Armadillo scute auto-farm: my crazy experiment in Minecraft!

Hello, my indispensable adventure seekers! It’s me again, your eternal experimenter. I swear, the moment the armadillo appeared, my first thought wasn’t “oh, cute mob,” but “How do I automate all this?!” I was just waiting for the day I could stop sprinting around the savanna and get scutes basically on autopilot. Honestly, I was sure I’d run into tons of bugs and fails — and, yeah, I did; but the final result exceeded all expectations! Buckle up: a story full of emotion and surprises is coming.

Experiment goal and what we need

My personal challenge: build a system to collect armadillo scutes without pain and suffering, but with joy and minimal running around.

Materials list:

• For the pen: one and a half to two stacks of fences (I overdid it, but better extra), or any sturdy blocks — up to you.
• For the mechanics: honestly, a third hand would help; minimum set — 1 dispenser, 1 hopper, a loot chest, a pinch of redstone, a couple of repeaters, a button or lever for testing.
• Tools: brushes (bring plenty, they break fast!), a couple of leads — not the nicest craft, but necessary.
• Love fuel: stock up on spider eyes, lots of them — armadillos really love those!

Step 1: Safe pen, aka “armadillo park”

I spent ages hunting for a perfectly flat spot (and still placed the fence crooked — classic!). Don’t skimp on time — a spacious pen really saves nerves and armadillos. Tip: add a side tunnel-trap to bring in new mobs — it saves a crazy amount of effort.

Step 2: Cleaning magic — my pride!

Here I’m truly proud! A 1x1 pit, hopper below feeding a chest — ready to “receive the outfit!” Above the pit, place a dispenser stuffed with brushes. Press the button — the armadillo gets squeaky clean and the scute plops straight into the chest. It was wild! I squealed when the first scute showed up in my inventory without me doing a thing!

Step 3: Populating and some nerves

Couldn’t avoid the drama: armadillos are super skittish. Start running — ball. Flinch — ball again. So I escorted them with flair and care. But once my mini-farm started running itself — the joy was indescribable! Spider eyes in play — and the babies are already zooming around the pen.

Results, feelings, and a few honest numbers

• Throughput: I hoped for a miracle; what I got was very nice! With ten armadillos, 15–20 scutes per hour. Not a mountain, but stable and totally STRESS-FREE.
• Cooldowns: if you plan to spam the brush — save your neurons, it won’t work. I set a 5-minute timer and enjoy the flow.
• If it jams: if armadillos won’t enter cleaning — I tweaked floor height a bit, sometimes nudged (gently!); it’s all habit.

All in all, one of my funniest and most useful experiments! I’m genuinely proud of this project and think even this simple version saves tons of time and nerves. What do you think? Tried your own auto-farms? Share your tips — I’m ready to discuss and test your ideas!