Sniffer

A sniffer is a passive mob that does not spawn naturally, and can only be hatched from sniffer eggs. It sniffs out and digs out seeds for various unique decorative plants out of dirt, grass, and moss blocks.

Spawning

Sniffers spawn by hatching from sniffer eggs found in suspicious sand from warm ocean ruins. Breeding sniffers with torchflower seeds would also result in a sniffer egg being laid as an item.

Drops

When killed, adult sniffers drop 1–3 experience points if killed by a player or a tamed wolf; snifflets drop no experience just like other baby animals.

Upon successful breeding, 1–7 is dropped.

Behavior

Sniffers wander aimlessly, avoiding hazards and obstacles. They occasionally smell their surroundings and track ancient seeds by pressing their nose to the ground. When they find a seed, they sploot^[1] and use their noses to dig into the ground until they get torchflower seeds or a pitcher pod. For a sniffer to be able to dig it needs to be doing nothing else, not in water, on the ground, not in a boat or minecart and the block underneath the head needs to be diggable and reachable for the sniffer. The head location is defined as 2.25 blocks in front of the center of the body. The sniffer also stores the last 20 locations it has dug up so it can't dig there anymore. After sniffing out seeds, an eight minute cooldown is activated before it can dig in again.

The following blocks are diggable by the sniffer:

• Dirt
• Grass Block
• Podzol
• Coarse Dirt
• Rooted Dirt
• Moss Block
• Mud
• Muddy Mangrove Roots

Data packs from Java Edition can change this list by modifying the minecraft:sniffer_diggable_block block tag.

Sniffers cannot dig on mycelium.^[2]

Breeding

The player can breed the sniffers using torchflower seeds. When two adult sniffers are bred, they drop a sniffer egg, after which the parents have a 5-minute cooldown before they can breed again.

Healing

Sniffers are healed by 2 health points each time they are fed a torchflower seed.

Snifflets

A baby sniffer is called a snifflet^[3] and they have a bigger head than the adult. Snifflets take 48000 game ticks to grow up into adult sniffers, which is equal to 40 minutes or two in-game days, twice as long as most other baby mobs in the game.

Unlike most baby mobs, snifflets do not follow their adults.^[4]

Sounds

Java Edition:
Sniffers use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Entity data

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

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Monster Hunter	Kill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Axolotl Bee Blaze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Chicken Jockey Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Skeleton Horseman Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Spider Jockey Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.	adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst
	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed two animals together	Husbandry	Breed a pair of any of these 25 mobs: Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Trader Llama Turtle Wolf A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.	husbandry/breed_an_animal
	Smells Interesting	Obtain a Sniffer Egg	Husbandry	Have a sniffer egg in your inventory. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.	husbandry/obtain_sniffer_egg
	Two by Two	Breed all the animals!	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed a pair of each of these 24 mobs: Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Turtle Wolf A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.	husbandry/bred_all_animals
	Little Sniffs	Feed a Snifflet	Smells Interesting	Feed a snifflet torchflower seeds. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.	husbandry/feed_snifflet
	Planting the Past	Plant any Sniffer seed	Little Sniffs	This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.	husbandry/plant_any_sniffer_seed

History

October 4, 2022					Sniffers are announced as part of the mob vote for Minecraft Live 2022.
October 16, 2022					The sniffer wins the mob vote at Minecraft Live 2022.
January 20, 2023					A sniffer is first shown in-game by Chiwi on Twitter.
February 13, 2023					Tweaked the texture of sniffers.
Java Edition
1.20 (Experimental)		23w07a			Added sniffers behind the Update 1.20 experimental datapack.
					Breeding two sniffers spawns a snifflet immediately.
1.20		23w12a			Sniffers are now available without using the "Update 1.20" experimental datapack.
					Breeding two sniffers now causes a sniffer egg to drop as an item.
					Snifflets are now spawned when a sniffer egg hatches.
					Sniffers can now dig up pitcher pods.
		23w13a			Changed the size of the snifflets to match Bedrock Edition.
					Sniffers no longer drop moss blocks.
		23w14a			Sniffers can now dig in mud.
					Sniffers can now be tempted with torchflower seeds.
					Sniffers can emit a sound when laying a sniffer egg.
		23w16a			Sniffers can now enter minecarts.
		23w17a			The player now gets the advancement "Little sniffs" when they feed a snifflet using torchflower seeds.
Bedrock Edition
Sniffer (Experimental)		beta 1.19.70.23			Added sniffers behind their own experimental toggle.
					Breeding two sniffers spawns a snifflet immediately.
1.20.0		beta 1.20.0.20			Sniffers are now available without using the "Sniffer" experimental toggle.
					Breeding two sniffers now causes a sniffer egg to drop as an item.
					Snifflets are now spawned when a sniffer egg hatches.
					Sniffers can now dig up pitcher pods.
		beta 1.20.0.22			Sniffers can now be tempted using torchflower seeds.
					Sniffers now create particles when digging.

Issues

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

Trivia

• The sniffer was originally a doodle Nekofresa made in their kitchen.^[5]
  • The sniffer was Nekofresa's first mob ever designed for Minecraft.^[6]
• The plants that sniffers find are based off kniphofia genus of perennial flowering plants, which can be similarly called "torch lilies" as a common name for torchflowers and pitcher pods are loosely based off existing pitcher plants but with an orchid or ornamental vibe.^[7]
• The sniffer's walking animation was inspired by the leg movement that centipedes do.^[8]
• During the prototype phase for the sniffer's digging up of items the developers used beds as a placeholder.^[9]
• Due to the size of the sniffer it was a big challenge for the developers to perfect its pathfinding especially on 1 block edges.
• A new team made up of new developers were tasked with developing the sniffer, and most of them had never made a mob before.^[10]
• The sniffer's digging animation was inspired by the way corgis spread their legs while lying down.^[11]
• To this day, the developers still don't know what the sniffer's front yellow part is. Whether it's a beak, a nose, or eyes, or whether it's used for breathing or finding seeds is unknown.^[12]
• A baby sniffer is called a snifflet in an article on Minecraft.net^[13] and in the achievement "Little Sniffs".
• Original ideas for what a baby sniffer would be called were Sniffling, Snort and Snifflet.^[14]
  • Mojang developer Cory Scheviak personally calls sniffers "snuffleupaguses".

Gallery

Animations

• 

  A sniffer walking.

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  A sniffer sniffing.

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  A sniffer sniffing for a long time.

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  A sniffer searching.

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  A sniffer digging.

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  A sniffer standing up.

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  A sniffer feeling happy.

Screenshots

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  A digging sniffer.

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  Dozens of player-spawned sniffers.

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  A sniffer dies.

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  A sniffer in a farm of the plants it gives.

• 

  A sniffer compared to a warden and a player.

• 

  A sniffer and a frog.

Trails & Tales Event

• 

  The Sniffer Hat, an item featured in the Trails & Tales Event.

• 

  Sniffer Balloon, another item featured in the event.

• 

  The Sniffer Snout Popsicle, an item featured in the Trails & Tales Server.

• 

  An NPC dressed as a Sniffer.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Sniffer Carousel

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  Sniffer Hedge.

• 

  Secret Sniffer.

Cosmetics

• 

  Sniffer Beak

• 

  Sniffer Cap by DigiPort

• 

  Sniffer Ears

• 

  Sniffer Floaty by Diveblocks

• 

  Sniffer Hat by Team Vaeron

• 

  Sniffer Head by FTB

• 

  Secondary Sniffer Head by Diamond Studios

• 

  Tertiary Sniffer Head by Tristan Productions

• 

  Sniffer Hoodie

• 

  Secondary Sniffer Hoodie by Team Vaeron

• 

  Tertiary Sniffer Hoodie by Kuboc Studios

• 

  Additional Sniffer Hoodie by Sapix

• 

  Sniffer Mask by Team Vaeron

• 

  Secondary Sniffer Mask by Kuboc Studios

• 

  Tertiary Sniffer Mask by ’'DigiPort’'

• 

  Additional Sniffer Mask by Jolicraft

• 

  Sniffer Onesie

• 

  Secondary Sniffer Onesie by DigiPort

• 

  Tertiary Sniffer Onesie by Diveblocks

• 

  Sniffer Sniffin’

Development Images

• 

  The earlier texture file and model of sniffers.

• 

  An early sniffer splooting.

• 

  An early sniffer in sunset.

• 

  The final texture file and model of a sniffer inside of a horizontally flipped image.

• 

  A sniffer lays down within a desert inside of a horizontally flipped image.

• 

  A sniffer sploots.

• 

  A sniffer within a swamp.

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  A sniffer within a snow biome.

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  A sniffer within a village.

• 

  Giant sniffer.

• 

  Giant sniffer rearing up.

• 

  Sniffer sniffing up a bed.

• 

  Sniffer sniffing up a bed. (2)

Concept Art

• 

  Sniffer concept art with rascal and tuff golem.

• 

  Colorized sniffer concept art.

• 

  Sniffer's beak sketch.

• 

  A sketch of a centipede walking which was the sniffer's walking animation inspiration.

• 

  Sniffer's walking animation sketch.

• 

  Watercolor art for the sniffer

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  Watercolor art for the sniffer

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  Watercolor art for the sniffer

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  Watercolor art for the sniffer

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  Watercolor art for the sniffer

Official artwork

• 

  Pixel artwork of a sniffer walking.

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  Pixel artwork of a snifflet splooting down on the ground.

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  Pixel artwork of a snifflet sniffing.

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  Pixel artwork of an adult sniffer.

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  Sniffer valentines artwork.

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  A sniffer and a snifflet near a cherry grove.

• 

  Sunny placing the sniffer egg in sand.

• 

  Sunny celebrating the snifflet hatching from the sniffer egg.

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  A wallpaper rendition of the pixel art featuring Sunny and the snifflet.

• 

  Sniffer Xbox giveaway.^[15]

• 

  The Lost World cutout, featured in the Trails & Tales Event.

Textures

• 

  Texture of sniffer

Merchandise

• 

  The finalized Sniffer Xbox.^[16]

References

External links

• Mob Menagerie: Sniffer – Minecraft.net on July 21, 2023