Sniffer

Overview

A Sniffer is an archaeology tool that walks around on its own. It sniffs the ground, digs, and unearths torchflower seeds and pitcher pods — and after the very first egg you brush out of suspicious sand, a Sniffer is the only source of either plant in the game. That makes it the rare mob whose entire value is a renewable supply chain you cannot get any other way. There is a catch that ruins many pens: it only digs in natural blocks. Grass, dirt, moss, mud, podzol and similar terrain that generated with the world all work, but anything you placed yourself is invisible to it, so the enclosure has to be a fenced-off patch of untouched ground rather than a floor you laid. It has 14 health, stands 1.75 blocks tall and nearly two wide, never attacks anything, and cannot be tamed. Breeding uses torchflower seeds, which it produces itself, so two sniffers become self-sustaining. The egg it lays takes real time to hatch — considerably faster on moss. Killing one gives nothing but experience, which is a good reason to leave it alone.

Torchflower seeds and pitcher pods. After the first egg, a Sniffer is the only renewable source of both plants, which grow the torchflower and the pitcher plant for decoration and suspicious stew.

The sniffer is a walking archaeology tool: it sniffs the ground, digs, and unearths torchflower seeds and pitcher pods, the only source of those two plants after the first egg. It only digs in natural blocks like grass, dirt and moss, never in blocks you placed, so give it a pen of untouched terrain. It is enormous, entirely harmless, breeds on torchflower seeds, and lays an egg that takes real time to hatch.

Sniffer is a passive mob in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.4. You will need to deal 14 damage — 7 hearts — to kill one. It is worth 3 XP.

Properties

Sniffer has 14 health, which is 7 hearts. It drops up to 3 experience when a player kills it. Its hitbox is 1.9 blocks wide and 1.75 tall, which is what decides whether it fits through a gap or a one-block-high opening.

Spawns in

Does not spawn naturally. Hatched from sniffer eggs brushed out of suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins, and from eggs laid by breeding two sniffers.

It has no biome restriction, so anywhere in the Overworld that meets the light and space conditions is a valid spawn.

Dimension

Overworld

Added in

1.20

Dimension: Overworld · Added in 1.20

How it behaves

The Sniffer never attacks. The only reason to be careful around one is that killing it is often not what you want: breeding it is worth more than the drop.

Killed by a player it drops up to 3 experience; killed any other way it drops none.

Command

In a world with cheats on, this spawns one Sniffer where you are standing.

Guides and tools that cover this

• GuidesHow to Fight Every Hostile Mob in Minecraft→
• GuidesHow to Build a Base That Mobs Cannot Enter→

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

AllayArmadilloAxolotlBatCamelChickenCodCow

How to get it

Sniffers do not spawn naturally. Brush suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins to find a sniffer egg, hatch it, then breed 2 adults with torchflower seeds to lay further eggs at home.

Tips

• Fence a patch of untouched natural ground — a Sniffer will not dig in any block you placed yourself.
• Hatch eggs on moss blocks, which cut the hatching time down considerably compared with other surfaces.
• Breed two adults with the torchflower seeds they dig up, making the pen self-sustaining after the first pair.
• Take a brush to warm ocean ruins, since suspicious sand there is the only source of the first egg.