How to find and acquire Axolotl in the Minecraft Caves & Cliffs update

The Axolotl is one of the most anticipated crowds with the Caves & Cliffs update in the summer of 2021. Creatures are adorable passive creatures… almost. They're passive to you, but these cuties are still natural predators.

While they never hurt you, they can actually help you out and fight hostile mobs underwater with you. So where and how can you find these new friends?

Find axolotls

Image via Mojang

While there are rivers, ponds, and vast oceans of all kinds in the Minecraft universe, none of these bodies of water will contain these fiery little friends. If you are looking for Axolotls, you must find a lush cave.

Lush caves are a new type of world generation that will only appear under newly introduced azaleas. If you see these trees, you're going to want to venture down.

Once you are inside a cave you will start to see growth like new berries and greenery all around you. When you reach the water, it shouldn't be long before you dive in and find Axolotls.

They're of course in the iconic pink hue, but you can find them in other variations as well, like brown, pictured below.

Image via Mojang

Acquire Axolotls

Image via Mojang

If you want to sit and stay by the water, you're not going to have new friends because you can't get them with a fishing rod. If you want to have your own axolotl, bring buckets. As with picking up other aquatic mobs such as tropical fish and puffer fish, once you use a bucket the item will become an axolotl bucket.

This means that you will only be able to carry one axolotl for each bucket you have, so be sure to bring several if you're trying to acquire an axolotl army.

In bucket form, the axolotl can be transported like any other item, but like other full buckets, cannot be stacked.