How to Tame and Breed Rats

Getting Your First Rat

Craft a Rat Cage and place it where rats spawn or where you want to attract them. Use a Rat Attractor nearby to pull rats toward the cage. Once a rat is inside, it becomes yours. To speed up breeding, place a Rat Breeding Lantern near your caged rats. Feed them Cheese or Blue Cheese to trigger breeding. Baby rats grow faster if you keep the area lit and supplied with Rat Seed Bowl filled with seeds.

Managing Your Colony

Use a Rat Flute to command tamed rats to follow or stay. The Gilded Rat Flute works the same but has a wider range. To move rats between cages, right-click with a Rat Sack to pick them up and place them elsewhere. If you want specific colors, breed rats with different Rat Hammock colors — each hammock color corresponds to a rat variant (Black, Blue, Brown, Cyan, Gray, Green, Light Blue, Light Gray, Lime, Magenta, Orange, Pink, Purple, Red, White, Yellow). Place the matching hammock in the cage to encourage that color to spawn. Keep Purified Garbage nearby to prevent Diseased Garbage from spreading among your rats. A Plague Doctorate worn by a rat reduces plague risk in your colony.