Mojang has released Snapshot 5 for Minecraft version 26.1, giving players an early look at several fun and experimental additions that may shape the next major update. This snapshot focuses on expanding the game’s roster of baby mob visuals, introducing a unique new item, and refining some underlying systems for future gameplay.
A month ago Minecraft unveiled Snapshot 2 and overhauling of baby mobs. Baby wolves, cats, pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, rabbits, ocelots, and mushrooms all received updated models and textures completely changing their previous appearance.
One of the most talked-about parts of this snapshot is its revamped aquatic baby mobs. Several ocean-dwelling creatures now have baby models.These include baby versions of the axolotl, dolphin, turtle, squid, and glow squid; each with adjusted bounding boxes so their in-game collisions and interactions better match their updated shapes. A more notable mob the baby axolotl will have five different color varieties for players to look for and collect. Along with this the baby turtle stands out as being one of the smallest baby mobs.
Accompanying the visual overhaul is the addition of a brand-new item: the Golden Dandelion. This craftable flower allows players to halt the natural aging process of qualifying baby mobs. By interacting with a baby while holding the Golden Dandelion, that creature will remain in its youthful state indefinitely. Interacting again can resume normal growth, giving players control over whether a mob grows into an adult. Golden Dandelions can be crafted from a standard dandelion combined with gold nuggets, though they do not work on hostile baby mobs or villagers.
In addition to these headline features, Snapshot 5 brings some quality-of-life improvements and technical tweaks. Baby chickens now have their own unique sounds rather than reusing adult audio, and the game’s UI game-rule search bar has been enhanced to be more flexible in locating rules by description and category. Behind the scenes, Mojang has updated components like the data pack and resource pack versions, adjusted recipe behavior, and made other under-the-hood changes that support ongoing development.
Although snapshots are experimental by nature and may change before any official release, this build already gives players a delightful preview of how Minecraft continues to evolve its creature interactions and world mechanics. Fans interested in testing these features can enable snapshots on Java snapshot and Bedrock beta/preview. However the golden dandelion is currently only available for testing on Java.