Llama in Minecraft: Stats, Strength, Caravans and Drops
Llamas carry a chest sized by their strength and walk in caravans of up to ten, but you can't steer one. Where llamas spawn, carpets, and llama vs donkey.
Llamas are neutral pack animals with 15-30 health that can carry a chest and travel in caravans of up to ten. You can’t steer one even with a saddle, so they’re for hauling, not for getting anywhere fast. Hit one and it spits at you.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Health | 15-30 HP (7.5-15 hearts), inherited |
| Spit damage | 1 HP (1.5 on Hard) |
| Chest slots | 3 per strength point, 3-15 total |
| Food | Wheat, hay bale |
| Drops | 0-2 leather (more with Looting) |
| XP | 1-3 on kill, 1-7 from breeding |
Where to find llamas
Llamas come in herds. The savanna plateau spawns groups of four, and the windswept hills, windswept gravelly hills and windswept forest biomes spawn groups of four to six. Bedrock also spawns them in regular savanna and windswept savanna. Around 10% are babies.
The other source is the wandering trader, who arrives leading two trader llamas. Kill the trader or let him despawn and you can keep the llamas.
Strength and why it matters
Every llama has a hidden strength from 1 to 5. Strength decides how many chest slots it has (three per point), and wolves are scared of strength 4 and 5 llamas. Wild ones are usually 1 to 3. When two llamas breed, the baby gets a random strength up to the stronger parent’s value, so breeding toward 15-slot llamas takes patience: keep your strongest pair and replace the weaker one whenever a better baby comes along.
You can’t see strength directly in survival, but the chest inventory size tells you once it’s equipped.
Taming, riding and caravans
Taming is the same as a horse: mount it with an empty hand until hearts appear, feeding it wheat or hay bales to raise its temper. Once tamed you can attach a chest and lead it. Any llamas near a leashed one will follow in a line, up to ten in total. The step-by-step version, including how to set up a caravan without losing animals, is on our guide to riding and caravanning llamas.
Carpets
Put a carpet in a tamed llama’s decoration slot and it wears a patterned rug. Each wool color has its own design. It’s cosmetic, but it’s the easiest way to color-code a caravan: red llama carries ore, blue carries building blocks. Shears take the carpet back off.
Llama, donkey or mule?
A strength 5 llama ties a donkey at 15 slots, and a caravan moves ten chests at once. The trade-off is control. A donkey or mule can be saddled and ridden where you want; a llama only follows the lead. For moving a big haul along a known path, llamas win. For exploring, take a donkey.
Drops and edition notes
A llama drops 0-2 leather, plus its chest contents and carpet. Babies drop nothing.
- Bedrock lets you reflect llama spit back; Java doesn’t.
- On Java, a trader llama bred with a normal llama always produces a normal llama.
- Carpets stay visible on an invisible llama on Java but vanish on Bedrock.
More pack animals and passive mobs are on the mobs hub.
Common questions
Do llamas spit at you?
Only if you hit them. A provoked llama spits for 1 HP (1.5 on Hard). Llamas also spit at wolves on their own.
How many slots does a llama chest have?
It depends on strength, from 1 to 5. Each point of strength gives 3 slots, so a strength 5 llama carries 15 stacks.
What do llamas eat?
Wheat and hay bales. Hay bales make tamed adults breed and raise their temper the most when you're taming.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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