RimWorld is a survival game, and like most of the games in this genre, the main objective is to guarantee the survival of the people battling against many environmental and internal factors. The gameplay ranges from managing colonists’ needs, moods, illness, and wounds to fashion structures, weapons, stone, wood, and cloth.
It also lets you engage in tactical gunplay with small teams and fight hostile tribes, pirates, animals, giant insects, and ancient, lethal machines. You can also tame and train pets as productive farm animals or lethal attack beasts. In the game, you can have different types of animals. The game is diverse, from livestock to beasts, pets, and animals for security.
Why do you need to feed your animals?
Feeding your animals in the game is essential as it ensures their survival and your colony’s. Animals are a vital food source, so you should know to take care of the animals and feed them as soon as you get them.
All animals in the game have different hunger meters and stats, meaning that some animals might get hungry faster than others while others will be faster in speed or defense. In short, different animals will have different diets altogether.
To feed the animals, you have to place the food in the allowed area of the animal, and you should also make sure the food you are trying to give to the animal is a part of its diet. The kind of diet you can give an animal depends on its type.
What are the animal types?
There are a total of 4 animal types in the game, and they each play a different role in helping out your colony in some way. Here are the four animal types in Rimworld:
- Herbivorous – If you have Hervivourous animals, you can easily let them go outside to graze on the grass. You can leave some hay where you keep the animals, and they will eat it themselves whenever they feel hungry. They also eat vegetarian crops, hay grass, and berries.
- Carnivorous – As the name suggests, they will only eat meat products. For example, animals like Wargs or Timber Wolfs only eat raw meat. Feeding carnivores is the same as herbivores by just placing food in the allowed area of the animal, and they will eat on their own.
- Omnivorous – These are animals that eat both meat and vegetables. They can be fed the same as herbivores and carnivores. Meat-eating animals and omnivores can also be corpses if they lie in the vicinity of their allowed area.
- Dendrovorous – These animals can consume trees in addition to plant-based foods. Thrombos and Alphabeavers are a few examples of this animal type.
Barn and Allowed Area Access
Make a barn for the animals. It will consist of animal beds and have temperature control. When you have the animals in an area zone, you need to place stockpiles down and assign kibble and hay.
You can also use a fridge mod to install a single, double, or quad cell fridge in the barn for easy food storage. The animals inside will be able to use it. If you have placed your animals in a restricted area, then there is a chance that they will die of malnutrition if there are no food items there.
The grass present in these zones may be consumed by herbivorous animals quite fast, so it is suggested that you expand their allowed area to the outwards zone. Installing a fast-spreading grass mod will also help if you have a high count of herbivores.
Dandelions can work better than Haygrass for a pasture as they will help grow skills and develop the animal’s need for alternative foods.
Prepared Meals
All animals can eat meals cooked like pemmican and kibble in the game. Doing this allows your herbivorous animals to consume meats if they are cooked into the meals first.
Pemmican and kibble can almost be considered a way of universal animal feeding in RimWorld.
Wargs is the only exception in the game that will not eat these items. These animals will only consume raw meat and corpses.
Assign Handling to Colonists
Colonists that are assigned to handling will feed your animals. You can assign your colonists passionate about animals to hunt and handle taming, training, and cleaning.
Animals Still Aren’t Eating?
Here are a few common reasons that could be why your animals are refusing to eat food in RimWorld:
- Type of Food – The food you are trying to feed your animals is not in their diet, or you do not have the food available.
- Allowed Area – The food is not placed in the allowed area of the animals and is inaccessible to them. Ensure the vicinity of the permitted area for the animals before placing food for them.
- Health – The animal’s health could also factor in its neglect to eat in-game. The animal could be incapacitated or unable to walk around due to health issues.
- Hunger – Your animals might secretly be snacking on other plants or grass without your knowledge. This could keep their hunger down beforehand; hence, they might not be eating the food you have placed down for them.