Minecraft frogs: how to breed and keep your amphibious friends

Minecraft frog - Several orange frogs in a swamp biome
(Image credit: Mojang)

Hop on over here to learn a little about Minecraft frogs, won't you? These fun new friends might look a little dopey, but they've got some seriously neat features. They arrived with the 1.19 update, along with the adorable Allay mob and the new Deep Dark biome.

You might expect frogs to live in Minecraft's new Mangrove Swamps, and you'd be right. That's not their only habitat, though. They're more than they appear to be in several ways, including their tiny tadpole babies. Here's what we know about the cute and slightly derpy new mobs coming to Minecraft.

So what do Minecraft frogs do? 

Best of Minecraft

Minecraft 1.20 - Steve celebrates his new camel pal

(Image credit: Mojang)

Minecraft update: What's new?
Minecraft skins: New looks
Minecraft mods:  Beyond vanilla
Minecraft shaders: Spotlight
Minecraft seeds: Fresh new worlds
Minecraft texture packs: Pixelated
Minecraft servers: Online worlds
Minecraft commands: All cheats
Minecraft build ideas: What to build next

Frogs are some seriously goofy little mobs that hop around in swamp biomes. So far, frogs don't do a whole lot on their own. They hop, ribbit, and that's about it. They do hate a taste for slimes though, both slime balls and enemy slimes. 

Frogs will lash out with their tongue to chow down on the smallest green swamp slimes and, turning them into Slimeballs—critical for items like Leads and Sticky Pistons. They also have a taste for tiny Magma Cubes, which turn into Froglights. Similar to Glowstone and Sea Lanterns, Froglights will be equally good at lighting and decorating, and they'll even come in three varieties to match the three types of frog!

Frog breeding is initially similar to other animals. You'll feed a slime ball to two nearby frogs for the to enter love mode. After that, one frog finds some nearby water and deposits "frogspawn" a little cluster of eggs on top of the surface. They eventually hatch into tadpoles that will swim around.

Here's the quick recap on frog behavior:

  • Can frogs be tamed? Nope, these are frogs, not dogs.
  • Can frogs be led? Yes, by holding a small slime ball.
  • How do you breed frogs? Feed them slime balls.
  • Are frogs hostile? Not to you, but they will attack and eat small slimes or magma cubes.
  • What do frogs drop? Nothing if you kill them! They produce slime balls from eating small slimes and froglights from eating small magma cubes.

What kinds of frogs are there in Minecraft? 

One of the coolest parts about Minecraft frogs is that there are actually three types! That's right, three mobs in one. The default frog style will be the yellowish swamp frogs. You'll also be able to raise Snowy Frogs and Tropical Frogs too. Mojang says that they're the first cold blooded creatures in Minecraft. Each type will be a different color to match the biome it lives in.

Here's how Minecraft tadpoles work 

Minecraft frog - A tiny tadpole mob swims underwater in a swamp with several other tadpoles nearby

(Image credit: Mojang)

Okay, now here is the coolest part about Minecraft's frogs. They grow from tadpoles. They're not just three mobs in one, but four. More importantly, how you raise your tadpole will determine what kind of frog it grows into. You can find tadpoles swimming around underwater in their natural habitats where they will grow up into frogs on their own. If you'd like to take a little tadpole home, you can also scoop it up in a bucket and bring it along in your inventory the way you can with an axolotl.

Pay attention to where you're carrying your new friend off to though. Tadpoles will grow up into a frog variant that matches the temperature of the biome they're in at the time. A frog that matures in the tundra will become a Snowy Frog while one that grows up in a jungle or a desert will become a Tropical Frog.

So, who's ready to build a bunch of special tadpole habitats in the nearest tundra village?

Lauren Morton
Associate Editor

Lauren has been writing for PC Gamer since she went hunting for the cryptid Dark Souls fashion police in 2017. She accepted her role as Associate Editor in 2021, now serving as self-appointed chief cozy games and farmlife sim enjoyer. Her career originally began in game development and she remains fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long fantasy books, longer RPGs, can't stop playing co-op survival crafting games, and has spent a number of hours she refuses to count building houses in The Sims games for over 20 years.

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