How to Lure and Catch Animals in Hytale

Rabbits, chicks, and many other types of wildlife is part of Hytale and many of these animals can be captured and brought back to your settlement or farm for utility, asethetics etc. The current early access version of the game doesn’t a have a traditional taming or permanent pet system so you can’t maje an animal your companion that follows you or breeds like other survival games like Soulmask.

However, Hytale does allow you to interact with animals in a limited but meaningful manner by using specific tools designed to capture animals.

Capture Crate vs Herding in Hytale

Since the game doesn’t have a traditional taming system or ownership system you can’t tame. Instead, animal husbandry revolves around temporary pacfication via the lure mechanic. It allows instant capture of juveniles and small critters, and manual herding for adults.

The Capture Crate allows you to scoop up eligible animals into portable inventory items, making transport effortless across zones. Hearts appearing above an animal’s head signal pacification from feeding, but this is fleeting and doesn’t enable breeding or loyalty; it’s solely to create capture opportunities.

Larger animals like adult animals require slow luring with certain types of foods or the Feed Bag. This is then followed by leading them into pre-built cages and enclusures. Some like animals like Wolves or Foxes can’t be captred in the current build of Hytal as they may attack livestock.

Capture Crate Crafting Recipe

To craft Capture Crate you need to first craft the Farmer’s Workbench. And after that ones your workbench has reached level 2 you can start crafting the Capture Crate.

How to Lure and Capture Animals in Hytale

With the Capture Crate in hand go to different biomes. I recommend Zone 1 (Emerald Grove) is ideal for beginners, teeming with cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, rabbits, and babies near meadows and cabins. Venture to Zone 2 (Howling Sands) for horses, foals, meerkats, and camels in deserts.

Small animals are easier to lure into the Capture Crate so start with them until you get familier with the process. You can also fit multiple small animals to take them back in a single trip.

Always prepare a secure enclosure or pen before making big capture runs. Releasing animals into a fenced area ensures they stay safe and don’t wander back into the wild.

Use your feed bag or correct food items to calm or lure creatures before attempting to capture them, lowering the chance they run off as you approach.

Keep multiple capture crates in your inventory if you plan to bring home more than one animal in a session.

Build Animal Pens

Either before or after capturing animals make sure to build animal pens before releasing them in your base. You must release them inside their pens or they will escape. Animal pens must be 2+ blocks high because animals can jump 1 block fences.

Use wood planks, stone, or fences stacked for walls, with solid floors (no grass to avoid mob spawns) and torches every 8 blocks for light. Add fence gates or doors for access; double gate airlocks will help prevent mass escapes.

Make sure to keep specicies seperate to avoid them attacking each other. It is also recomemnded to add a roof if you have predators that can fly out.

Which Animals You Can (and Cannot) Capture

Not every animal in Hytale can be captured. The current early access build of the game limits the capturing and luring of animals to small or juvenile creature types.

Typical examples include:

• Rabbits and bunnies
• Chicks and young chickens
• Lambs, calves, and foals (baby livestock)
• Piglets and other small baby animals
• Frogs, mice, and similar tiny creatures