Wyverns only eat one thing as babies – milk from female wyverns! Adult wyverns consume raw or cooked meat. But raising a wyvern yourself starts with stealing an egg and knowing what to feed the hatchling. This expanded guide will cover everything you need to know about properly feeding and nurturing your new baby wyvern.
It‘s All About the Milk
Let‘s start with a key fact every aspiring wyvern caretaker needs to know:
Wyvern milk is the ONLY food a baby wyvern will take until it reaches full adulthood!
I cannot stress that enough. As babies, juvenile, and adolescent wyverns refuse all other forms of sustenance. Wyvern milk provides the essential nutrients growing wyverns require.
- Fun fact: When researching why baby wyverns only drink milk, Ark lead designer Jesse Rapczak explained, "It‘s important for their strength and good bone structure."
Now onto to key questions about this unique substance so integral to imprinting and raising healthy, happy wyvern babies…
Where Do You Get Wyvern Milk?
Knocking out a female Wyvern is the most reliable method. One unconscious female Wyvern will yield 5 milk straight from her inventory. No need to kill! Some survivors claim higher level females produce more, but I haven‘t found hard proof to back that up.
You can also loot milk off dead female Wyverns. Alpha females, with their fiery coloring, are especially abundant milk producers. However, killing high-level females prevents you from harvesting milk over time.
- Pro-Tip: Tame your own female Wyvern for an automated milk machine!
| Wyvern Type | Milk Per Unconscious Female |
|---|---|
| Normal | 5 |
| Alpha | 7 |
How Long Does Milk Last?
On its own, wyvern milk lasts about 3 hours before spoiling. Luckily, various storage methods can slow the spoilage substantially:
| Storage Method | Spoil Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Preserving Bin w/ Salt | 10 hours | Replenish salt every 2 hours |
| Refrigerator | 8 hours | Good for short-term storage |
| Wyvern Fridge | 12 hours | Preserve milk & custom recipes |
As you can see, the specialty Wyvern Milk Preserving Bin offers the longest lasting milk storage. But it also requires emptying out old salt and refilling every 2 hours. For most survivors, the versatility of refrigeration beats that extra hassle.
How Much Milk Does a Baby Wyvern Consume?
An important aspect of planning your milk supply is knowing how much a growing baby Wyvern will drink over time.
Each serving of milk provides a Wyvern with 1200 food/saturation. Babies drain through that rapidly, needing a refill every 1-3 hours depending on maturation speed.
Lower level Wyverns may have less than 1200 food capacity though. For those babies, you‘ll need to gradually force feed multiple milk servings.
Total milk needed to raise a Wyvern to adulthood depends on maturation pace. With maturation set at the standard 8x rate, you‘ll need about 65 milk total.
What If You Run Low on Milk?
Not to worry! With some creative thinking, you can raise Wyverns even with minimal milk in supply. Two unlikely creatures make excellent wet nurses – Snow Owls and Maewings.
- Snow Owl Strategy: Use the owl‘s healing ability instead of milk. Top off health whenever low. Give stimberries for food.
- Maewing Strategy: The maewing‘s nursing ability feeds babies without milk. Take your maewing and the baby Wyvern adventuring to keep it fed.
And there you have it – everything you need to know about feeding baby Wyverns and where to get that precious wyvern milk! Up next, I‘ll…
Incubating Your Stolen Egg
Eggs don‘t do much good if they never hatch. So let‘s cover proper egg incubation to birth a healthy baby Wyvern…
Egg Stats and Info
Wild female Wyverns lay eggs very infrequently. That scarcity makes finding and stealing a fertilized Wyvern egg quite the triumph!
Some key facts about Wyvern eggs:
- 10% chance for twins and 2% chance for triplets. The more babies, the merrier! 🥚🥚🥚
- Fertized eggs spawn at level 1-190. Higher spawn levels make imprinting more challenging.
- Max temperature tolerance between 80-90°F. Use ACs or standing torches.
- Hatch speed directly tied to temperature. Colder = slower.
Hatching Tips and Tricks
Here are some pro-tips from my own experiences for safely hatching your precious Wyvern egg:
- Build hatchery near heat sources like lava flows or deep sea vents for natural warmth
- Use dino gates to fence off area and protect egg from creatures and players
- Position ACs or torches for temp control – aim for 85°F sweet spot
- Always hatch multiple eggs at once to allow for twins/triplets
- Imprint immediately after hatching for bonus Wyvern levels and affinity
- Cryopod extra hatchlings rather than letting them die
Following those tips, your adorable new baby Wyvern will be ready to imprint! Just don‘t forget it only wants one thing – milk, milk, and more milk!
Caring for Juvenile Wyverns
So you‘ve hatched your bouncy new Wyvern buddy and have been dutifully feeding it milk. But the creature is still small and vulnerable. Proper care during the juvenile stage is crucial…
Growth Tracking
As babies grow into juveniles, pay close attention to these stats:
- Food: Drain rate decreases from baby stage. Needs milk every 5-6 hours.
- Health: Ensure it stays high if not force-feeding milk. Use owl or maewing if needed.
- Weight: Carry capacity dictates milk reserves able to be stockpiled.
- Melee Damage: Increases bite damage – useful later for adults.
I like to record a Wyvern‘s progress in a taming journal. This helps track growth, imprinting, mutations, and more over time.
Securing Your Juvenile
As adorable as juvenile Wyverns are, they can still wreak havoc on bases and landscapes if left unattended. Some tips for keeping your juveniles secure:
- Restrain them using fence foundations, gates, and ceilings to prevent wandering
- Set followers to passive so they don‘t attack randomly and anger nearby creatures
- Use cryopods when transporting juveniles across the map or offline
- Build a sheltered, protected pen using stone or metal walls
- Dedicate rooms in your base just for raising young Wyverns if able
And remember – happy and health Wyverns make for even happier survivors! Always give your growing dragons the proper TLC they need.
Full-Grown Wyvern Care
From helpless hatchling to towering titan, raising your own Wyvern is supremely rewarding. But even at full size, Wyvern care continues…
Feeding Adult Wyverns
Once a Wyvern reaches full adulthood, its milk diet finally ends. Juicy steaks, prime meat, and mutton take over as the main staples.
An adult Wyvern‘s bigger stomach and slower digestion allows longer breaks between feedings. Expect to replenish food roughly every 2-3 hours.
If taking extended breaks from the game, use cryopods to save food resources. Just don‘t keep them podded too long.
Training Wyvern Followers
Flying solo is all well and good. But to reach a Wyvern‘s full potential, training it to follow is key.
Imprinted Wyverns make the most loyal companions. But even without a perfect affinity rating, you can boost following through:
- Riding while set to Follow
- Rewarding good behavior with food
- Using whistle commands for precise direction
- Cryopoding if they start resisting orders
Keep at it, and you‘ll have a formidable Wyvern front line ready to rain down hellfire by your side!
And with that, you now have the essential intel needed to hatch, raise, and command your own fierce, fire-breathing Wyverns! It‘s no easy task, but I hope my compiled insights give you the confidence tackle Wyvern husbandry.
Let me know if have any other questions in the comments below. And if you found this guide helpful, feel free to drop a thumbs up! Happy surviving!
