Once Human Animal Taming Guide (How to Start a Ranch)

Thanks to Once Human update 1.1, you can now be a rancher. Your menagerie isn’t just limited to only extradimensional oddities, but can now have actual, non-mutant animals. So if you ever wanted those pesky crocodiles, you can now have them through the new animal taming mechanic. There’s quite a barrier to it, so we’ve prepared an animal taming guide for Once Human to get you started.

Requirements for Animal Taming in Once Human

Before you try to catch animals in Once Human, you need to activate certain Memetics first.

1. Open your Memetics screen (letter O by default).
2. Go to the Logistics tab.
3. Scroll down, and look for Animal Capture on the right side.
4. Take that and also the Animal Taming Memetic right below it.

Animal Capture is pretty self-explanatory. Animal Taming, meanwhile, is necessary if you want to thoroughly care for the animals you’ve captured. It allows you to build Animal Trough structures and craft animal feed.

Both Memetics require 14 Ciphers altogether and a total of 4,000 Energy Links which should be manageable for mid-level players. Once you have both Memetics, it’s time to capture the animals.

Capturing Animals in Once Human

Now, there’s one more step you should do before you head out and start bagging critters.

1. Go to your Supply Workbench.
2. Craft a Tranquilizer Throwing Needle. It requires the following:
   • Steel Ingot
   • Engineering Plastic
   • Rubber
   • Stardust Source

This is what allows you to catch animals. Now, take note that it requires Stardust Source, and thus, is expensive for mid-level players. Don’t waste it. It’s easy to waste it since it’s a throwable item, that’s why I don’t recommend using the Tranquilizer Throwing Needles when your server is lagging badly.

Once you have the Tranquilizer Throwing Needles, here are the next steps:

1. Equip the Tranquilizer Throwing Needles in your hotbar.
2. Find an animal (non-mutated animals, ideally).
3. Shoot the animal with your regular weapon-– but don’t kill them.
4. Once they’re in low health (one hit before death), use the Tranquilizer Throwing Needles on them.
5. If you hit the animal with the needle, go near them and press the Capture button. This will place them in your inventory.

Now, your typical main weapon might be too powerful for mere animals, which is why some players resort to crafting Tier 1 guns so that they won’t accidentally kill the animals they’re hunting.

Taking Care of Captive Animals

After capturing animals, you can go back to your base and build an enclosure using fences or railings or better yet, build a whole barn with a roof. Place your animals inside the enclosure as you would furniture.

Additionally, place a trough and fill it with feed. Your captured animals will initially be feral, but over time, and with enough food, you’ll be able to tame them. Animals can also breed in a future update if you have them in a pair of the opposite sexes so be picky with your capturing.