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. In this guide, we will be discussing the Ark Survival Evolved Breeding mechanics.

Breeding In Ark Survival Evolved

In Ark Survival Evolved, breeding is a feature that has immense importance for the survivalist as the whole game revolves around the taming of dinos and collecting the most powerful of dinos. So with the breeding feature, the players can breed strong creatures together to give birth to an even stronger dino that still has more room for improvement.

However, after breeding, either a non-mammal creature would lay an egg or a mammal creature would give birth through gestation. Also, in the case of eggs, they do not have any owners. So if you are that desperate, then you can steal other players’ eggs.

Now in the case of newborn creatures, you have to imprint on them or claim them. The claiming process should be done quickly as anyone can claim the newborn, and you also have to provide the newborn with food since you put time and effort into the breeding process, so you do not have to go through the taming process like in the case of wild creatures. However, you have to claim them or imprint them.

The Breeding Mechanics

Now, we will 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 first to gather two creatures of opposite genders. Also, they need to be of the same species, then only will 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. Keep these things in your mind when you start to breed together the creatures.

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 the following:

• 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 that they are not neutered
• Lastly that they do not have a mating or breeding cooldown.

The Mating Range Using The Wandering Method

Now, if you are using the enable wandering method to start the breeding process, then you might want to take some precautionary steps to ensure that the creatures do not drift away from the breeding range. 

The breeding range of the creatures varies because of the species and size of the creature. Also, if the creatures drift away from the breeding range of each other, then the breeding process stops, and you have to start all over again.

Now, a common solution to the problem is to trap the creatures in a fair-sized cage. This keeps the creatures from drifting away from each other’s range of breeding.

Next, there is also an alternative way which is a bit tedious but very effective for mass breeding without a cage. The method requires you to whistle all of your tamed creatures to halt by using the “Whistle Stop All” command. This command halts all your nearby tamed creatures, including the wandering creatures. 

However, the effect of the whistle is for a short period, so you will have to whistle constantly. Through the above steps, you can breed the creatures without a cage. Now, to make use of the method fully, you should bring along a tribe member who would constantly whistle while you would enable the creatures to wandering. Through this, you can achieve the mass breeding that we promised above.

Now, there are other methods that you might want to try out. Firstly you can breed a pair by whitelisting the creatures to follow you and then enable wandering on them. After that, just whistle them not to follow you. Now, you have prevented them from walking around for a fair amount of time.

Also, you can use a dino leash to restrict the movement of the creatures, thus keeping them in breeding range. However, you can also achieve the same goal by just enabling mating on both of the creatures.

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. The HUD will display all the information.

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. And if even the process is complete, then the baby would 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

An alternative way to maintain the temperature is to make use of creatures like the Kairuku, Otter, or Dimetrodon. Amongst these, the Dimetrodon is the most effective. At first glance, you might think of this creature as a worthless dino. However, the Dimetrodon is one of the best sources for insolation in-game.

What we recommend is to pump all your Dimetrodon’s levels into the melee damage as that is the stat that increases the insulation property of the dino. At certain melee damage, the dino can even incubate the Wyvern eggs. Also, remember that you can use multiple dinos if one does not work out for you. 

Seemingly the Dimetrodon is a lot cheaper and better to use than the Air Conditioner for the incubation process. However, the dino is hard to move and tame as it has high torpor tolerance. Also, they are hard to relocate due to being very slow. But, they are very much worth the grind as they help the incubation process massively.

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

However, these items will provide negative heat tolerance, so you will have to mix and match with the type of biomes also to make the perfect environment for the egg. A common tip is that the egg’s suitable biome is the biome where the creature is commonly found at.

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

Now, our Ark Survival Evolved Breeding guide will also include the claiming process. When a baby creature is born, you will have to claim him as they are born as unclaimed creatures. This means that the tamed pets and creatures of yours might attack him if you do not set them to passive. 

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

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

Ark Survival Evolved is a 2017 survival game with lots of action and adventures included in the mix. However, the game was initially released in 2015. Studio Wildcard developed the game. The game takes place on several different maps that feature dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.