longer to the side of the shadow.
Foxes can now turn their heads.
The baby fox head is no longer off-center.
Pre-Release 3Foxes no longer get stuck after pouncing.
Foxes no longer walk/slide when sleeping.
Pre-Release 4Foxes now have 10 health, down from 20 × 10.
1.15Pre-Release 2Foxes now spawn in all taiga variants.
1.1620w21aThe sound event used by foxes when teleporting (from having consumed a chorus fruit) is now distinct from the sound event used for players.[2]
1.1721w05aFoxes now eat glow berries.
Foxes can now walk on top of powder snow without falling in.
1.1821w44aFoxes can now spawn on podzol, coarse dirt, and snow blocks.
Bedrock Edition
1.13.0beta 1.13.0.1
How to tame a fox minecraft
How to tame a fox minecraft
How to tame a fox minecraft
How to tame a fox minecraft
Added foxes and baby foxes.
Caves & Cliffs (experimental)beta 1.16.220.52Foxes now eat glow berries.
1.17.0beta 1.17.0.50Foxes can now walk on top of powder snow without falling in.

Gallery[]

In other media[]

How to tame a fox minecraft

This page would benefit from the addition of more images. 

Please remove this notice once you've added suitable images to the article.
The specific instructions are: Pixel art fox from the biome vote video

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Fox" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

  • Although a fox appears to hold an item in its mouth, it is technically holding the item in its main hand, therefore anything held affects it, such as a sword increasing its damage or a totem of undying resurrecting it.
  • In the real world, some species of fox jump high to catch their prey by surprise, an action reflected in their Minecraft counterpart.
  • Foxes do not pick up items when gamerule mobGriefing is set to false.
  • When foxes were being added into Minecraft, a glitch occurred where they looked like boxes.[3]
  • Baby foxes are small enough that when they are swimming, they take drowning damage. This is noticeable when they attempt to attack fish.
  • There is a splash screen "In case it isn't obvious, foxes aren't players" in the game, which was added from the description of the bug MC-166292.
  • The first and third screeching sounds foxes make are the same. The first sound is the third in reverse, but higher-pitched, and the third is the first in reverse, but lower-pitched.
  • Fox sounds are actually combined and heavily edited cat and dog sounds.[4]

References[]

Entities