Are you curious about the food rabbits consume in Minecraft? No wonder! Rabbits are neutral mobs that spawn in several biomes and exist in many color combinations. Creamy-colored bunnies are the most frequent variants and appear in desert and desert-based biomes. You may also see white and black and white rabbits in snowy plains, taigas, slopes, and beaches, and groves, and frozen oceans and rivers. Additionally, those with brown, brown and white, and black fur color can appear in meadows, taigas, flower forests, and old growth pine and spruce taigas. Luckily, they all demand the same food, forcing us to answer the question, “what do rabbits eat in Minecraft?”
Which foods do rabbits eat in Minecraft?
Minecraft rabbits, regardless of their fur color, consume the following food items:
- Carrot
- Golden Carrot
- Dandelion
- Carrot Crops (in specific circumstances)
There’s a key distinction between the first three and the last items, however. The first three can be given to rabbits in Java Edition and Bedrock Edition alike. As soon as the player holds one of the three items, the rabbits within 8 blocks will turn to them and slowly follow. That is useful for bringing them to the desired location since they cannot be leashed. The extent of their following is even falling off of cliffs after jumping to get a carrot or golden carrot. They will not fall into lava or swim, however.
In contrast, rabbits will only consume carrot crops if:
- the carrot crop has matured (only in Java Edition)
- the carrot crop growth stage is not 1 or smaller (Bedrock Edition only)
For that to happen, the server or single-player administrator must configure the /gamerule mobGriefing command to true(/gamerule mobGriefing true). To simulate chewing crops in nature, rabbits will deduct 1 point from the growth stage every time they eat. That means they’ll destroy the crop once the stage of growth is equal to 0.
What are the benefits of feeding Minecraft rabbits?
Giving food to Minecraft rabbits allows players to breed them and help them grow into adults. Bunnies in Minecraft cannot be tamed, and thus giving them food does not affect their health points. We plan to cover the breeding procedure separately, but giving food to two parents makes them enter “Love Mode”.
Consequently, giving dandelions, golden carrots, or carrots reduces the regular growth from baby to adulthood. Every time baby bunnies eat food, their built-in growth stage of 20 real-life minutes decreases by 10%, i.e., 2 minutes per meal. It’s also noteworthy that baby bunnies follow their parents in Education and Bedrock Edition, but not Java Edition, which may make feeding a bit more difficult.
How do I feed special Minecraft rabbits?
Some Minecraft players are aware of two (at the time of publication) special rabbits in the game. Neither of the two is found freely roaming the world, however. We will briefly explain how they appear and what makes them special.
The Killer Bunny eats these foods
The Killer Bunny, also known as RabbitType:99, is a type of bunny only spawnable via the /summon command that only consumes carrots. It is a hostile rabbit with red eyes and white fur that attacks any player within 16 blocks in all difficulties except peaceful. Despite that, it will stop attacking a player dangling a carrot, and can even be bred with it.
Feeding the Toast rabbit
This unique mob, made in honor of a lost bunny of a real-life Minecraft player, is any rabbit that players rename to “Toast” using a renamed spawn egg or a name tag. Other than the name and a distinct black-and-white appearance, it acts the same. That means you can feed a Toast rabbit dandelions, golden carrot, or a normal carrot. However, breeding a Toast rabbit doesn’t lead to more bunnies of the same type. The babies will still have fur consistent with the fur colors of the bunny before renaming and its partner.