Armadillos have one of the stranger diets in Minecraft because they do not eat a normal crop, seed, or plant item.
In this guide, we’ll focus on what armadillos eat, how feeding works, how to get enough spider eyes, and what to do when an armadillo refuses to follow or breed.
What Food Do Armadillos Eat in Minecraft?
Armadillos only eat spider eyes in Minecraft. Spider eyes are used to tempt adult armadillos, breed them, and speed up baby armadillo growth. Armadillos that are not rolled up will also follow a player holding spider eyes.
How to Feed and Breed Armadillos
Just follow the steps below for a successful armadillo farm operation:
- Get at least two spider eyes.
- Find two adult armadillos.
- Approach them slowly so they do not roll up.
- Hold a spider eye in your hand.
- Use one spider eye on each adult armadillo.
- Wait for heart particles to appear.
After both armadillos enter love mode, they will produce a baby armadillo. Like many passive mobs, the adults will enter a 5-minute cooldown before they can breed again.
Why Won't My Armadillo Eat?
The most common reason is that the armadillo is rolled up. Rolled-up armadillos will not follow food or accept feeding normally, so you will need to wait until they unroll.
Armadillos can roll up when they feel threatened. This can happen if a player sprints nearby, rides close to them, hurts them, or if an undead hostile mob is nearby. To avoid this, walk instead of sprinting and keep the area clear of threats.
Additionally, check that you are using a regular spider eye and not a fermented spider eye. Fermented spider eyes are used for brewing, but they do not serve as armadillo food.
Why Do Armadillos Roll Up?
This is an automatic defense mechanism. When an armadillo rolls up, triggered by a sprinting player, a mounted player, a nearby undead hostile mob, or something that recently harmed it, it stops moving, cannot eat, and will not be tempted by food.
In this case, the best you can do is wait it out before feeding it. If no threats are detected within the next 4 seconds, it will unroll on its own and accept food once more.
How Do You Get Spider Eyes?
The easiest way to get spider eyes is by you or your tamed wolf killing spiders or cave spiders, which will then drop them upon death. Here, having the Looting enchantment can be a useful way to increase the amount of spider eyes you get on mob kill, thereby saving you time.
Witches can also drop spider eyes, although they are usually less convenient to farm than spiders. Desert pyramid chests can contain spider eyes as well, so keep an eye out when looting desert structures.
For early game players, a simple nighttime spider hunt is usually enough. We recommend bringing a sword, shield, and some food, then looking for spiders in open areas where skeletons and creepers are easier to avoid.
Easy Spider Eye Farming Tips
For a basic setup, make sure to build a small safe hunting platform or fenced fighting area near your base. Spiders are wider than many mobs, so a narrow attack gap or a fenced fighting area can help you hit them while keeping the setup safe. Cave spiders are smaller and more dangerous, so it’s best that you handle both spawner farms separately.
If you happen to find a cave spider spawner in a mineshaft, you can turn it into a spider eye farm later. Cave spiders are dangerous because they can poison you, so make sure to block off the area first, there’s enough light to go around, and only build the farm once you have decent armor rating and food supply in place.
Tip: A Looting-enchanted sword would make your spider eye farming much more effortless. If you plan to breed a lot of armadillos, saving up spider eyes instead of using them for brewing is most definitely worth it.
Are Spider Eyes Worth Eating Yourself?
Spider eyes are technically edible, but they are generally not a good food source for players. Eating one restores only 2 hunger points while inflicting the Poison status for 5 seconds.
It is usually better to save spider eyes for armadillos, brewing Potions of Poison, or crafting fermented spider eyes instead of using them as emergency food.
Mods That Expand Animal Diets and Feeding Information
Vanilla armadillos are simple once you know the trick: spider eyes are their food, breeding item, and baby-growth item all in one. The mods below are useful if you want to check animal food requirements in-game instead of guessing or looking them up outside of Minecraft.
Just Enough Breeding
“Just Enough Breeding” adds breeding information directly into “JEI”, “REI”, or “EMI”, which makes it useful when you do not want to guess what a mob eats. Instead of googling every time, you can look up a mob’s breeding entry and see which item it needs. For armadillos, that helps confirm the spider eye requirement in-game as long as the installed version supports the current vanilla mob list.
The mod also shows the mob’s spawn egg for easier lookup, displays how many eggs are produced for mobs that lay eggs after breeding, and tags mobs that need to be tamed before breeding with "(tamed)" in their name. It is especially useful for players who already use recipe viewer mods and want animal breeding information included inside the same recipe-viewing interface.
Biology Dictionary
“Biology Dictionary” gives you an in-game mob encyclopedia for both vanilla and modded creatures. Its food inspection feature is especially useful when you are dealing with mobs that have unusual diets, since it can show which items tempt or breed a mob without making you leave the game.
For armadillos, that means you can quickly confirm the spider eye requirement in-game. It also shows details like health, effects, movement speed, hitbox size, drops, spawn info, variants, breeding cooldown, and love status.
The mod works through either a book item or hotkey, depending on your setup. You can right-click the Biology Dictionary book while holding it, or press the default hotkey ("`") to open it. Just note that In Survival Mode, the hotkey requires the book to be in your inventory instead. The book can also be bought from wandering traders in Survival Mode or found in the "Tools & Utilities" tab in Creative Mode.
How to Install Minecraft Mods
You can install the above mods automatically using the CurseForge app or manually by placing the mod files within your game's mods folder. Both methods allow you to easily add custom features and enhancements into your Minecraft experience.
If you want to learn more, you can read our detailed guide on how to install Minecraft mods.
Common Issues and Quick Fixes
My armadillo rolled up and won't unroll
Stop sprinting, riding, or attacking near it, and check for nearby undead mobs. Armadillos roll up when they detect threats like sprinting players, mounted players, undead mobs, or something that recently harmed them.
Stand still and give it a moment. Once the area is safe, the armadillo will unroll on its own. If you keep triggering it, approach the animal slowly instead of sprinting towards it.
My armadillo won't follow the spider eye
Check that the armadillo is not rolled up. Armadillos that are not rolled up will follow players holding spider eyes, but rolled-up armadillos will not follow food.
Also make sure you are holding a regular spider eye and not a fermented spider eye. Fermented spider eyes are for brewing and do not work as armadillo food.
Feeding my armadillo a spider eye didn't work
First, check that the armadillo is an adult and not rolled up. Rolled-up armadillos cannot eat or be tempted by food, so they will not enter love mode until they unroll.
If you are trying to breed armadillos, both adults need to be fed spider eyes. Recently bred armadillos also have a short breeding cooldown, so wait a few minutes before trying again.
I can’t seem to get enough spider eyes
Spiders and cave spiders are the easiest sources. They can drop spider eyes when killed by a player or tamed wolf, and the Looting enchantment can increase how many you can get at once.
Witches can also drop spider eyes, and desert pyramid chests can contain them, but for most players, hunting spiders at night or building a simple spider farm is a more reliable source.
I ate a spider eye by mistake
Spider eyes are edible, but they are bad player food. Eating one restores 2 hunger points and gives the Poison effect for 5 seconds.
It is usually better to save spider eyes for armadillos, Potions of Poison, or fermented spider eyes instead of eating them.
My game crashes on startup after installing mods
A startup crash usually means one of three things:
- The mod file does not match your Minecraft version.
- The mod was made for a different loader.
- A required dependency is missing.
Check that you installed the correct Forge, Fabric, Quilt, or NeoForge file for your profile, then look at the mod page for any required files, especially if using Fabric API for Fabric profiles.
Minecraft mod loaders are separate systems, so a Fabric file will not work in a Forge profile, with the same also applying to NeoForge or Quilt builds.