To tame a horse in Minecraft, mount it repeatedly with an empty hand until it stops bucking you off. Wolves are tamed with bones and parrots with seeds, and all three use their own random chance rather than a fixed number of tries. This guide covers the actual mechanics and odds behind each one, not just the headline step.
These methods work the same whether it's day one or day fifty. If you're still on the basics, survive your first night and build up a steady food supply before you go looking for animals to tame; none of this needs anything you wouldn't already have from a normal early game.
How to tame a horse in Minecraft
Mount an untamed horse by using an empty hand on it. Every horse starts with a hidden temper of 0 out of 100, and the moment you mount it, the game secretly rolls a random threshold between 0 and 99. If the horse's current temper already clears that number, it's tamed on the spot and hearts appear over its head. If it doesn't, you get bucked off and the horse's temper rises by 5, so each failed attempt improves your odds on the next one.
- Sugar raises temper by 3.
- Wheat raises temper by 3.
- Apple raises temper by 3.
- Golden carrot raises temper by 5.
- Golden apple raises temper by 10.
The same foods double as breeding foods once you have two tamed horses. Feeding both of them golden apples or golden carrots starts love mode and produces a foal. Sugar knocks 30 seconds off how long that foal takes to grow up, wheat 20 seconds, apples a minute, and golden carrots or apples anywhere from one to four minutes.
There's no set number of mounts that guarantees a tame horse. The threshold is re-rolled at random every time, so you might succeed on your second attempt or your twelfth. Feeding a golden apple beforehand shortens the odds in your favor; it doesn't make taming instant.
A horse has to be tamed before it will accept a saddle. Once tamed, it gains two equipment slots, one for the saddle and one for horse armor. Regular horses have always tamed this way, and Java Edition 1.21.11 extended the same mount-and-wait method to zombie horses, which previously needed a command to tame.
How to tame a wolf in Minecraft
Wolves are tamed with bones, which skeletons drop when killed. Feed a bone to an untamed wolf and there's a 1 in 3 chance it works immediately. If it doesn't, the wolf just eats the bone with no other effect, so keep feeding it bones until the chance lands.
On average that works out to about three bones per wolf, though the randomness means you could tame one on the first try or need five or six. Once it takes, the wolf gets a red collar and, on Java Edition, sits down if it isn't swimming. Its health also jumps from 8 HP (4 hearts) as a wild wolf to 40 HP (20 hearts) once tamed.
A tamed wolf follows you and fights whatever you fight. Interact with it to make it sit and stay in place, and interact again to have it follow you once more. Feeding it meat heals it, and feeding meat to a wolf that's already at full health starts love mode for breeding a second wolf.
How to tame a parrot in Minecraft
Parrots are tamed with seeds: wheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, beetroot seeds, torchflower seeds, and pitcher pods all work. Each one fed has just a 1 in 10 chance of taming the parrot, noticeably worse odds than a wolf's bones, so expect to go through a small stack before one lands.
Once tamed, a parrot follows you around and can fly, teleporting to your side if it drifts more than 12 blocks away. You can carry one parrot on each shoulder by interacting with it while it's already following you, and interacting again switches it between sitting and following.
Taming pets in current Minecraft, horse, wolf, parrot, and more
Frequently asked questions
How do I tame a horse in Minecraft?
Use an empty hand to mount an untamed horse. Doing so rolls a hidden random threshold between 0 and 99 against the horse's temper, which starts at 0. If the temper already clears the threshold, the horse is tamed instantly; otherwise you're thrown off and its temper rises by 5. Feeding it sugar, wheat, apples, golden carrots, or golden apples beforehand raises its temper and shortens the odds.
How many bones does it take to tame a wolf in Minecraft?
There's no fixed number, since each bone has an independent 1 in 3 chance of working. On average that works out to about three bones per wolf, but the randomness means some wolves tame on the first bone and others take five or more. Skeletons are the main source of bones.
What do parrots eat in Minecraft?
Parrots eat wheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, beetroot seeds, torchflower seeds, and pitcher pods, any of which has a 1 in 10 chance of taming an untamed parrot. Never feed a parrot a cookie; it's a lethal item for them, not a treat, and can kill a tamed parrot outright.
Does a tamed horse, wolf, or parrot stay tamed after I log out?
Yes. Taming status is saved as part of the animal's own data along with the rest of your world, the same way its position and health are. Closing the game, reloading a save, or traveling far away and coming back does not undo a successful taming.
Can zombie horses be tamed the same way as regular horses?
As of Java Edition 1.21.11, yes. Zombie horses use the identical mount-and-wait temper mechanic instead of needing a command to tame them. They still don't spawn naturally in survival worlds, so you'd need a spawn egg or a command to get one onto the map before taming it.