Key Takeaway
Sniffers search for—and then dig up—Torchflower Seeds and Pitcher Pods. After they find one of these ancient seeds, the Sniffer rests for eight minutes before seeking more. Sniffers can dig up seeds from most variants of Dirt and Mud blocks, but not Mycelium.
Although a Sniffer (currently) cannot be found in the wild, you can come across its eggs and hatch one in Minecraft. However, their purpose in the game isn’t immediately apparent. On top of that, their function is fairly underwhelming despite being novel and cute. Sniffers seek the seeds of certain plants!
Table Of Contents
What Is a Sniffer in Minecraft?
A Sniffer in Minecraft looks like a large walking bush with six legs and a yellow face. They have biological features vaguely resembling pigs and sheep. Sniffers are larger than the player, reaching two and a half blocks long and two blocks high as an adult. For a frame of reference, Sniffers are about twice as large as an adult Cow.
When a Sniffer Egg hatches, a baby Sniffer emerges. These offspring are often referred to—adorably—as Snifflets. Snifflets are much smaller than Sniffers. The little bush-babies are about one and a half blocks long and one block tall.
What Sniffers Do
Sniffers only have one function in Minecraft: to dig up Torchflower Seeds and Pitcher Pods. Together, these types of seeds are often referred to as “ancient seeds.” Although you’d think Sniffers would eat these seeds, they don’t; they only dig them up.
NoteAs such, following a Sniffer is a great way to get Torchflower Seeds and Pitcher Pods. This can be useful if you want to grow Torchflowers and Pitcher Plants.
How Sniffers Find Torchflower Seeds and Pitcher Pods
From the moment a Snifflet grows into a Sniffer, the adult animal mob begins searching for ancient seeds. As the shrub-like creature is wandering the world, its large yellow nose will sniff for traces of Torchflower Seeds and Pitcher Pods. This is shown through an animation that rapidly expands and contracts the part of the Sniffer’s nose housing the nostrils. Furthermore, the Sniffer will walk with its nose along the ground.
Once in a while, the Sniffer digs into the ground and produces either one Torchflower Seed or one Pitcher Pod. The odds of each are about 50%.
NoteHowever, when a Sniffer digs into the ground, it does not destroy any blocks despite dirt particles being emitted by this activity. Furthermore, Sniffers cannot dig into all types of naturally spawning overworld blocks; they can only dig up seeds from the following:
- Coarse Dirt blocks
- Dirt blocks
- Grass blocks
- Moss bocks
- Mud blocks
- Muddy Mangrove Root blocks
- Podzol blocks
- Rooted Dirt blocks
Despite Mycelium often being considered a variant of Dirt, Sniffers cannot dig into it to find seeds. The reason for this is unknown.
After a Sniffer digs up a seed, there’s an eight-minute cooldown before it can do so again. What’s more, Sniffers won’t dig up seeds from the same spot twice—they’ll always seek out a different block from which to acquire Torchflower Seeds and Pitcher Pods.
How to Find a Sniffer in Minecraft
Sniffers—as of publishing this article—do not spawn naturally in Minecraft. You can only encounter a Sniffer after finding a Sniffer Egg, placing it on a solid block, and allowing it to hatch.
After the Sniffer Egg hatches, a Snifflet (a baby Sniffer) emerges. It takes about one full day in Minecraft time (20 minutes in real-time) for a Sniffer Egg to hatch after being placed on a solid block. You can tell when a Sniffer Egg is about to hatch when cracks form around the shell.
Then, it takes two full days (40 minutes in real-time) for a Snifflet to grow into a Sniffer. The growth process can be accelerated by feeding a Snifflet—like with most baby animals. However, you’ll need to feed a Snifflet many Torchflower Seeds to make it reach adulthood sooner than usual.
NoteHow to Find a Sniffer Egg
You can only find a Sniffer Egg from brushing a block of Suspicious Sand in Ocean Ruins found within a Warm Ocean biome. To do so, you’ll first need to craft a Brush. You craft a Brush by placing a Feather, a Copper Ingot, and a Stick on a Crafting Table in a vertical line. The Feather needs to be at the top, the Copper Ingot in the middle, and the Stick at the bottom.
Now that you have a Brush in hand, it’s time to find some Ocean Ruins! Dive into a Warm Ocean and look for structures made of Sandstone and Stone blocks. Around such structures, you’ll find a few blocks of Suspicious Sand here and there. Suspicious Sand looks like regular Sand but has dark spots.
Once you’ve found some Suspicious Sand, hold down the right mouse button (on PC) to brush the surface. After about five seconds, an item comes out of the Suspicious Sand. Following the excavation, the Suspicious Sand turns into a normal Sand block. The odds of getting a Sniffer Egg from brushing Suspicious Sand is 6.7% in both the Java and Bedrock Edition of Minecraft.
How to Breed Sniffers
Like most animal mobs, Sniffers can be bred by feeding two close-by individuals their favorite food—Torchflower Seeds. You cannot breed Sniffers with Pitcher Pods. After the Sniffers mate, one lays a Sniffer Egg. There’s a five-minute cooldown between mating sessions, which you can trigger again with more Torchflower Seeds.
Now that you’ve got a Sniffer on your side, you can enhance your Minecraft garden even further! The luminous Torchflowers and pretty Pitcher Plants will look lovely alongside your Glow Berry farm. With that said, getting Glow Berries in Minecraft is about as hard as acquiring Torchflowers and Pitcher Plants. Get that green thumb flexing!
