The Ultimate Beast Tamer's Guide

all the info you need to collect every tameable critter in the game, minus human thralls and anything added by dlc or mods.

General 'how to tame'

General pet acquisition
for most animals you simply grab a baby(literally, walk up to it and hit E to put it in your inventory), put it in an animal pen (or a stable if it's a foal/horse, better pens are merely harder to break, they don't have more slots or grow animals faster), put one piece of food in with it(only one is necessary for crafting, more will go towards dung/other resources after it grows), and wait for it to grow into an adult(4-6 hours). removing a pet from the pen before it is done growing will reset its timer and give you back the food it ate.
for a few others you get an egg, which you put in a compost heap until it hatches into a baby critter, THEN put it in the animal pen. (once they hatch they will die within an hour or so, as opposed to other baby critters that last 24, so be careful!)
and then there's undead critters you simply craft, and special summons(which i may or may not add as they currently elude me).

Species variations
most critters come in a few different versions, with different skins and stats. these variations all come from generic looking babies, and which variant you get is determined by chance, which can be influenced by using particular foods to get the pet crafting going. in this guide i've only included the foods that give you the best chance to collect ALL variants(so whatever food gave the highest chance for the rarest variant or just the most balanced chances across the board), but other foods will work if you don't care/think you're lucky.
most of these foods are 'shadespiced' which means they are crafted at a stove with shadebloom, an item harvested with an axe or cleaver from the bosses of jhebbal sag's midnight grove. to get there, you will need to drink the potion of midnight, which can be bought(for 5 feral flesh) from a friendly werehyena southwest of the den, or crafted from 1 water-filled glass flask, 5 blood, 3 bonemeal, and 20 yellow lotus powder at an alchemist's bench after talking to him. these potions only last a few seconds so don't get them until you're ready to go do the dungeon!

Use and leveling
most creatures have 10 inventory slots(with no weight limit!!) and behave just like fighter thralls(once placed in the world they can no longer be stored in inventories, and they will only level up if they are actively following you). some have more inventory slots, and mounts(horses and regular rhinos) will not fight at all. you can have one pet/thrall AND one mount following you at a time.
some pets generate resources if left in a pen with food, but once you set them in the world they stop, and they cannot be put back in the pen. most animals will produce dung in pens as well, which can be used to craft compost.

Feeding and stat allocation
pets DO NOT need to eat regularly to live. they will automatically eat food from their inventories if they need to heal(different foods give different amounts of health), and from a feed box at regular intervals regardless of health. every food a pet can eat will affect their chances for different stats when they level up (only the first food they eat after leveling counts towards the next level), but it is a small(7%-14%) increase. i haven't added those foods to this guide because their effect is so small and it would be too much text to fit. HOWEVER, i have noticed that the middle of the top row of food options shown in the animal's inventory is always the one that gives them 14-15% vitality chance, in my opinion the best one.

Locations
i've only listed the BEST locations, in my opinion, for finding the findable animals. many have more possible spawns, but the ones i list here are 99% guaranteed. making an updated map for them all would be a HUGE pain, so i'm not going to do that, but you can use this interactive map to find most of them directly, or some of them using the discovery locations (lions and horses for example are not shown on this map, but i can confirm they are where i say in this guide) https://conanmap.azureedge.net/

Findable Critters

all these critters can be found in the world as babies and put in your inventory. they're pretty heavy and often guarded by adults, so be careful!

Bear
Found; at lakewatch/riversend and telith's island in the tundra
Crafting food; shadespiced honey
Note; can cripple enemies

• Normal (70% chance)
  Health; 1,240
  Armor; 59
  Damage; 20
  
• Greater (30% chance)
  Health; 4,355
  Armor; 84
  Damage; 22

Boar
Found; between the tradeway and skyholme ruins or just north of the den in the tundra
Crafting food; shadespiced puffer mushrooms
Note; can cripple enemies

• Normal (70% chance)
  Health; 722
  Armor; 62
  Damage; 17
  
• Greater (30% chance)
  Health; 3,273
  Armor; 146
  Damage; 27

Crocodile
Found; at priestking's retreat or the southern crocodile boss's pond in the desert
Crafting food; shadespiced perfect cut of meat (exquisite meat, harvested from kudu and supposedly other deer-like creatures and baby animals with an axe or cleaver)
Note; can make enemies bleed

• Normal (70% chance)
  Health; 358
  Armor; 24
  Damage; 16
  
• Greater (30% chance)
  Health; 2,099
  Armor; 146
  Damage; 23

Elephant
Found; between swagger rock and the boundary spillway in the savanna
Crafting food; shadespiced bark
Note; have an extra 20 inventory slots

• Normal (76% chance)
  Health; 1,050
  Armor; 47
  Damage; 18
  
• Greater/Albino (12% chance)
  Health; 1,494
  Armor; 81
  Damage; 26
  
• Mammoth (12% chance)
  Health; 3,350
  Armor; 118
  Damage; 26

Gazelle
Found; damn near everywhere in the desert (usually by water, or southwest of the sinkhole)
Crafting food; plant fiber (shadespiced version reduces crafting time from 6 to 4 hours)
Note; have 10 extra inventory slots
Health; 272
Armor; 19
Damage; 17

Horse
Found; slightly west of pitfall pass at the jungle's edge, and between the northern aqueduct and the great dam in the tundra
Crafting food; plant fiber (in stable- not animal pen)
Note; mount, requires saddle. foals come in normal, swift, and sturdy, but their stats aren't actually any different. possible colors are dun, gray, brown/white paint, and brown.
Health; 1,073
Armor; 53
Damage; 0

Jaguar
Found; slightly north of the crossway at the jungle's edge, or on the northern edge of the oasis of nekhet
Crafting food; shadespiced perfect cut of meat (exquisite meat, harvested from kudu and supposedly other deer-like creatures and baby animals with an axe or cleaver)
Note; can sunder and make enemies bleed

• Normal (70% chance)
  Health; 639
  Armor; 56
  Damage; 19
  
• Greater/Albino (30% chance)
  Health; 1,712
  Armor; 97
  Damage; 34

Lion
Found; at the north/northwest of the crowngrove in the savanna
Crafting food; shadespiced raw tough meat (exotic meat, harvested from rhino, elephant, reptilian monstrosity, and mammoth with an axe or cleaver)
Note; can make enemies bleed

• Normal (75% chance)
  Health; 855
  Armor; 69
  Damage; ???
  
• Larger (25% chance)
  Health; 1,413
  Armor; 200
  Damage; ???

Ostrich
Found; between skittering cavern and cavern of fiends in desert
Crafting food; desert/highland berries (shadespiced version gives better chance at red and blue variants, as well as faster crafting time, but regular berries are best for getting all 3)
Note; give feathers when fed in pen

• Normal/Gray (20% chance)
  Health; 423
  Armor; 28
  Damage; 18
  
• Blue (40% chance)
  Health; 315
  Armor; 22
  Damage; 18
  
• Red (40% chance)
  Health; 639
  Armor; 40
  Damage; 18

Panther
Found; slightly southeast from decent of dagon, or dagon's eye, in the jungle
Crafting food; shadespiced raw tough meat (exotic meat, harvested from rhino, elephant, reptilian monstrosity, and mammoth with an axe or cleaver)
Note; can make enemies bleed

• Normal (75% chance)
  Health; 747
  Armor; 63
  Damage; 19
  
• Greater/Silver (25% chance)
  Health; 1,712
  Armor; 97
  Damage; 34

Rhino (melanistic/greater)
Found; slightly northwest of swagger rock or at crowngrove in the savanna
Crafting food; shadespiced bark

• Normal (75% chance)
  Health; 1,045
  Armor; 81
  Damage; 14
  Note; mount, but you need a dlc to make the saddle. this means it will not fight, even if you don't have the dlc.
  
• Melanistic (15% chance)
  Health; 1,470
  Armor; 293
  Damage; 16
  Note; NOT a mount, cannot be ridden but does fight
  
• Greater (15% chance)
  Health; 2,881
  Armor; 324
  Damage; 16
  Note; NOT a mount, cannot be ridden but does fight

Rhino (albino)
(same as above)
Crafting food; shadespiced plant fiber

• Normal (75% chance)
  (same as above)
  
• Albino (15% chance)
  Health; 1,348
  Armor; 93
  Damage; 14
  Note; NOT a mount, cannot be ridden but does fight
  
• Greater (10% chance)
  (same as above)

Sabertooth
Found; to the northeast, east, and southeast of icespire chasm in the snow
Crafting food; shadespiced fatty meat (pork, harvested from boars with an axe or cleaver)
Note; can make enemies bleed

• Normal (70% chance)
  Health; 855
  Armor; 69
  Damage; 21
  
• Greater (30% chance)
  Health; 1,887
  Armor; 104
  Damage; 38

Shaleback (king)
Found; damn near everywhere along the southernmost river
Crafting food; shadespiced succulent shellfish (exotic shellfish, gathered in a shellfish trap with insects)
Note; can sunder enemies

• Green (48% chance)
  Health; 296
  Armor; 49
  Damage; 16
  
• Purple (24% chance)
  Health; 512
  Armor; 58
  Damage; 16
  
• Red (14% chance)
  Health; 451
  Armor; 58
  Damage; 16
  
• Greater/King (14% chance)
  Health; 2,257
  Armor; 179
  Damage; 18

Shaleback (blue)
Found; damn near everywhere along the southernmost river
Crafting food; shadespiced highland berries
Note; can sunder enemies

• Green (67% chance)
  (same as above)
  
• Blue (14% chance)
  Health; 389
  Armor; 53
  Damage; 16
  
• Purple (10% chance)
  (same as above)
  
• Red (10% chance)
  (same as above)

Hyena
Found; between skittering cavern and cavern of fiends for striped, or to the west of the tower of bats for spotted(spotted can also be found in the midnight grotto where you get shadebloom, if you take the paths with hyenas)
Crafting food; shadespiced raw stringy meat (feral flesh)
Note; can cripple enemies

• Normal spotted/striped (70% chance)
  Health; 358
  Armor; 24
  Damage; 19
  
• Greater (30% chance)
  Health; 1,359
  Armor; 331
  Damage; 21

Wolf
Found; slightly southeast of skyholme ruins in the tundra, or bleakwood ruins in the snow
Crafting food; shadespiced fatty meat (pork, harvested from boars with an axe or cleaver)
Note; can sunder enemies and make them bleed. frost wolf pups can grow into regular wolves and i ran out of space so don't get regular wolf pups XD

• Normal (50% chance)
  Health; 884
  Armor; 56
  Damage; 18
  
• Greater/frost (50% chance)
  Health; 1,566
  Armor; 91
  Damage; 32

Craftable(undead) Critters

for undead pets you will need;
-witchdoctor feat (granted by a journal on the ground by an unlit campfire at the summoning place)
-bones (axe/cleaver on almost any corpse)
-powder of corruption (found in chests at the summoning place, skulker's end, and the wine cellar dungeon)
-a cauldron to combine bones and powder into corrupted bones
-head of an undead/demonic creature(axe/cleaver on their corpses)
-an alchemy bench to combine corrupted bones and heads

Skeleton (unstable animation))
Crafted from; 10 corrupted bone, 1 weathered skull

• Unstable (30% chance)
  Health; 2
  Armor; 10
  Damage; 18
  Notes; explodes into noxious gas cloud when damaged(it does not survive the explosion)
  
• Normal (50% chance)
  Health; 315
  Armor; 22
  Damage; 18
  Note; can cripple enemies
  
• Warrior (20% chance)
  Health; 444
  Armor; 29
  Damage; 18

Skeleton (stable animation)
Crafted from; 10 corrupted bone, 1 weathered skull, 10 alchemical base(sometimes dropped by corrupted creatures and tier 3 bearers, or can be crafted from silver dust, gold dust, and ichor at a cauldron), 1 fragment of power(dropped by unnamed city bosses and gathered from relic chests in the unnamed city)

• Wight (50% chance)
  Health; 617
  Armor; 39
  Damage; 18
  
• Warrior (25% chance)
  (same as above)
  
• Legion Warrior (15% chance)
  Health; 1,428
  Armor; 139
  Damage; 29
  
• Normal (10% chance)
  (same as above)

Undead Hyena
Crafted from; 10 corrupted bone, 1 undead hyena head(can be hunted at the sinkhole)
Health; 531
Armor; 34
Damage; 19

Undead Kappa(shaleback)
Crafted from; 10 corrupted bone, 1 demonic shaleback head (can be hunted at shaleback hollow and the wine cellar dungeon)
Health; 760
Armor; 68
Damage; 16

Undead Monstrosity(serpentman)
Crafted from; 10 corrupted bone, 1 skeletal serpentman head (can be hunted at the arena, the unnamed city, the passage, and the executioner's entrance)
Note; can make enemies bleed
Health; 1,282
Armor; 65
Damage; 16

Buyable Critters

buyable pets are bought(duh) from special vendor npcs for 10 gold coins each. coins can be crafted from bars with molds or found in chests at the bottom of buccaneer bay or the executioner's entrance.
NOTE that critters that hatch from EGGS will spoil/die VERY QUICKLY after hatching compared to other baby critters.

Shoebill
Bought from; Owen the beautiful at Flotsam
Crafting food; shadespiced fat grub(spawned from compost in bin) OR shadespiced insects(harvested from bushes)
Note; can sunder enemies and give feathers when fed in pen

• Green (60% chance)
  Health; 423
  Armor; 44
  Damage; 16
  
• White/Gray (25% chance)
  Health; 645
  Armor; 162
  Damage; 17
  
• Red/Pink (15% chance)
  Health; 531
  Armor; 50
  Damage; 16

Spider (normal)
Bought from; Owen the beautiful at Flotsam
Crafting food; shadespiced fat grub(spawn from compost in bins)
Note; can cripple poison enemies and give ichor when fed in a pen

• Brown/Gray (74% chance)
  Health; 315
  Armor; 50
  Damage; 21
  
• Green/Yellow (15% chance)
  Health; 358
  Armor; 52
  Damage; 21
  
• Black Widow (7% chance)
  Health; 531
  Armor; 62
  Damage; 20
  
• Red (5% chance)
  Health; 488
  Armor; 60
  Damage; 20

Spider (demonic)
Bought from; Owen the beautiful at Flotsam
Crafting food; shadespiced demon blood
Note; give ichor when fed in a pen

• Black Widow (60% chance)
  (same as above)
  
• Red (20% chance)
  (same as above)
  
• Demonic/Corrupted (20% chance)
  Health; 1,921
  Armor; 140
  Damage; 23

Sand Reaper
Bought from; Ignatius the greedy at Flotsam
Crafting food; shadespiced corrupted flesh(abysmal flesh, harvested from abysmal remnant or emissary of abhoth)
Note; can poison enemies and give ichor when fed in a pen

• Green (48% chance)
  Health; 747
  Armor; 75
  Damage; 20
  
• Yellow (24% chance)
  Health; 747
  Armor; 75
  Damage; 19
  
• Orange (14% chance)
  Health; 747
  Armor; 75
  Damage; 19
  
• Queen (14% chance)
  Health; 2,025
  Armor; 282
  Damage; 32

Camel
Bought from; Urik the master tamer at the den
Crafting food; plant fiber (shadespiced version reduces crafting time from 6 to 4 hours)
Note; have 20 extra inventory slots
Health; 315
Armor; 22
Damage; 17

Rocknose
Bought from; Shawna the strange at the den
Crafting food; shadespiced iron ore (ironstone)

• Normal (74% chance)
  Health; 592
  Armor; 28
  Damage; 14
  Note; give stone, ironstone, and crystal when fed in a pen
  
• Greater (26% chance)
  Health; 3,283
  Armor; 124
  Damage; 15
  Note; give stone, ironstone, and crystal when fed in a pen

Rocknose (silver)
Bought from; Shawna the strange at the den
Crafting food; shadespiced silver dust(grinding silver coins or bars)

• Normal (74% chance)
  (same as above)
  Note; give stone, ironstone, and crystal when fed in a pen
  
• Silver-vein (26% chance)
  Health; 894
  Armor; 40
  Damage; 19
  Note; give stone, ironstone, and silverstone when fed in a pen

Rocknose (gold)
Bought from; Shawna the strange at the den
Crafting food; shadespiced gold dust(grinding gold coins or bars)

• Normal (74% chance)
  (same as above)
  Note; give stone, ironstone, and crystal when fed in a pen
  
• Gold-vein (26% chance)
  Health; 592
  Armor; 28
  Damage; 14
  Note; give stone, ironstone, and goldstone when fed in a pen (and yes the stats are the same as the normal for some reason, blame wiki writers or game devs)

Other critters (wip)

Gorilla/Yeti
have a 20% chance of being rewarded at hanuman's shrine (via a chest at the base) in his grotto at H3, instead of the standard random attribute boost potion, when a special heart is offered. ALL hearts in your inventory are automatically exchanged when the chest is interacting with. (there is also supposedly a regular gorilla infant, but i haven't been able to find it anywhere on the base map)

• regular gorilla
  withered heart
  regular drop from valis the loyal in hanuman's grotto
  
  
• grey/old gorilla
  heart of the kinscourge
  regular drop from the kinscourge, the final boss in the black keep in the frozen north
  
  
• silverback/greater gorilla
  heart of a hero
  regular drop from relic hunter minibosses in the unnamed city
  
  
• regular/white yeti
  heart of a nordheimer
  regular drop from named nordheimer's at new asgarth in the tundra
  
  
• black yeti
  heart of the sands(scourgestone); crafted by petruso the sandstorm maniac in the sandswept ruins at k4 from the following pieces
  jagged scourgestone piece; dropped by the giant crocodile in gallaman's tomb (H4)
  shattered scourgsteon piece; dropped by gall o' the spear-din or hekkr waverunner at the captain's quarters in buccaneer bay (O8)
  broken scourgestone piece; dropped by the sand reaper hive queen in the passage (K9)

Frost Giant
summoned with a 'horn of the north' dropped by ladagara daughter of ymir, located at the altar of ymir in new asagarth in the tundra

Scorpion
location; random drop from the ancient scorpion queen, who can be found either at the jawbone silvermine in C6, or the scorpion den between there and rhinohorn ridge.
food; demon blood (shadespiced version gives better chance at the stronger variations but regular gives the best chances for all)

variant a; 25%
variant b; 25%
king scorpion (c); 30%
queen scorpion (d); 20%

[shardoro]

How do you make hardened leather

[Nini!]

awesome

[Sordros]

np i was just curious if it was something that u might be working on or if u had considered it!!!

[AlphaGodith]

i did just buy siptah so i may add it later, but i still haven't finished the base game so it'll be a while

[AlphaGodith]

@sordros as i don't own siptah, i can't verify any info on those creatures. as for the rest, the listed attributes are all you need to determine what an animal is good for. extra inventory slots? good pack mule. lots of health and damage? good for combat. cause crippling/sunder? good for pvp.

[Sordros]

how about creatures from siptah and also what creatures are better at pvp pve and jsut best all around for like damage bleed guarding packmule etc

[saph0704]

Frost Giant is obtained from killing Ladagar Daughter of Ymir, scorpion eggs can be harvested from the queen scorpion in the silver mine dungeon, and the gorillas/yetis/other ape pets are rewards obtained in Hannuman's Grotto at the cost of specific hearts (ex. kinscourge heart yields silver-back gorilla pet (I'm pretty sure))

[AlphaGodith]

i'll be adding which map square each location is later if i have any characters left. (the findable critters section got way big and steam is mad at me about it)

[AlphaGodith]

@Gubo good luck! i'm mostly solo myself and i find non-greater animals tend to be almost worthless in battle. speaking of worthless; regular rhinos. while they can't be ridden without dlc, and don't fight, they still act as decent damage soakers and extra inventory space, with the benefit of it not mattering if they die like it could with a beloved horse.

[Gubo]

Thanks for this. Seems jaguars are probably the best for me being a new solo player.
Good thing I got 3, haha. Here's hoping one becomes a greater.