Minecraft: Build an Automatic Turtle Farm – Scutes for Helmets and Potions

Turtles are a wonderful addition to your Minecraft world. Just like in the real world, they are fascinating creatures that can primarily be found on beaches. On land, they are slow, but in the water, they move quite fast! You can breed them and let them live their peaceful lives, but they also drop important items that might be useful to you. Today, we will take a closer look at these mechanics.

Minecraft Turtles: Everything You Need to Know

Unlike other mobs, turtles have different mechanics that we want to explain first. Once you understand these, you can set up an automatic farm.

Finding Turtles in Minecraft: The Best Biomes and Tips

You can find turtles in beach biomes. Cold biomes and stony shores are excluded, as turtles prefer sandy environments. They are not too difficult to find if you keep an eye out for them. They usually gather in a larger group on the beach and rarely leave a certain radius around the shore. When you encounter a group of turtles, some of them will also be small baby turtles.

To get baby turtles yourself, you can feed two adults with seagrass and breed them like any other animals. Simply use shears underwater and collect enough seagrass. Unlike regular mobs, turtles need to lay and hatch eggs. It is important that they stay on their home beach because only there will they lay and hatch the eggs. However, you can also harvest and transport the eggs with “Silk Touch”. The place where the turtle is born (or spawns when the world loads) is its home.

Note: Turtle eggs are very fragile, so don’t jump on them, or they will break. All undead mobs, especially zombies, specifically seek out the eggs to destroy them.

What Items Do Turtles Drop in Minecraft?

Another interesting mechanic is the growth of turtles. Just like in real life, they must adapt to their shells and shed them when they become too small. This also works in Minecraft! When a baby turtle grows up, it drops a turtle scute. And this is the item we need!

With five scutes, you can craft the unique item, the turtle shell. This serves as a substitute for your helmet and is perfect for underwater work. On the one hand, the shell gives you the “Water Breathing” effect, allowing you to hold your breath for 10 seconds longer. Additionally, you can see much better underwater with it. Normal enchantments and armour trims work as usual.

With the turtle shell, you can also brew a cool potion called the “Potion of the Turtle Master”. This potion makes you 15% slower but reduces damage by 20%. The stronger the potion, the more extreme the effects.

Other drops upon the death of a turtle include seagrass and bowls. However, you can disregard these, as you will find seagrass much faster in the ocean.

How to Build an Automatic Turtle Farm in Minecraft: Step-by-Step

There are various designs for an automatic turtle farm, but we will look at one that works perfectly! It is important that your turtles also want to breed at the location of your farm; otherwise, it will not work. As mentioned earlier, turtles only lay eggs where their home is. So, harvest the eggs with “Silk Touch” and bring them to your farm location. You can then breed the turtles with seagrass until you have 6-8 animals.

Building Materials

• Building blocks
• Sand
• Hopper + Chest
• Fence
• Turtles (+ Eggs)
• Chains
• Light source

Building a Minecraft Turtle Farm: Detailed Instructions

First, find a suitable beach for your farm. It should also be the home of the turtles, so it doesn’t hurt to hatch and breed them there initially. Then dig a hole with dimensions of 9x9 and a depth of 3 blocks.

In the middle of the hole, there is a small shaft that is also 3 blocks deep. Then dig a small tunnel with stairs outside the farm. At the bottom of the hole in the middle, place the hopper and the chest. If sand falls on your head, don’t worry, just replace the blocks with your building blocks.

Next, we build the lowest layer of the farm. Place a 4x4 grid with one block spacing using building blocks. When the baby turtles grow, they will suffocate here. In each corner, place a bucket of water, which will direct the items to the centre towards the hopper.

One level above, add a temporary layer of building blocks. Then, lay stone blocks in a checkerboard pattern above. In the empty spaces, place chains, all of which must stand vertically. These suggest a path to the baby turtles, but due to their size, they will still fall down. We need to remove the blocks under the chains to create these holes.

The farm itself is thus actually finished! Surround it with blocks of your choice; we have chosen fences. You should also place a light source above the farm in the centre to prevent monsters from spawning and breaking the eggs or attacking the babies.

Finally, you need to fill your farm with turtles. Use the ones you have bred nearby. Either help with self-harvested eggs or seagrass to get the farm going. It may take a while, as the eggs mainly hatch at night, but soon you should have a collection of seagrass and scutes!

Conclusion: Why a Turtle Farm in Minecraft is Indispensable

Turtles are truly fascinating creatures, and they bring many unique mechanics to Minecraft. They lay eggs that need to be hatched, and when the turtles grow, they drop valuable items! Use these for a helmet to breathe and see better underwater. Secure valuable turtle scutes for maximum protection on your own server. Rent your Minecraft server and build a sustainable turtle farm! Our suggested farm is easy to build, and if you understand the mechanics of the turtles, it should be no problem for you.