Complete Guide to Animal Breeding in Once Human

Animal breeding in Once Human provides stable food sources, wool, and hides for crafting and trading. To succeed, you'll need to master capturing animals with Tranquilizer Throwing Needles, set up proper enclosures with feeding troughs, maintain high taming levels, and understand the quality breeding system to produce superior offspring. This guide covers everything from basic capture techniques to advanced breeding strategies.

1. Why Master Animal Breeding in Once Human?

Animal breeding isn't just a fun side activity in Once Human—it's a critical survival strategy that provides multiple benefits to enhance your gameplay experience.

✓ Key benefits of animal breeding:

• Sustainable food source that reduces hunting time
• Reliable materials like wool and hides for crafting
• Valuable trading resources for bartering with other players
• Companion animals with special traits and abilities

💡 Pro tip: Establishing a breeding operation early gives you a significant advantage, especially during resource-scarce seasons or on competitive servers.

2. Capturing Wild Animals: Your First Step

Before you can breed animals, you need to catch them. This process requires preparation and the right tools.

✓ Essential equipment for animal capture:

1. Tranquilizer Throwing Needle - Unlocked through the Animal Capture memetic
2. Sufficient inventory space to carry captured animals
3. Healing items in case of aggressive animal encounters

✓ Step-by-step capture process:

1. Reduce the animal's health to weaken it (but don't kill it!)
2. Wait until it stops moving or slows down significantly
3. Throw the tranquilizer needle - compensate for projectile travel time
4. Add the unconscious animal to your inventory by pressing F

⚠️ Common mistake: Many players try to tranquilize animals at full health. Always damage them first to increase the effectiveness of your tranquilizer.

3. Setting Up Your Animal Enclosure

Once you've captured animals, you need proper facilities to tame and breed them.

✓ Required structures for animal breeding:

• Enclosed area using Foundations and Parapets
• Animal Trough - Unlocked through the Animal Taming memetic in the Logistics tab
• Youngling Hut - Required for breeding, unlocked via the Breeding Animals memetic

✓ Best practices for enclosure design:

• Build on flat terrain for easier construction
• Make enclosures spacious enough for multiple animals
• Place Animal Troughs in accessible locations for easy refilling
• Keep predators away from your breeding area

4. The Taming Process Explained

Taming is the crucial step between capturing and breeding. Animals start with zero taming value and must be carefully nurtured.

✓ How to increase taming levels:

• Regularly fill the Animal Trough with appropriate food (press F to interact)
• Use the animal's preferred food as indicated in its description
• Stay near your enclosure to ensure feeding happens consistently
• Check taming progress by examining the animal

💡 Pro tip: Different animals prefer different foods. Using an animal's favorite food significantly accelerates the taming process and conserves resources.

5. Mastering the Breeding System

Successfully breeding animals requires understanding several key conditions and mechanics.

✓ Essential breeding requirements:

1. Built Youngling Hut with available space
2. High taming level for both parent animals
3. Adult animals only - younglings cannot breed
4. Both male and female of the same species
5. Sufficient food in the Animal Trough

✓ Animal quality tiers and inheritance:

Animals come in various quality tiers: C, B, A, S, and S+, each with better stats and traits.

• Higher quality animals produce better offspring
• S+ tier animals pass down the most desirable traits
• Breeding two high-quality animals increases chances for superior offspring
• Traits can include higher material yields, faster growth, and better resource efficiency

6. Advanced Breeding Strategies

After mastering the basics, these advanced techniques will help you optimize your breeding operation.

✓ Selective breeding techniques:

• Focus on obtaining and breeding S+ tier animals for maximum trait inheritance
• Track trait inheritance patterns to predict offspring characteristics
• Maintain genetic diversity by introducing new animals occasionally
• Cull inferior specimens to maintain quality standards

✓ Resource optimization:

• Batch your breeding cycles to efficiently use resources
• Rotate feeding schedules to maintain multiple breeding pairs
• Designate animals for specific purposes (food, materials, or trait development)
• Consider seasonal availability of preferred foods when planning

7. Troubleshooting Common Breeding Issues

Even experienced breeders encounter problems. Here are solutions to the most common issues:

• Animals won't breed: Check taming levels, age status, and Youngling Hut capacity
• Low-quality offspring: Improve parent animal quality or feeding regimen
• Animals escaping: Reinforce enclosure walls and check for gaps
• Slow taming progress: Use preferred foods and increase feeding frequency

Related articles you might be interested in:

• Complete Guide to Memetics and Cradle System in Once Human
• Complete Guide to Lunar Oracle Season in Once Human
• Essential Resource Management for Survival in Once Human