The Tyrannosaurus Rex, commonly known as T-Rex, is arguably the most famous dinosaur in ARK: Survival Evolved. He earned his “star” status through numerous appearances in films, television, games, and books. When tamed, it is particularly useful as a mount, as smaller creatures avoid it, and its power and strength also make it useful in battle. You can find him almost everywhere in the Ark.
Find out everything you need to know about the famous carnivore in our T-Rex guide. But also how to catch him, tame him, feed him, and breed offspring too.
This is the T-Rex in ARK: Survival Evolved
Appearance: Known for its fat little T-Rex arms, the T-Rex has even more to offer. It is large and powerful, has huge razor-sharp teeth, and looks like the Giganotosaurus, which is almost three times its size. Along its neck and back, it has a crest of hard bony plates that protect it from other carnivores. A T-Rex reaches an average size of 15 m in length.
Wild: The T-Rex is highly aggressive and will attack anything that is not larger and more dangerous than itself. You will not find it in a herd, as the T-Rex prefers to hunt alone. If he is chasing you, you should save yourself in the water, because the T-Rex is much slower there. Since he cannot swim, deep water is safest.
Domesticated: Domesticated, the T-Rex mount provides protection from all smaller creatures, as only larger predators dare attack it. Due to his power and strength, he is also perfectly trained for the fight.
How to tame the T-Rex in ARK
How to hunt the T-Rex: You can tame the T-Rex in different ways. The simplest is to set bear traps around you and lure him into them. Once he’s pinned down, smack him with the tranquilizer darts.
You can also lure the T-Rex into the water, as it moves slower there – it has to be deep enough, of course.
If you have leveled up enough stamina and speed, you can of course run away from him and shoot tranquilizer darts at him again and again. It’s not the smartest way to tame, but it can work.
The safest way is to build a trap for him like the Giga out of three Dino stone or metal archways. Set up the gates in a square shape and place a bear trap or two in the middle. Make sure you always leave a little space between the goals. Since the T-Rex is significantly smaller than the Giga, you have to use gates here. Close all gates except the two you escape through.
Now you lure in the T-Rex. You provoke him into following you. The important thing here is that you have a faster mount or a very high movement speed so that you can also escape. If he follows you, run through the open gates of your construction – but don’t step into the bear trap yourself.
Once the T-Rex is stuck in the bear trap, close the two open gates and shoot him with tranquilizer darts until he’s knocked out. You can easily do this through the gaps you left between the gates. Depending on the level of the T-Rex, this can take some time and resources, since the T-Rex has high stamina and health.
How to tame him: Once he’s unconscious, put meat or kibble (see recipes below) in his inventory and feed him that. The better the meat, the faster the taming. The best way to keep the T-Rex down and the stun value up is to use the anesthetic.
How to make the T-Rex saddle
To craft the T-Rex Saddle, you need to be level 74 and 40 Engram Points to unlock the recipe. You now need the following resources to craft:
- 380x Hide
- 200x Fiber
- 50x Metal Ingots
How to Feed a T-Rex in ARK
Once you have tamed your T-Rex, it is important to know what it likes to eat. T-Rex are carnivores, which of course makes the choice of food easier.
- Exceptional Kibble:
- Ingredients: 1x Extra Large Egg, 10x Mejoberry, 1x Rare Flower, 1x Focal Chili, 5x Fiber, 1x Water
- Cooked Focal Chili: 9x Cooked Meat, 5x Citronal, 20x Armaberry, 20x Azulberry, 20x Tintoberry, 10x Mejoberry, 1x Water
- Kibble (Pulmonoscorpius Egg)
- Ingredients: 1x Pulmonoscorpius Egg, 1x Prime Meat Jerky, 1x Longrass, 2x Mejoberries, 3x Fiber, 1 Water
- Ingredients Prime Meat Jerky: 1x Cooked Meat, 1x Oil, 3x Sparkpowder
- Raw Mutton:
- Received by gutting Ovis.
- Cooking turns it into the Cooked Lamb Chop
- Raw Prime Meat:
- Gained when gutting larger creatures
- Cooking turns it into Cooked Prime Meat
- Raw Prime Fish Meat:
- Obtained from Alpha Mosasaurus, Dunkleosteus, Electrophorus, Leedsichtys, Megalodon, and Sabertooth Salmon
- Cooking turns it into the Cooked Prime Fish Meat
- Raw Meat:
- Earned by gutting a creature
- Cooking turns it into Cooked Meat
- Raw Fish Meat:
- Received from gutting fish
- Cooking turns it into Cooked Fish Meat
How to breed the T-Rex in ARK
This is how you prepare for breeding: If you have a male and female specimen, at best you build an enclosure that is large enough. Place both dinos in the exhibit and set them to roam via the command menu. Alternatively, you can also switch directly to “Pair”, but then there must always be a player nearby, otherwise the pairing will stop due to the rendering.
The breeding interval for a T-Rex is 18 to 48 hours.
How to Hatch Eggs: When you get a fertilized T-Rex egg from a successful mating, hatching begins. For this, the ambient temperature of the egg should be between 32 °C and 34 °C. According to standard settings, the little T-Rex baby hatches after about 5 hours. After that, it takes about 9 hours of your attention, during which you keep putting meat in its inventory.
Once it gains juvenile status, it can feed from troughs on its own. The entire maturing time takes about 3 days and 20.5 hours.
Beginner tips on breeding in ARK can be found here:
Looking for more helpful guides on ARK: Survival Evolved? Then take a look at our ARK guide overview, where you will find more of our dinosaur, crafting, resource, and technology guides. You can also chat with us and other players on our Discord server. We’re looking forward to see you!
