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In Conan Exiles, taming means raising a baby animal or hatched creature into an adult pet. Put the baby in an Animal Pen, or put a foal in a Stable, then add the food that species accepts. The shelter will not advance growth without food. Food also affects the chance of receiving a stronger “greater” version, so the right feeding choice matters as much as finding the animal.
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This guide explains where babies and eggs come from, how to raise them without losing them, how greater variants work, and how ordinary pets differ from mounts and the quest-based Age of Heroes Companions. Mechanics can change between patches, so treat food tables and behavior as version-specific; the current Conan Exiles Enhanced branch includes Update 2.2.0 from September 15, 2026.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhat animal taming actually does
A wild adult animal is not automatically a follower. Taming starts with a baby animal or an egg. A baby is placed into the appropriate shelter and grows over time while food is available. An egg must hatch first; the resulting young creature can then be raised in the same general way.
When growth finishes, the result is an adult pet that can follow you, fight and, for certain species, carry items. The pet system was designed around placing a baby in a pen and waiting for it to become an adult companion. The food you put in the pen is not merely fuel: suitable choices can improve the odds of a greater pet variant.
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- EXPLORE A VAST WORLD: Explore a giant world, from the burning desert in the south to the snow-capped mountains in the north. Discover ancient cultures, ruins, and dungeons
- SURVIVE: Stay warm, cool yourself down, drink and eat, weather scouring sandstorms, prevent your mind from being corrupted when exploring dark dungeons, and battle vicious monsters to stay alive
- BUILD: Harvest resources to craft tools and weapons, then build anything from a small home to entire cities piece by piece. Build walls, traps, elevators, and more, then deck out your creations with a wide variety of different furniture, crafting stations, and NPC guards
- DOMINATE: Wage war against your enemies, use siege weapons and explosives and see their walls crumble to dust, then unleash your savage fury in violent and brutal combat
- BUILD AN ARMY OF THRALLS: Capture NPCs, drag them back to your base, and use the Wheel of Pain to break their will. Turn them into archers, crafters, entertainers, and more for your settlements
There is no single universal “best food.” Each species has its own preferred-food table, and tables can differ by game version or map. Use the entry for the exact creature you are raising on either the Exiled Lands or the Isle of Siptah.
What you need before bringing an animal home
An Animal Pen for most pets
Most land animals are raised in an Animal Pen. Place the completed structure at your base, leave enough room to access its inventory, and make sure you can keep supplying the required food. A pen that contains a baby but no food does not produce a finished pet.
A Stable for foals and horses
Foals are raised in a Stable, not an Animal Pen. If your goal is a riding animal, build and stock the Stable before collecting the foal. After it matures, you will also need an appropriate saddle to ride it.
A dependable food supply
Food is consumed during the growth process. Gather or craft enough of the species’ accepted food before you start, and keep reserve supplies in the shelter’s inventory. If the food runs out, growth stops; it does not resume until a valid food item is available.
Room for the finished follower
Decide where the adult will be used before you begin. A combat pet needs a safe route from the pen to your base defenses, while a mount needs access to a saddle and a clear place to mount. Avoid filling your follower roster if you intend to test a new pet immediately.
Where to find baby animals and eggs
Collecting babies in the world
Baby animals can be found in both the Exiled Lands and the Isle of Siptah. Search the habitat where the adult species normally appears, then look for the smaller juvenile model. Spawn locations and availability can vary with map and server settings, so a route that works on one map may not work on the other.
Carry the baby safely back to your base and place it in the correct shelter as soon as practical. The young animal is the item you raise; killing adults nearby does not substitute for capturing a baby.
Buying babies or eggs from vendors
Some vendors sell young creatures or eggs. Examples documented for the current pet system include a camel calf, Sand Reaper egg, Shoebill egg, Rocknose egg and Spider egg. Vendor inventories and locations are subject to map and update changes, so verify that the seller exists on your map before planning a trip.
Understanding eggs
An egg is not ready to place in a pen as an adult. It must hatch first. According to the Conan Exiles Official Wiki, an egg takes 48 hours in a player’s inventory or about 2 hours in a Compost Heap. Those are stated hatch times, not guarantees for every server configuration; accelerated settings can change the practical wait.
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- Dominate the Exiled Lands - Carve out your piece of the Exiled Lands, taking it from other players if you must! Build siege weapons and use explosives to break down the walls of your enemy’s city.
- Survive in a Savage Land - Dress well or light a campfire to stay warm and make sure to cool yourself down in the heat. Hunt, cook, eat, and drink to stay alive. Build a shelter to weather scouring sandstorms.
- Brutal, Bloody Combat - Fight vicious monsters and other players using an action-oriented, combo-based combat system. Dodge, block, and learn to master the true art of combat to become the greatest fighter in the Exiled Lands.
- Play Together or Alone - Play alone locally or fight for survival and dominance in persistent multiplayer on public servers. You can also host your own server and invite others to join you in a world where you have full control of the rules and settings. Want to play with just handful of friends? Try co-op mode!
Use the Compost Heap when you want the documented shorter hatch period and have one available. If you keep the egg in your inventory, remember that the full 48-hour period can pass while you are travelling or offline. Once the egg has hatched, treat the young creature as a normal taming candidate and move it to the appropriate shelter.
How to raise a pet: the complete procedure
- Identify the creature and map. Confirm whether it came from the Exiled Lands or Isle of Siptah and note whether it is a baby or an egg.
- Prepare the shelter. Build an Animal Pen for the applicable pet, or a Stable for a foal. Put it in a defended part of your base with room to interact with its inventory.
- Collect the young animal. Capture a baby in the world or obtain the documented baby or egg from a vendor. If it is an egg, hatch it first.
- Place it inside. Open the shelter inventory and move the baby into the Animal Pen or Stable. Do not leave the baby in a chest and expect growth to begin.
- Add valid food. Put food accepted by that species into the shelter. Use the creature’s preferred-food entry when you are pursuing a greater variant; ordinary accepted food is sufficient to support growth.
- Check that growth is active. The shelter should show the animal and available food. If the growth indicator does not advance, remove and replace the food, confirm that it is the correct item, and check for server or mod settings that alter pet production.
- Wait for adulthood. Keep food available for the entire cycle. Do not remove the baby early.
- Collect the adult. When the growth cycle is complete, take the adult pet from the shelter and assign it as a follower. A foal becomes a horse that can receive a saddle.
- Equip and deploy it carefully. Give a mount a compatible saddle before attempting to ride. Take a new combat pet outside in a controlled area so you can confirm its behavior and survivability.
Food, growth and greater pet variants
Regular food versus preferred food
Each baby has a preferred-food table. Food listed as accepted can keep the animal growing. Particular entries in that table improve the chance that the adult will be a greater version, which is generally the stronger form players seek for combat or durability.
The game does not use one food rule for every species. Do not transfer a recipe or greater-variant percentage from one animal to another. A food recommendation is meaningful only when it names the creature, the map and the game version.
How to choose food when the table changes
- Start with the species’ current preferred-food table in the Conan Exiles Official Wiki or an in-game reference maintained for your server version.
- Separate “supports growth” from “raises greater chance.” The cheapest valid food may grow the animal but offer a lower greater-variant chance.
- Check whether the entry applies to Exiled Lands or Isle of Siptah; do not assume the maps share every creature or food table.
- Read the table again after a major update. Patch changes can alter accepted food, odds or the name of an item.
- Keep one backup food type in the pen so a temporary shortage does not pause the cycle.
What cannot be generalized
There is no reliable all-species statement such as “feed every animal meat” or “one crop always creates a greater pet.” The exact odds are creature-specific, and the available evidence does not establish one universal percentage. If a guide omits the target species, map and version, treat its greater-variant claim as incomplete rather than applying it blindly.
Egg hatch times and timing decisions
| Egg location | Documented time | How to use the information |
|---|---|---|
| Player inventory | 48 hours | Convenient while travelling, but the longest stated hatch route. |
| Compost Heap | About 2 hours | Use when you want the documented accelerated hatch method and have the structure available. |
These figures come from the current Conan Exiles Official Wiki page and should be read as reference times. Server multipliers, mods and future patches can change elapsed time. Keep an eye on the egg rather than assuming that a real-world timer will match an altered server.
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Never remove a baby before it is fully grown. The Pet page states that taking a baby out early results in its death. This is different from a paused growth cycle: removing the animal is a permanent loss, not a way to move it between pens safely.
- Confirm the growth cycle is complete before moving the animal.
- Do not empty the pen during a base relocation unless every occupant is an adult.
- Refill food before logging out if your server continues simulation while you are offline.
- Protect the pen from raids, purge events and accidental demolition; the shelter is part of the taming process.
- Keep eggs in a secure inventory or Compost Heap while they hatch, then move the hatched creature promptly.
Pets, mounts and ordinary followers: what is different?
A pet is a raised animal follower. A mount is a mountable pet intended for transport and mounted combat. A mount still needs to mature, but it also requires a compatible saddle and has riding, stamina and combat implications that a ground pet does not.
| Category | How you obtain it | Primary use | Special management |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary animal pet | Raise a baby in an Animal Pen | Combat, guarding and utility | Uses the normal follower system and companion-slot rules. |
| Mount | Raise a suitable foal or other mountable young animal | Travel and mounted combat | Needs a saddle; mounts do not count toward the normal one-companion limit. |
| Age of Heroes Companion | Complete its named quest | Character follower with powers and perks | Not raised in an Animal Pen; managed as a quest-driven follower. |
Which animals can be mounts?
The current Mount page lists horses, Camel Variant B and Isle of Siptah rhinos among the mounts. Availability depends on map, edition and downloadable-content access. A mount recommendation should therefore state where the animal is obtainable rather than implying that every player can collect it on every map.
Horses
Raise a foal in a Stable, wait until it becomes an adult horse, then equip a horse saddle. Horses are the straightforward choice when the goal is general riding and mounted combat, but the correct saddle and the horse’s stamina still determine how useful it is on a long journey.
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- harvest resources to craft tools and weapons, then build anything from a small home to entire cities piece by piece
Camel Variant B
This camel is listed as a mount and also represents an important carrying-capacity option. Confirm that the variant is available on your map and that you have the matching saddle before investing in the foal.
Isle of Siptah rhinos
Rhino mounts are tied to Isle of Siptah availability. They are a poor fit for a player who cannot access that map, but a natural candidate when you need a mount associated with that island’s content.
Saddles and mounted combat
A saddle is not cosmetic paperwork: it enables riding and affects how the mount functions in mounted combat. Check the saddle’s compatibility with the animal, equip it through the mount’s equipment interface, and test controls in a safe area before taking the mount into a boss fight or purge.
Conan Exiles Enhanced added saddle dyeing in the May 2026 Enhanced patch. Cosmetic instructions should therefore be labelled for the Enhanced branch and checked against your installed patch rather than assumed to work in an older client.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Pet utility and carrying capacity
Inventory space is one of the clearest practical differences between animals. The Conan Exiles Official Wiki lists the following capacities for most pets and several larger carriers:
| Pet group | Inventory slots listed | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Most pets | 10 | Useful for basic supplies, but limited for long harvesting trips. |
| Gazelles | 20 | Twice the listed baseline capacity. |
| Camels | 30 | Large carrying option when the camel is available to you. |
| Elephants | 30 | Large carrying option, balanced against their availability and handling needs. |
Capacity is only one decision axis. Compare a candidate’s availability, food cost, combat durability, travel role and follower-slot impact. A high-capacity animal that is difficult to replace may be a worse choice for a dangerous resource run than a common, lower-capacity pet.
Pets versus Age of Heroes Companions
The Age of Heroes system introduced a separate named-Companion category. Funcom identifies Liu Fei, a Khitan sorcerer, and Freya, an Aesir warrior, as named examples. Each has a quest and becomes a follower with new powers and perks.
These characters are not animal pets. You do not find a baby Liu Fei, place Freya in an Animal Pen or improve either one with pet food. Their progression is quest-driven, while an animal’s progression is shelter-and-food-driven. Choose the system that matches the job: a named Companion for character-specific powers and perks, or an animal for the utility, combat or transport role supplied by that species.
A practical way to choose your next companion
If you need faster travel
Raise a mountable animal, obtain the appropriate saddle and plan around stamina and mounted combat. Remember that mounts receive separate treatment from the normal one-companion limit, so you can keep a mount available without giving up the ordinary follower slot in the same way a ground pet would.
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- Explore a vast world: explore a giant world, from the Burning desert in the south to the snow-capped mountains in the north. Discover ancient cultures, ruins, and dungeons
- Survive: stay warm, cool yourself down, drink and eat, weather scouring sandstorms, prevent your mind from being corrupted when exploring dark dungeons, and battle vicious monsters to stay alive
- Build: harvest resources to craft tools and weapons, then build anything from a Small home to entire cities. Build walls, traps, elevators, and more
- Dominate: wage war against your enemies, use siege weapons and explosives and see their walls crumble to dust, then unleash your savage Fury in violent and brutal combat
- Play together or alone: play alone locally or fight for survival and dominance in persistent multiplayer on public servers. You can also host your own server and invite others to join you
If you need a combat partner
Compare damage, durability, follower perks and your own build. A greater variant can be worth the extra preferred food when the pet will fight regularly, but it is not automatically the best answer for every character or encounter.
If you need hauling capacity
Start with the inventory table: most pets have 10 slots, gazelles 20, and camels and elephants 30. Then check whether the species is obtainable on your map and whether its food and replacement cost fit the route you intend to run.
If you want a named story follower
Look for the relevant Age of Heroes quest instead of searching for an egg or baby. Liu Fei and Freya belong to the named-Companion system and bring their own powers and perks.
If you are chasing a greater form
Confirm the species-specific preferred food, prepare enough of it for the entire growth cycle, and accept that the food changes the chance rather than guaranteeing the greater result. Keep the baby in the shelter until adulthood regardless of which outcome you receive.
Troubleshooting a pet that will not grow
The growth timer does not move
- Verify that the animal is inside an Animal Pen or, for a foal, a Stable.
- Check that food is in the shelter inventory and is accepted by that species.
- Replace spoiled, invalid or exhausted food and allow the shelter to update.
- Review server settings, mods and map rules that can alter or disable pet growth.
The animal died while you were moving it
If the baby was removed before it finished growing, the documented outcome is death. It cannot be recovered by returning it to the pen. Replace it with another baby or egg and let the next one mature without removing it early.
The egg has not hatched
Check whether it is still in inventory, whether the documented 48-hour inventory period has elapsed, and whether a Compost Heap is available for the approximately 2-hour route. Server multipliers and offline simulation can change the observed timing.
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Confirm the map and content requirements first. Some babies, eggs and mounts are tied to the Exiled Lands, Isle of Siptah or a vendor’s inventory. A missing creature is often an availability issue rather than a failed taming step.
Version and map checks for 2026 players
Conan Exiles Enhanced is an active 2026 branch. Update 2.2.0, dated September 15, 2026, upgraded the game to Unreal Engine 5.8.2 and introduced Iris networking. Because the branch is changing, record your client version whenever you save a food table, mount list or follower-behavior note. Recheck those details after patches, especially cosmetic saddle features, food entries and any interaction between pets and follower limits.
When helping another player, state all three qualifiers: map (Exiled Lands or Isle of Siptah), edition (including Enhanced) and patch. That prevents an accurate instruction for one environment from becoming a misleading instruction for another.
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