Armadillo in Minecraft: Scutes, Brushing and Wolf Armor

Armadillos are small passive mobs in savannas and badlands, and they’re the only source of armadillo scutes, the material for wolf armor. Brush one and it drops a scute on the spot; leave it alone and it sheds one every 5 to 10 minutes on its own.

Stat	Value
Health	12 (6 hearts)
Behavior	Passive
Spawns	Savanna, savanna plateau, windswept savanna, badlands, eroded badlands, wooded badlands
Breeding food	Spider eye
Drops	1 scute every 5-10 minutes or per brush; 1-3 XP if killed

Finding armadillos

Look in savannas first, where they spawn in groups of two to three (Java) or up to four (Bedrock). Badlands have them too, but in groups of one or two. They need decent light to spawn: level 9 or higher in Java, 7 or higher in Bedrock.

The roll-up defense

An armadillo curls into its shell when it gets hurt, when an undead mob like a zombie comes near, or when a player close by is sprinting or mounted. Rolled up, it takes roughly half damage (the formula is damage minus one, halved), can’t walk and won’t follow food. It peeks out now and then and unrolls once it sees no threat for three seconds.

This matters when you’re trying to lead one home. Don’t sprint, don’t ride a horse up to it, and keep zombies away. A lead also makes it unroll instantly, which is the easiest way to move one.

Armadillos also scare off spiders and cave spiders within six blocks, as long as they aren’t curled up. A couple in a pen near your base is a mild bonus.

Brushing for scutes

Use a brush on an armadillo and it drops one scute. Each brush costs 16 durability, so an unenchanted brush gets you four scutes in Java and five in Bedrock before it breaks. Dispensers holding a brush work too, which is how most scute farms are built: a pen of armadillos, a dispenser, and a button.

The cheaper option is patience. Every armadillo sheds a scute on its own every 5 to 10 minutes, much like chickens lay eggs. Put hoppers under their pen and the scutes pile up while you play.

Wolf armor

Six scutes make one piece of wolf armor. Put it on a tamed wolf (see our wolf taming guide) and it absorbs almost all damage the wolf takes until its 64 durability runs out. Using a scute on an armored wolf restores 8 durability; repairing it in an anvil restores 16. If you’ve ever lost a good dog to a skeleton, this is the fix.

Breeding

Hold a spider eye and armadillos follow you. Feed two adults and you get a baby plus 1-7 XP. If an armadillo rolls up after you feed it but before it reaches its mate, it loses interest and needs another eye. Killing a baby gives nothing, and there’s no reason to kill adults either: they drop only a few XP orbs.