What Do Pandas Eat in Minecraft? (Bamboo, Breeding, and All 7 Personalities)

Pandas were added in update 1.14 (Village & Pillage, 2019). This guide covers feeding, breeding, the personalities, the rare Brown panda, where to find them, and building a panda sanctuary.

Quick Answer Table

Question	Answer
What do pandas eat?	Bamboo (adults also go after dropped cake)
Breeding item	Bamboo, one per parent
Breeding condition (Java)	At least one bamboo plant within a 7×7×3 area
Breeding condition (Bedrock)	At least 8 bamboo plants within 5 blocks
Where do they spawn?	Bamboo Jungle (most common), Jungle; Sparse Jungle on Bedrock
How many personalities?	7: Normal, Lazy, Worried, Playful, Aggressive, Weak, Brown
Are they hostile?	No. Aggressive pandas fight back when attacked
Can you lead them?	Yes, with a lead, or by holding bamboo

Why Bamboo?

Pandas arrived in the same update as bamboo, and Mojang tied them to it: feeding pandas means visiting a bamboo jungle or growing bamboo at your base. Luckily bamboo is one of the easiest renewable resources in the game:

• Find it in Jungle and Bamboo Jungle biomes, where it grows in big clusters.
• Break bamboo with anything; it breaks instantly.
• Replant it on grass, dirt, sand, gravel, mycelium or podzol.
• It grows tall on its own, and Bone Meal speeds it up.

The 7 Panda Personalities

Every panda carries two genes, and the combination decides its personality:

Personality	Behavior
Normal	The default. Wanders, eats bamboo, sits around.
Lazy	Spends a lot of time lying on its back.
Worried	Gets scared during thunderstorms and avoids hostile mobs.
Playful	Rolls over and tumbles around a lot.
Aggressive	Fights back when attacked, unlike other pandas, which flee.
Weak	Has less health, and as a baby sneezes far more often than other babies.
Brown	Recessive. Brown and white instead of black and white.

Brown panda genetics

Brown is recessive: a panda only looks Brown if both of its genes are Brown. Each parent passes one of its two genes to the baby, so:

• Brown × Brown → every baby is Brown
• Brown × a carrier (one hidden Brown gene) → about half the babies are Brown
• Two carriers → about a quarter of the babies are Brown

Once you have two Brown pandas, every baby they have will be Brown too.

Sneezing babies and slimeballs

Baby pandas sometimes sneeze, which makes adult pandas within 10 blocks jump. Each sneeze has a 1 in 700 chance to drop a slimeball. Weak babies sneeze much more often, so a Weak baby gives you a slimeball about every 5 hours on average; a regular baby takes more than 58 hours. It's slow, but it works where slimes don't spawn.

How to Find Pandas

Pandas spawn in groups of 1–2:

• Bamboo Jungle: the most common spawn spot
• Jungle: less common
• Sparse Jungle: Bedrock Edition only

Bamboo Jungles are smaller and rarer than regular Jungles. Walk the edges of jungles, or with cheats use /locate biome minecraft:bamboo_jungle.

How to Breed Pandas (Step by Step)

Step 1: Get bamboo and two adult pandas

Bring a stack of bamboo. You only need one per parent, but extra helps for luring and for speeding up the baby.

Step 2: Make sure bamboo grows nearby

On Java Edition, there has to be at least one bamboo plant (not just a shoot) within a 7×7×3 area around the pandas. On Bedrock, each panda needs 8 bamboo plants within 5 blocks. In a Bamboo Jungle this is automatic; in a pen at your base, plant bamboo first.

Step 3: Feed each parent one bamboo

Hearts appear above both pandas and a baby spawns shortly after.

Step 4: Grow the baby

Baby pandas grow up in 20 minutes. Each bamboo you feed a baby takes 10% off the time it still has left.

Building a Panda Sanctuary

1. Find 2–4 wild pandas in a Bamboo Jungle.
2. Lead them home with a lead, or walk in front of them holding bamboo.
3. Build a fenced pen and plant bamboo inside (on Bedrock, plant at least 8 within 5 blocks of where they'll breed).
4. Breed pairs to grow the colony, and keep Weak babies around for the slimeball trickle.
5. Light the pen at night so hostile mobs don't spawn inside.

Common Questions

Can pandas attack me?

Only Aggressive pandas, and only after you attack them. Every other personality runs away when hurt.

What does the Brown panda do differently?

Nothing. Brown only changes how the panda looks.

Can I tame a panda?

No, but you can put a lead on one, and pandas don't despawn, so a pen works as well as taming.

Is "Sneezy" a panda personality?

No. There are seven personalities. Sneezing is something baby pandas do, and Weak babies do it most.

How do baby pandas behave?

Babies roll around and play a lot whatever their genes say. Their personality shows once they grow up.

Putting It All Together

1. Find a Bamboo Jungle and two adult pandas.
2. Bring them home with a lead or bamboo and plant bamboo in the pen.
3. Feed each parent one bamboo to breed.
4. Breed Brown × Brown once you have them for an all-Brown colony.

For more mob feeding guides, see What Do Cows Eat, What Do Foxes Eat, What Do Axolotls Eat, What Do Parrots Eat, What Do Sniffers Eat and What Do Armadillos Eat.

Building a round bamboo sanctuary? Our Minecraft circle generator blueprints the curved walls.