How to Get a Sniffer Egg in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Brush suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins with a brush - sniffer eggs hide inside. Once you have two sniffers, breed them with torchflower seeds and they drop another egg. Place the egg down and it hatches into a snifflet in 10 minutes on a moss block (20 minutes anywhere else).

What you need

Brush (feather + copper ingot + stick)
Warm ocean ruins location
Moss block for faster hatching
Torchflower seeds for breeding

Step by step

Craft a brush: 1 feather, 1 copper ingot and 1 stick - you'll need it for archaeology.
Find warm ocean ruins: the sandstone ruin clusters in warm oceans (not the gravel cold ones). Our archaeology guide covers how to spot them.
Brush the suspicious sand: underwater sand blocks with a slightly crackled texture. Brushing one slowly reveals what's inside - sniffer eggs are the rare prize here.
Mine the egg safely: sniffer eggs drop themselves with any tool or bare hands - no Silk Touch needed, unlike turtle eggs.
Hatch it on moss: place the egg on a moss block and it hatches into a snifflet in about 10 minutes (20 minutes on any other block). It cracks twice before hatching.
Grow and breed: snifflets take 40 minutes to mature (torchflower seeds cut the remaining time by 10% each). Breed two adult sniffers with torchflower seeds and they drop a new egg - that's your renewable egg supply, with a 5-minute cooldown per pair.
Note for Bedrock: only full-health sniffers can breed there.

Java vs Bedrock

Nearly identical in both editions - same brush source, same 10/20-minute hatching. Two small differences: Bedrock requires sniffers to be at full health to breed, and in Java the egg's hatching ignores the randomTickSpeed game rule entirely.

Versions: Added in Java 1.20 and Bedrock 1.20.0 (Trails & Tales, June 2023), after the sniffer won the 2022 mob vote.

Frequently asked questions

Where do you find sniffer eggs?

Brushed out of suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins - the sandstone ruins in warm oceans. Once you have two sniffers, breeding them with torchflower seeds drops more eggs.

How long does a sniffer egg take to hatch?

About 10 minutes placed on a moss block, or 20 minutes on any other block. The egg cracks twice before a snifflet pops out.

Do sniffer eggs need Silk Touch?

No - unlike turtle eggs, sniffer eggs always drop themselves when mined with any tool or your bare hands.

Can you farm sniffer eggs?

Yes: breed two sniffers with torchflower seeds and they drop an egg as an item, with a 5-minute breeding cooldown. In Bedrock, both sniffers must be at full health.