Grounded has an amazing setting that many of us who have played in our backyards must have imagined at one point or another. Not only are you exploring the backyard as a bite-size adventurer but there are small bugs that you can keep as pets. In Grounded, you can tame bugs like Gnats, Aphids, and Weevils to do your bidding. How to do it exactly, let us find out.
Taming bugs to become your pet in Grounded is a simple task. All you need is to feed each bug its favorite food; Gnats eat Spoiled Meat Slurry, Aphids eat Plant Slurry, and Weevil eat Mushroom Slurry. Once fed enough, they will become your pets. After that, you need to deposit them in a Pet House where you can manage and even customize them.
As of now, there are only three bugs you can tame. There is some research that you need to conduct before taming is possible and for that, you have to read the rest of the guide.
Pre-Requisites for Taming Bugs
Before we go catching ourselves our very own creepy crawly, there are some things you need to do:
Haze Lab
To build the Pet House for your bugs, you need to first research the Mushroom Brick. To do that you must first visit and complete the Haze Lab (location marked in the picture above). The whole area is filled with deadly gas so do not forget to bring some Gas Masks. There are also deadly robot enemies here so be prepared for a fight.
Navigate through this labyrinthine location and soon you will be face to face with an Infected Ladybug Boss. Defeat her and the surrounding enemies to get access to a room with the Haze BURG.L Chip. Give this chip to BURG.L, which will unlock the Advanced Production Buildings pack for 2,500 Raw Science. Buying it will unlock the following items to craft: Oven, Mushroom Brick, and Mushroom Slurry.
Grinder
Next, we need to unlock the Grinder. This is a craftable utility that breaks down resources into different things. In the case of pets, it is used to make their food i.e. Mushroom Slurry, Plant Slurry, and Spoiled Meat Slurry.
You can unlock the Grinder’s recipe by analyzing Flower Petal using the Resource Analyzer.
Once the Grinder is unlocked, you can craft it with the following materials:
- 2 Weed Stem
- 2 Acorn Shell
- 3 Flower Petal
- 5 Red Ant Part
Once you have crafted the Grinder, you can deposit items in it and wait a minute or so for them to transform into other stuff like slurries.
Crafting Bug Food for Taming
Now that we have the Grinder, it is time to craft the food for the bugs to eat. Each of the three bugs prefer different food. Aphids eat Plant Slurry, Gnats eat Spoiled Meat Slurry, and Weevils eat Mushroom Slurry.
Mushroom Slurry (Weevil food)
As mentioned before, you unlock the Mushroom Slurry recipe by purchasing the Advanced Production Buildings pack from BURG.L along with analyzing either Mushroom, Mushroom Chunk, or Toadstool Chunk with the Resource Analyzer. Mushroom Slurry is used for taming Weevils.
- For Mushroom Slurry:
- Deposit 1 Mushroom in the Grinder to get 2 Mushroom Slurry.
- Deposit 1 Mushroom Chunk in the Grinder to get 6 Mushroom Slurry.
- Deposit 1 Toadstool Chunk in the Grinder to get 10 Mushroom Slurry.
Plant Slurry (Aphid Food)
The Plant Slurry recipe is unlocked by analyzing Plant Fiber with the Resource Analyzer. Plant Slurry is used for taming Aphids.
- For Plant Slurry:
- Deposit 1 Plant Fiber in the Grinder to get 1 Plant Slurry.
Spoiled Meat Slurry (Gnat Food)
The Spoiled Meat Slurry recipe is unlocked by analyzing Spoiled Meat with the Resource Analyzer. Spoiled Meat Slurry is used for taming Gnats.
- For Spoiled Meat Slurry:
- Deposit 1 Spoiled Meat in the Grinder to get 1 Spoiled Meat Slurry.
Pet House
Now that we can craft Mushroom Bricks, it is time to build a house for your bug pets to stay/deposit in. To unlock the recipe for Pet House, you need to first complete the following steps:
- Analyze Mushroom Brick using the Resource Analyzer.
- The Mushroom Brick recipe is unlocked by:
- Buying the Advanced Production Buildings pack from BURG.L to unlock the Mushroom Slurry.
- Then analyze the Mushroom Slurry using the Resource Analyzer.
- Mushroom Brick is crafted by placing 5 Mushroom Slurry in the Oven to get 4 Mushroom Bricks.
- The Mushroom Brick recipe is unlocked by:
With all the previous steps done, it is time to craft the Pet House by using the items below:
- 2 Weed Stem
- 1 Acorn Shell
- 4 Mushroom Brick
- 2 Crow Feather Piece
Place the Pet House near your base so that the pet bug stays close to the house and is safe. The Pet House is where you deposit your newly acquired pet. The pet can be replaced with another pet but the house can only be linked to one pet at a time.
Once the pet is deposited, interacting with the Pet House will show various pet stats including their species, preferred food, bonus player effects, personality, happiness, how many days they have been tamed, and the number of times they have been petted. You can also rename your pet from the Pet House and even equip special gear/attire on your pet to stylize them.
Related: How to Get to the Bird Bath in Grounded (Easy Guide)
How to Tame Bugs in Grounded
Now that we have covered all the previous steps, we are ready to tame our own bug pet. As mentioned before there are only three types of bugs as of now that can be tamed; Aphids, Weevils, and Gnats. It is a rather simple process to tame a bug to become your pet.
In simple words, all you have to do is feed the bug their favorite food. Once they have eaten it enough times they will automatically become your pet which can be seen by a prompt to “Pet” them when you are near, Although there are some things to consider for them to become your pet.
Weevils
Weevils are easy to tame. They are not scared of you, so you can simply walk up to them and drop a bunch of Mushroom Slurry on the ground. It takes around two (sometimes more) Mushroom Slurry for them to become your pet.
You will be alerted on your screen once they have become your pet by eating the food. As soon as they have eaten their share of the required food, you can either walk up to them or they will come to you for you to pet them.
Aphids
Aphids are a little tricky to tame. They are extremely timid and will run away if you are standing close to them. What you need to do is drop a bunch of Plant Slurry on the ground and walk away. Observe and track from a distance whether and which Aphid is eating the food. They might also get scared of other bugs in the vicinity.
If you have kept a reasonable space from them they will happily interact with the food otherwise if they spot you they will scurry away. Keeping this in mind, increase your separation from where the food is if you see them get scared from your close presence. Around 2 or more Plant Scurry will be enough to tame an Aphid.
Gnats
Gnats are small flying bugs in Grounded that eat Spoiled Meat Slurry. Throw some of the food on the ground and watch them land to eat it. Like the rest of the bugs, around 2 or more needed to be fed to a single Gnat to make them tamable.
Do be aware, if you are doing this at night then there is a chance that the Gnats will ignore the slurries and will be distracted or attracted to the glowing garden lamps. Also, Gnats have the tendency to “boop” the player meaning they will bump into the player and this could lead to you falling if you are on higher ground.
Depositing Tamed Bugs
Once a pet is tamed and starts following you, it is time to find them a home. Luckily we have already covered how you can build a Pet House. Just go to an empty Pet House and you will be given the option to Deposit Pet. Select this option and the Pet House will be assigned to the respective bug. The bugs assigned to a Pet House will wander close to it and won’t run away from you.
You can then view its stats, rename it, and even put some accessories on your pet bug from here.
Related: Do Spiders Respawn in Grounded? What You Need to Know
Considerations for Taming Bugs
Whenever you throw food on the ground, regardless of the type of bug you want, it will attract multiple bugs. This can get annoying as the bug that you targeted earlier might not be able to eat the necessary amount of food to be tamed if other bugs around it start interacting with its food.
You have to either throw a lot of slurry on the ground or kill any extra bugs that might interfere (only possible with Weevils as Aphids will generally run away if you get too close and Gnats might swarm the food making it difficult to kill extras).
All pet bugs have a Happiness meter of sorts (viewable from their Pet House). Previously, they would leave you if they felt unhappy with your care but this has been patched out. Although you are required to tend to them to keep them happy.
If a pet becomes unhappy, it will display different, sadder animations. Ways to keep them happy include feeding them their respective food items commonly, visiting them/going on adventures with them, or petting them. They will also become happier if they are wearing any Pet Attire.
You can keep as many pets as you want, keeping in mind you will have to build a Pet House for each. Although, only one bug can accompany you on your journey.
Tamed Bugs – Interactions
Taming and having pet bugs in Grounded provide a bunch of different benefits to the player and to the bug itself:
- Each of the bug types gives certain buffs to the player:
- Aphids – Reduces stamina drain rate while sprinting.
- Gnats – Increases glide speed with a Dandelion Tuft.
- Weevils – Reduces thirst drain rate.
- Aphids will passively produce items for you i.e. Aphid Honeydew.
- Pets have unique personalities (viewable in the Pet House). Although this doesn’t have any particular effect on their behavior and might be added later.
- Pets will still be preyed on by their respective predators 2x as often, so it is recommended to be careful with the location of the pet.
- Pets will also drop a Pet Memorial (a decorative tombstone that you can place anywhere you want) on top of their respective loot.
- Pets also provide 10 inventory slots, making them portable chests to store items and beneficial when you are going on a long-distance adventure.
- Pet bugs will also have double the health of a wild bug of the same kind.
- Pet Attires are a kind of armor for your pet bug along with a fashion statement. Depending on the attire, they provide a boost to Defense, Resistance, and Max Health.
Pet Attire
As a side note, let us look into the Pet Attire available in the game:
Taming bugs in Grounded is a rather simple process of just feeding them enough times to make them your pet. However, there are some things that you need to do beforehand to make it even possible to tame them. If you have gone through the article thoroughly then you will be breezing through this whole process and in no time you will have your very own bug buddy.