Ark Survival Evolved Breeding: Mechanics & Eggs

ARK Survival Evolved features a wide variety of terrain, from the hottest of volcanoes to the coldest of mountains. Also, it has multiplayer gaming capabilities that increase the engulfing factor of the game. You can also tame the various creatures and breed them to gain even more powerful dinos and creatures.

Breeding In Ark Survival Evolved

In Ark Survival Evolved, breeding is a crucial feature for enhancing your collection of dinosaurs. After breeding, non-mammal creatures lay eggs, while mammals go through gestation to give birth. Eggs don’t have owners, allowing players to potentially steal them from others. For newborn creatures, quick claiming or imprinting is necessary to establish ownership. Imprinting involves providing food to the newborn, eliminating the need for the taming process used with wild creatures.

The Breeding Mechanics

Now, I’ll be discussing the Ark Survival Evolved Breeding mechanics and requirements. We will divide this topic further into three subtopics which are:

• To prepare for breeding
• The requirements for the breeding process
• The mating range using the wandering method

Preparing For The Breeding Process

Now, the first step to initiating the breeding process is to gather two creatures of opposite genders. Also, they need to be of the same species, then only the mating will be possible. A bonus tip is always to be prepared for more than one baby, as there is a 2% chance for triplets and 10% for twins.

Also, upon research, we found that no creature or item might be able to affect the chance of twins, triplets, and mutations.

Requirements For The Process

Next, we will be providing you with the basic requirements to breed together two creatures of the opposite gender successfully.

The requirements are as follows:

• Creatures need to be of the same species.
• Creatures have to be of opposite genders.
• They need to be within the mating range or breeding range of each other.
• Also, you need to enable them to Wander or Mating.
• Next, make sure that they are not following anyone or anything.
• Make sure that they are not overburdened with weight.
• Now, they also should not be mounted.
• Also they are not neutered
• Lastly, they do not have a mating or breeding cooldown.

The Mating Range Using The Wandering Method

For efficient breeding in Ark Survival Evolved without a cage, consider these steps:

1. Trap Creatures: Build a cage to prevent creatures from drifting away during the breeding process. The cage size should accommodate the species and size of the creatures.
2. Whistle Commands: Utilize whistle commands to manage creature movement. Use the “Whistle Stop All” command to temporarily halt creatures, ensuring they stay within the breeding range. Have a tribe member assist in constant whistling for prolonged effects.
3. Follow and Enable Wandering: Breed a pair by whitelisting the creatures to follow you, then enable wandering. Afterward, whistle them to stop following, preventing them from wandering for an extended period.
4. Use Dino Leash: Employ a dino leash to restrict creature movement, maintaining them within the desired breeding range. Alternatively, enabling mating on both creatures can achieve the same goal.

Experiment with these methods to find the one that suits your breeding preferences and circumstances.

The Breeding Process

Now, once you have met the requirements for the breeding process or mating process mentioned above, you can start the process of breeding. You will first notice that both creatures will have a red heart on their HUDs. Also, a breeding or mating bar will appear on the female’s HUD. 

Next, when the breeding bar on the female’s HUD is complete, the non-mammals will lay an egg while the mammals will start gestating. Also, keep in mind that the breeding bar might appear to be not budging due to server lag or other circumstances.

Breeding Cooldown

Now, if a female has already mated before then, a specific amount of time must pass before she can mate again. This time is indicated by a Mating time bar on the female’s HUD. Also, if you transfer a female from a different server, then you have also to wait.

In the case of normal circumstances, the wait starts when the female has laid an egg or completed her gestation. And to make it clear, males do not have waiting time before mating.

Special Requirements For Breeding

Now, we will be discussing some of the creatures that require special conditions to breed. The:

• Ferox: it will breed only if the female has 95% or above addiction when she was a small creature.
• Diplocaulus And Beelzebufo: Both of these species will only mate with their partner if they are in the water.
• Megachelon: Also, it will only breed in the water but under the deep depths of the oceans.
• Magmasaur: On the other hand, breeds only when the female is on the surface of lava in volcanic areas.
• Royal Griffin: Lastly, it will only breed if the opposite gender has a similar surname to the creature.

Incubation Process Of Eggs

The Incubation process of the eggs starts once the egg is dropped on the ground or is carefully placed in the Egg Incubator. Now, also keep in mind that the eggs require a certain temperature to progress through their incubation time. 

• Also, if the fertilized egg is not kept at the temperature, then the fertilized egg’s health is lost.
• And if the health is reduced to zero, then the egg is destroyed.
• To see all of the stats of the egg, like the incubation time and health, you have to hover over the egg to see the HUD.

Alternatively, you can pause the incubation process by placing the egg in an open inventory, fridge, or preserving bin. However, there are a few eggs that are exceptions to the health loss rule while maintaining temperature. This is because of the way you acquire these eggs.

The exceptions are:

• Rock Drake Egg
• Magmasaur Egg
• Crystal Wyvern Egg 
• Wyvern Egg
• Deinonychus Egg

Also, always remember that if there are too many tamed creatures in the server, then the eggs and gestation will not be complete. If the process is complete, then the baby will not be brought into the server.

The Special Immovable Eggs

Till now, we discussed eggs that could be moved easily to any location. However, there is another set of eggs that are exceptions. This time, the eggs can not be moved. They stay at the place they are laid at. So, be sure to breed the creatures at a suitable temperature for the egg.

The immovable eggs are: 

• Blood Stalker Egg
• Araneo Egg
• Arthropluera Egg
• Mantis Egg
• Moth Egg
• Pulmonoscorpious Egg

How To Maintain Temperature

Now, the most crucial part of the egg’s incubation process is the maintaining of the temperature. The best way to maintain the temperature for the Incubation process of the eggs is to use insulation. This could be achieved through Air Conditioner, Kairuku, Otter, or Dimetrodon. 

Now, 6 Air Conditioners should be enough to incubate most of the eggs. However, we suggest that you should use 8 Air Conditioners for the different cold and hot storms. Also, note that you will require upwards of 14 Air Conditioners for the larger eggs like those of the Wyvern or Giganotosaurus. To ease the process, you can use the Egg Incubator. But where is the adventure in that? Also, it is a bit expensive.

Dimetrodon Method

To efficiently maintain temperature, utilize creatures like Kairuku, Otter, or, most notably, the Dimetrodon. Despite its initial appearance, the Dimetrodon stands out as the most effective insulator in the game.

I’d personally recommend you channel all Dimetrodon level upgrades into melee damage to enhance its insulation. Achieving a certain melee damage threshold enables the dino to even incubate Wyvern eggs. Multiple dinos can be employed if one proves insufficient.

Dimetrodon presents a cost-effective and superior alternative to Air Conditioners for incubation. Despite challenges such as high torpor tolerance and slow mobility, their contribution to the incubation process makes them worthwhile.

Incubation Through Basic Items For Early Game

Well, if you are a new survivalist in the massive world of Ark Survival Evolved, then you might have to resort to some cheap and basic incubation methods for early-game eggs.

The items that will help are:

• Torches
• Standing Torches
• Industrial Cooker
• Camp Fire
• Stone Fire Place

The Gestating Process

Now, for the gestating process, the female will consume food two times more, so you should supply her with ample food. Also, be ready to imprint and feed the newborn. The process can be eliminated in between if you put the female in a cryo pod. In front of the Incubation process, the gestating process is pretty straightforward and easy.

Claiming Or Imprinting On A Newborn

1. To claim the baby, you have to look at his HUD and press the key appearing there.
2. Then, you will get a naming option that can be stalled.
3. The unclaimed babies can be claimed by any survivor, so be sure to be quick.
4. However, the Reaper King is the one and only exception that can not be claimed by anyone other than the player who gave life to it.

With this, I bring my guide to a conclusion. In the Ark Survival Evolved Breeding guide, I discussed all possible aspects of how to breed, incubate, claim, and other various things. I hope you guys found the guide informative and helpful. If you feel something is missing, then do let me know through the comment section below.