To tame a llama, just keep mounting it with an empty hand until hearts appear. Once tamed, you can give it a chest (holding 3 to 15 items depending on its strength) and lead a caravan of up to ten llamas. This guide covers where to find llamas, how to tame and breed them, and what trader llamas are.
Llamas are animals added to Minecraft as part of the 1.11 exploration update. They are able to carry items in chests on their backs and multiple llamas can form a transport caravan.
This makes llamas a useful tool for transporting items across a long distance. They also have some other unique features, including spitting when attacked and the ability to be decorated with colored carpets!
How to Find Llamas in Minecraft
Llamas can be found naturally in windswept hills and savanna plateau biomes (windswept hills were called “extreme hills” or “mountains” in older versions). They spawn in the windswept hills, windswept forest, and windswept gravelly hills in herds of 4 to 6, and in savanna plateaus in herds of 4. They come in four coat colors: white, brown, gray, or cream. Some llamas may spawn as babies, but they will grow up to adult size with time.
Can’t find the right biome? On Java Edition, you can type the command /locate biome minecraft:windswept_hills and teleport to the coordinates it gives you (see our Minecraft commands guide for more useful commands). Otherwise, just keep exploring, since windswept hills are a common biome.
The other reliable way to get llamas is from the wandering trader, which we cover below!
How To Tame Llamas in Minecraft
Taming a llama in Minecraft is an easy process. You don’t even require any specific items like you do with other animals.
Just right click on the llama with an empty hand and you will mount it. If you get kicked off the llama and smoke appears, just try again. Once hearts appear, the llama is tamed. Although you are able to mount the llama, you won’t be able to control its movement like a horse.
You can put a chest on a Minecraft llama by right clicking it with a chest in your hand. The chest will be able to hold anywhere from 3 to 15 items depending on the llama’s hidden strength stat (see the table below). Be careful: once a chest is attached, it can’t be taken off without killing the llama!
To form a llama caravan, use a lead on one llama and all other nearby llamas will join each other as if they are connected.
Llama Strength and Chest Slots
Every llama has a hidden strength stat from 1 to 5. Strength decides how many chest slots the llama gets: exactly 3 slots per strength point. The game never shows you the number directly, so the only way to check is to attach a chest and count the slots.
| Strength | Chest Slots |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 15 |
Strength even affects combat: wolves are more likely to run away from stronger llamas, and strength 4 and 5 llamas always scare wolves off. Since chests are cheap, it’s worth testing wild llamas with a chest and only keeping the high-slot ones for your caravan.
How To Breed Llamas in Minecraft
Llamas are bred by feeding hay bales to two tamed llamas (both parents must be tamed first). Hay bales are crafted from 9 wheat, and you can also feed llamas wheat to help babies grow faster.
Here is the useful part: baby llamas can inherit strength from their parents, so breed your two strongest llamas to work toward a strength 5 caravan. A full caravan of strength 5 llamas carries 150 items, which makes them basically a walking storage room!
What Are Trader Llamas?
Trader llamas are a special blue-decorated llama variant that arrives leashed to the wandering trader (two llamas per trader). They protect their trader by spitting at nearby hostile mobs like zombies.
You can get trader llamas for yourself! If the leads break or the trader despawns, the llamas stay behind, and you can tame them exactly like wild llamas. Just note that untamed trader llamas eventually despawn with their trader, so tame them quickly if you want to keep them.
How To Put Carpets on Llamas in Minecraft
You can also put carpets (of all colors) on llamas as a decoration. To put a carpet on a llama, first mount the llama and then open your inventory. There will be a slot on the left where a carpet can be placed. Each carpet color will have slight variations in design, particularly around the head.
Carpets are more than just decoration: if you use llamas as mobile storage, color-coding each llama’s carpet tells you what’s in its chest at a glance, just like dyed shulker boxes.
Facts About Minecraft Llamas
- Although they are passive mobs, llamas will “spit” at you when attacked and deal a small amount of damage.
- Llamas will attack non-tamed wolves by spitting at them and wolves will run away from llamas.
- Although you can mount a llama, you are not able to place a saddle on them and you cannot control their movement while mounted! You must use a lead to control movement.
- Llamas are bred using hay bales.
- Each caravan can contain up to ten llamas. Multiple caravans can be formed at one time by using multiple leads.
- Llamas can only carry regular chests. You cannot put an ender chest on a llama (or on donkeys and mules).
- The 1.11 update also added woodland mansions to the game.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you tame a llama in Minecraft?
Mount the llama repeatedly with an empty hand. It will buck you off a few times, but once hearts appear, the llama is tamed. No food or items are needed for taming.
Can you ride and steer a llama?
You can mount a tamed llama, but you cannot steer it. Llamas don’t accept saddles. To move a llama where you want it, attach a lead and walk, and nearby llamas will follow in a caravan.
How many items can a llama carry?
A llama with a chest carries 3, 6, 9, 12, or 15 items depending on its strength stat (3 slots per strength point). Attach a chest and count the slots to check a llama’s strength.
What do llamas eat in Minecraft?
Llamas eat wheat and hay bales. Wheat heals them and speeds up baby growth, while hay bales heal more and are required for breeding two tamed llamas.
How do you get a trader llama?
Trader llamas arrive leashed to the wandering trader. If the lead breaks or the trader leaves them behind, you can tame them like normal llamas by mounting them repeatedly. Tame them quickly, because untamed trader llamas eventually despawn.
That concludes our guide to finding and taming llamas in Minecraft! Have you built a llama caravan of your own? Leave a comment below!
