Fox

{
 "title": "Fox",
 "rows": [
 {
 "field": "10<span class=\"hidden-alt-text\">HP</span><span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"5 hearts\">(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)</span></span>",
 "label": "(link to Health article, displayed as Health points)"
 },
 {
 "field": "Passive (wild or trusting) <br>Neutral (trusting a different player)",
 "label": "Behavior"
 },
 {
 "field": "<span class=\"nowrap\"><span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"\">(link to File:EntitySprite animal.png article, displayed as 16x16px|link=Animal|alt=|class=pixel-image|)</span>(link to Animal article, displayed as <span class=\"sprite-text\">Animal</span>)</span>",
 "label": "(link to Mob type article, displayed as Mob type)"
 },
 {
 "field": "Easy and Normal: 2<span class=\"hidden-alt-text\">HP</span><span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"1 heart\">(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)</span></span><br>Hard: 3<span class=\"hidden-alt-text\">HP</span><span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"1.5 hearts\">(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Half Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=💔)</span></span>",
 "label": "Attack<br/>strength"
 },
 {
 "field": "'''Adult:'''<br>Height: 0.7 blocks<br>Width: 0.6 blocks<br>\n'''Baby:'''<br>Height: 0.42 blocks<br>Width: 0.36 blocks",
 "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
 },
 {
 "field": "0.3",
 "label": "(link to Attribute#Movement_speed article, displayed as Speed)"
 },
 {
 "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
 "label": "(link to Mob spawning article, displayed as Spawn)"
 },
 {
 "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
 "label": "(link to Drops#Equipped items article, displayed as Natural<br/>equipment)"
 },
 {
 "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
 "label": "Usable items"
 }
 ],
 "invimages": [
 "Fox Spawn Egg"
 ],
 "images": [
 "Fox.png",
 "Baby Fox JE2.png",
 "Snow Fox.png",
 "Baby Snow Fox JE2.png"
 ]
}

A fox is a neutral mob found in taigas and similar biomes. It hunts small animals, can carry items in its mouth and will eat anything that is edible. A fox will trust and defend a player that spawned it through breeding, but will run away from non-sneaking players in any other circumstance.

Foxes spawn in groups of two to four, and can spawn on grass blocks, coarse dirt, podzol, snow blocks, and snow. In Bedrock Edition, they can spawn on any block. 5% of them spawn as babies.

Foxes have two color variants, red and snow, which depend on the biome they spawn in. Red foxes spawn in taigas, old growth pine taigas, old growth spruce taigas, and dappled forests​^{[upcoming: Third Drop 2026]}, while snow foxes spawn in groves and snowy taigas.

When bred, the color of the baby fox that is spawned depends on the color of its parents, regardless of the biome it is born in.

Foxes have a 20% chance to spawn (via spawn egg or naturally) with one of the following items in their mouth:

An adult fox drops 1–3XP experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf. Upon successful breeding, 1–7XP are dropped. Killing a baby fox yields no experience.

Foxes always drop any item they pick up and are still holding (they cannot drop food that they have eaten, for example) and drop items they spawn with naturally with a 100% chance, so:

If a fox is killed while holding a totem of undying, then the fox consumes the totem and revives itself instead of dropping the totem.

Foxes occasionally make loud screeches during nighttime, unless a trusted player is near them. Baby foxes follow adult foxes.

During the night, foxes sometimes go to nearby villages.

Foxes flee from nearby wolves, polar bears or players unless the player is trusted or approaches them while sneaking. They take no damage or speed reduction while moving through sweet berry bushes.

Foxes attack chickens, rabbits, cod, salmon and tropical fish, and baby turtles while they are on land. Foxes don't attack players, wolves, polar bears, zoglins, "Johnny" vindicators, wardens or goats even if they are being attacked by them.

Foxes attack either by running against or by pouncing. Like rabbits and goats, foxes can pounce more than one block high without status effects or player input. Similar to goats, they do not attack the player when hit. A fox prepares to pounce by tilting and lowering its head and lowering its body to become shorter. Then it leaps up to four blocks^[verify] into the air, jumping over fences and walls if needed. If the target mob moves from its location during this sequence, the pounce misses the target. In Bedrock Edition, foxes also shake side to side before pouncing and their legs wave while in midair.

Foxes can safely fall 5 blocks before they start to accumulate fall damage, unlike most mobs, which can only fall 3 blocks safely.

While foxes are capable of jumping over fences and walls, they cannot see through them.^[1] A fox does not try to attack a mob on the same y-level if there is a fence between them.

Red foxes prefer to attack chickens, rabbits and baby turtles, all of which are on land, over cod, salmon, and tropical fish; conversely, snow foxes prefer to attack cod, salmon and tropical fish over land-dwelling creatures.

A fox that pounces into a snow layer becomes momentarily stuck, remaining face-down, emitting particles while shaking, and returning to normal shortly after.

Foxes swim to attack fish in water for food. Baby foxes following adults into the water cannot swim and may eventually drown.

Foxes attempt to run toward the closest attackable mob, even if attached to a lead, but do not attempt to break the lead. A fox wakes up from sleeping to attack a mob.

Wild wolves are aggressive toward foxes when within 18‌^{[JE only]}/16‌^{[BE only]} blocks. In Java Edition, adult polar bears also sneak toward foxes to attack them; in Bedrock Edition adult polar bears attack foxes within 16 blocks.

Foxes are one of the few mobs in the game that can sleep, along with cats, villagers and bats.

During the day, if a thunderstorm is not occurring, foxes attempt to find a space with a sky light level of 14 or less and sleep. Block light has no effect on this. While it sleeps, it slowly moves its head up and down. A fox wakes if approached by a player or mob. Foxes do not flee if a player approaches while sneaking until the player gets on an adjacent block.

If the sky light at the fox's position becomes 15 or above, either due to a block above being destroyed or the fox being moved, the fox wakes up.

Foxes can drop and pick up items in their sleep.

Trusting foxes can fall asleep even if attached to a lead. They can also be moved with leads while sleeping.

Foxes do not sleep if they are within 12 blocks of an armor stand, or a camera in Minecraft Education.

A fox sits down sometimes if the fox cannot find a shaded area to sleep. The fox sits for a short time, then hops back up. Foxes sit down even when attached to a lead or in a boat. Foxes that have not been bred by the player always sit while in the Nether, even while attached to a lead.

If any item is on the ground near a fox, it travels to the item and picks it up, and the item appears in the fox's mouth. However, usually a fox chooses to attack a mob over picking up an item. This behavior is not limited to food and animal products; a fox can pick up any item that the player can pick up. However, they prefer to pick up food items, and if they have already picked up non-food items, they drop the non-food items to pick up food instead. A fox can also swap a food item it is holding for a different food item.

A fox eats any food item it picks up (besides cake) after 30 seconds and the fox is affected by any side effects from the food, such as poison or teleportation. For example, if a fox eats an enchanted golden apple, it obtains the Absorption, Resistance, Fire Resistance and Regeneration. If a fox eats any type of soup or stew, an empty bowl is dropped. If a fox eats a chorus fruit, it teleports accordingly.

If there is a stage 3 or 4 sweet berry bush within a 16 block radius of a fox, it sprints toward the bush and eats the sweet berries, dropping the item it was holding. However, if the fox stands on a solid block directly above the sweet berry bush and is already holding an item, the fox will harvest the sweet berries, making them drop, but will not eat them nor drop the item it was holding. Foxes are not damaged or slowed by sweet berry bushes.

Although visually holding items in its mouth, they are functionally being held in its main hand; therefore, the fox is affected by any effects of a given held item. A sword increases its damage, and a totem of undying saves it from death, for instance. If a fox picks up a weapon or an item with enchantments, such as Looting and Fire Aspect, these items affect the fox's attack as if the fox is wielding the weapon in its main hand, although the item retains its durability when used by the fox. If a fox is holding a totem of undying, it receives the effects after taking fatal damage. In Bedrock Edition, if a fox wields a sword with the Fire Aspect enchantment while attacking a mob on a campfire or a soul campfire, it ignites the campfire and does critical damage to the entity.

Foxes do not pick up items when gamerule mobGriefing is set to false.

When sweet berries or glow berries are used on two foxes, the foxes breed, producing a baby fox. If a red fox is bred with a snow fox, the baby has a 50% chance of being either a red or snow fox.

Breeding two adults with sweet berries or glow berries produces a baby fox that trusts the player that bred it and does not flee from that player as it grows up; however, because baby foxes also follow nearby adult foxes, an adult running away from the player may cause the baby to do the same.

Naturally spawned baby foxes do not trust players.

Foxes attack specific mobs that hurt a player they trust. When attacking phantoms, foxes do not jump to attack.

In Bedrock Edition, foxes that trust a player attack any mob that harms their trusted player, including other players. In Java Edition, foxes defend the player from the following damage sources:^[2]

• melee attacks from players and mobs except dolphins, iron golems, wolves, bees, polar bears, killer bunnies, slimes, magma cubes, hoglins, or zoglins.^[3]
• projectile damage from arrows, fireballs or wind charges.
• defensive damage from pufferfish.

Foxes do not retaliate against players who harm them, but they still attack players who damage players they trust.

Trusting foxes retreat from polar bears and wolves but not tamed wolves. A tamed wolf whose owner attacks a trusting fox also attacks the fox.

The player can summon a neutral fox in singleplayer with the command /summon fox ~ ~ ~ {Trusted:[I;<player UUID>]}, where <player UUID> is the UUID of the player as an int-array, with commas separating the 4 integers. Like other neutral mobs, foxes are passive in Peaceful difficulty. Unlike other neutral mobs, a neutral fox is not aggravated by firework damage.^[4]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Foxes have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Advancements that apply to all mobs:

Issues relating to "Fox" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

• The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) are two different species in real life, so they cannot produce fertile offspring like they can in-game.
• In the real world, some species of fox jump high to catch their prey by surprise, an action reflected in their Minecraft counterpart.
• When foxes were being added into Minecraft, a glitch made them look like boxes.^[8]
• Baby foxes are small enough that when they swim, they take drowning damage. This is noticeable when they attempt to attack fish.
• There is a splash screen "In case it isn't obvious, foxes aren't players" in the game, which was added from the description of the bug MC-166292.
• The first and third screeching sounds foxes make are the same. The first sound is the third in reverse, but higher-pitched, and the third is the first in reverse, but lower-pitched.
• Fox sounds are actually combined and heavily edited cat and dog sounds.^[9]
• When Cory Scheviak was developing the fox, a bug in the code occurred, causing the fox to appear in the shape of a box, creating the “Foxes are easily confounded with boxes” meme.

Red fox

• 👁 A fox
  
  A fox
• 👁 A sitting fox
  
  A sitting fox
• 👁 A sleeping fox
  
  A sleeping fox
• 👁 A crouching fox
  
  A crouching fox
• 👁 A fox stuck in snow
  
  A fox stuck in snow
• 👁 A wiggling fox after it is stuck in snow
  
  A wiggling fox after it is stuck in snow
• 👁 A sitting fox with an emerald in its mouth
  
  A sitting fox with an emerald in its mouth

• 👁 A baby fox
  
  A baby fox
• 👁 A sitting baby fox
  
  A sitting baby fox
• 👁 A sleeping baby fox
  
  A sleeping baby fox

Snow fox

• 👁 A snow fox
  
  A snow fox
• 👁 A sitting snow fox
  
  A sitting snow fox
• 👁 A sleeping snow fox
  
  A sleeping snow fox

• 👁 A baby snow fox
  
  A baby snow fox
• 👁 A sitting baby snow fox
  
  A sitting baby snow fox
• 👁 A sleeping baby snow fox
  
  A sleeping baby snow fox

• 👁 Sleeping foxes.
  
  Sleeping foxes.
• 👁 A sleeping fox with raw rabbit in its mouth.
  
  A sleeping fox with raw rabbit in its mouth.
• 👁 A fox and a baby fox sleeping while holding player-dropped items.
  
  A fox and a baby fox sleeping while holding player-dropped items.
• 👁 A fox harvesting sweet berries from the sweet berry bush.
  
  A fox harvesting sweet berries from the sweet berry bush.
• 👁 A leaping snow fox.
  
  A leaping snow fox.
• 👁 A snow fox in its natural habitat.
  
  A snow fox in its natural habitat.
• 👁 A snow fox attacking a chicken.
  
  A snow fox attacking a chicken.
• 👁 Fox sleeping with a feather in its mouth.
  
  Fox sleeping with a feather in its mouth.
• 👁 A fox attempting to pounce on a chicken and missing, then continuing its hunt.
  
  A fox attempting to pounce on a chicken and missing, then continuing its hunt.

• 👁 Image
  
• 👁 Image
  
• 👁 Image
  

• 👁 In early development, Cory Scheviak had problems with the model.
  
  In early development, Cory Scheviak had problems with the model.
• 👁 A recreation of Cory's failed model.
  
  A recreation of Cory's failed model.
• 👁 A fox peering out of a cozy cabin.
  
  A fox peering out of a cozy cabin.
• 👁 The head of a fox in a cozy cabin.
  
  The head of a fox in a cozy cabin.
• 👁 A fox sitting.
  
  A fox sitting.
• 👁 A fox sleeping.
  
  A fox sleeping.
• 👁 A group of foxes attacking a chicken.
  
  A group of foxes attacking a chicken.
• 👁 A fox with a broken model.
  
  A fox with a broken model.
• 👁 A fox with an even more broken model.
  
  A fox with an even more broken model.
• 👁 A fox with a broken model, upside down.
  
  A fox with a broken model, upside down.
• 👁 Foxes under a tree.
  
  Foxes under a tree.

• 👁 Fox texture file.
  
  Fox texture file.
• 👁 Sleeping fox texture file.
  
  Sleeping fox texture file.
• 👁 Arctic fox texture file.
  
  Arctic fox texture file.
• 👁 Sleeping arctic fox texture file.
  
  Sleeping arctic fox texture file.
• 👁 Baby Fox texture file.
  
  Baby Fox texture file.
• 👁 Sleeping baby fox texture file.
  
  Sleeping baby fox texture file.
• 👁 Baby arctic fox texture file.
  
  Baby arctic fox texture file.
• 👁 Sleeping baby arctic fox texture file.
  
  Sleeping baby arctic fox texture file.

• 👁 Fox from the biome vote video.
  
  Fox from the biome vote video.
• 👁 Fox idle animation (pixel art)
  
  Fox idle animation (pixel art)
• 👁 Fox holding up a sign, used to promote the Biomes votes.
  
  Fox holding up a sign, used to promote the Biomes votes.
• 👁 Fox from the biome vote video.
  
  Fox from the biome vote video.
• 👁 Official artwork of a Fox.
  
  Official artwork of a Fox.
• 👁 A Fox in promotional artwork for Education Edition 1.14.31.
  
  A Fox in promotional artwork for Education Edition 1.14.31.
• 👁 A Fox in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.
  
  A Fox in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.
• 👁 Fox in official artwork.
  
  Fox in official artwork.
• 👁 Three foxes and Tails from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
  
  Three foxes and Tails from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
• 👁 Wallpaper of a fox sleeping in front of a fireplace.
  
  Wallpaper of a fox sleeping in front of a fireplace.
• 👁 A snow fox greeting an axolotl.
  
  A snow fox greeting an axolotl.
• 👁 A camel resting with a fox.
  
  A camel resting with a fox.
• 👁 The first preview of a sleeping fox.
  
  The first preview of a sleeping fox.
• 👁 A fox eating berries.
  
  A fox eating berries.
• 👁 GIF of a fox leaping into snow.
  
  GIF of a fox leaping into snow.

• 👁 Fox from the Minecon Earth 2018 biome vote.
  
  Fox from the Minecon Earth 2018 biome vote.
• 👁 A snow fox resting beside a campfire as seen in Minecraft: Soothing Scenes snow and the launcher.
  
  A snow fox resting beside a campfire as seen in Minecraft: Soothing Scenes snow and the launcher.
• 👁 Lego Minecraft Fox.
  
  Lego Minecraft Fox.
• 👁 Lego minifigure of a character dressed as a fox.
  
  Lego minifigure of a character dressed as a fox.
• 👁 Lego Taiga Adventure set
  
  Lego Taiga Adventure set
• 👁 Lego Fox Lodge set
  
  Lego Fox Lodge set
• 👁 Jolly Mobs Fox with Berries, an official T-Shirt design.
  
  Jolly Mobs Fox with Berries, an official T-Shirt design.
• 👁 A similiar design, instead featuring a snow fox.
  
  A similiar design, instead featuring a snow fox.
• 👁 An official fox night light.
  
  An official fox night light.
• 👁 A fox as seen in Minecraft Dungeons.
  
  A fox as seen in Minecraft Dungeons.
• 👁 A fox as seen in Minecraft Legends.
  
  A fox as seen in Minecraft Legends.
• 👁 Image
  
• 👁 Image
  
• 👁 Lego Minecraft snow fox
  
  Lego Minecraft snow fox
• 👁 Lego Minecraft baby fox
  
  Lego Minecraft baby fox

• "Mob Menagerie: Fox" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, September 22, 2022.