Learn how Slime Hutches work in Stardew Valley!
Slimes do not pose much of a threat in combat, but when a bunch of them lunge at you simultaneously, they can become troublesome. In Stardew Valley, you can raise Slimes as pets and keep them in a Slime Hutch. But even if you treat them as pets, Slimes will still attack you at every chance. Are they worth keeping? What is the purpose of having a Slime Hutch? Let’s find out in this article!
What is a Slime Hutch in Stardew Valley?
The Slime Hutch is a farm building that appears like a dungeon prison in medieval times. Its purple exterior color may look relatively out of place in your farmhouse, but the Slime Hutch is the perfect place to raise and breed Slimes. The building can hold up to 20 Slimes of any color, and it is spacious enough to store essential tools that can multiply your Slimes, such as the Slime Incubator. This incubator can also keep Slime Egg-Press, responsible for creating Slime Eggs.
Slime Eggs are valuable items produced from raising Slimes. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of building a Slime Hutch and keeping Slimes on your farm.
Benefits of having a Slime Hutch in Stardew Valley
1. A Good Source of Money
After getting a Slime Hutch, you will get a 1% chance of dropping Slime Eggs when Slimes are killed. Selling heaps of these eggs can make you a pile of money, although it would not be much of a profit if you kill all the Slimes you have worked so hard to breed. Slimes will produce Slime Balls, giving you Slimes (monster loot) and Petrified Slimes. However, Slimes will only spawn them if you have at least five of them in your hutch.
Using a Slime Egg-Press, you can get eggs without slaying your Slimes. Put 100 Slimes (monster loot) inside the tool, and you will get a Slime Egg after 20 in-game hours. The eggs from the Slime Egg-Press are random, except for Tiger Egg Slimes. Tiger Egg Slimes have the most value, but they can only be obtained by killing Tiger Slimes from Ginger Island.
Slime Eggs have different prices that vary on their color:
- Green Slime Eggs: 1,000 gold
- Blue Slime Eggs: 1,750 gold
- Red Slime Eggs: 2,500 gold
- Purple Slime Eggs: 5,000 gold
- Tiger Slime Eggs: 8,000 gold
2. A Chance to Decorate the Interior Layout of the Hutch
You can also place decorative items inside the Slime Hutch. The building is structured like a cabin initially, but the inside is not empty. You’ll get water troughs that are important in keeping Slimes hydrated. When it gets populated with Slimes, building a safe zone inside the hutch is necessary if you do not want to get mauled by your untamed pets.
One layout idea is building iron fences to keep the Slimes far away from the entrance, and you can put statues and other decorative items outside of that enclosure. Adding flooring will give the Slime Hutch a more pleasing look and help you safely collect the Slime Balls since Slimes can not drop them on crafted flooring.
There is a random chance a witch will come by to put a curse on your Slime Hutch, turning all your colored Slimes into cursed Black Slimes. To prevent this from happening, you must place a Wicked Statue inside the building.
3. Breeding Different Colors of Slimes
This one is for those who are curious about the aspect of Slime breeding. To start reproducing Slimes, you must put a Slime egg in a Slime Incubator and wait two days before it hatches.
Slimes also have genders, so they can mate and have babies. With an antenna on its head, the male Slime will always be the first to pursue the female Slime. They will mate if the female Slime agrees to mate with the male. The baby Slime will appear smaller than regular Slimes but will have the same health as their parents. Concerning the color of the baby Slime, they will inherit a mixture of their parents’ colors.
This part might get complicated, but you can continue reading to learn more about breeding Slimes if you have the time. Slimes have different RGB Values depending on their colors, like a color scheme system used in the game. A yellow Slime, for example, has Red > 200, Green > 180, and Blue < 50. Another example is the cursed black Slime with Red < 80, Green < 80, and Blue < 80 values.
So, if you have noticed based on those numbers, the higher the Slime’s RGB values are, the lighter its color will appear. If you’re determined enough, you can breed a pure white slime, the rarest slime. You will have to keep breeding Slimes; the longer you leave them alone to multiply, the lighter their Slime babies will become. Separate the darker-looking Slimes from the lighter ones and let them reproduce. To do this effectively, you must build a bigger place for your Slimes, like a Slime Ranch. If you continue breeding light-colored slimes in this manner, you will be able to get pure white slimes.
4. Getting Items from Killing Slimes
A Pure-White Slime’s RGB Value is Red > 255, Green > 255, and Blue > 255. But how can you attest that you have Pure-White Slimes without using mods? Slay a bunch of them, and you will instantly get diamonds! Purple Slimes drop iridium ores when killed, and we all know how important these ores are for crafting better tools and items. Yellow Slimes will give you gold ores, while Red Slimes will give you copper ores. Gray-colored Slimes will drop stones when killed and Cursed Black slimes will give you coal.
Tiger Slimes are already valuable because of their eggs, but you will be glad to know there is a 0.1% chance of getting a Tiger Hat upon slaying them.
How to get a Slime Hutch
1. Gather Materials
Compared with other farm buildings, the cost of getting a Slime Hutch is not that high. You only need 10,000 gold to pay for the construction of the building. The materials you are required to have are 500 Stones, 10 Refined Quartz, and 1 Iridium Bar.
2. Go to Robin’s Carpenter Shop
Robin’s Carpenter Shop is open daily from 9 to 5 PM, except on Tuesdays. If you enter her shop while she is behind the counter, you can ask her to build you a Slime Hutch. Robin will happily oblige if you have the building fee and materials. It will take her two days to finish the Slime Hutch.
3. Receive a Slime Egg from Marlon
Once Robin finishes building the hutch, Marlon will visit you. Being the curious fellow he is in everything related to monsters, Marlon will say he heard you have a new Slime Hutch. He will then give you brief instructions on how to breed Slimes and hand you your first Green Slime egg.
Additional Tips on Breeding Slimes
Get a Slime Charmer Ring
As you already know, Slimes can still hurt you even if you start treating them as pets. Before you start breeding Slimes, you must equip yourself with an accessory that can make you invulnerable to Slime attacks, and that is precisely what a Slime Charmer does. The Slime Charmer ring can be acquired from the Adventurer’s Guild. You can only obtain it after completing the Monster Eradication Goal of Killing 1,000 Slimes quest.
Wear a Burglar’s Ring
The Burglar’s Ring can double the loot you get from killing Slimes when equipped. Like the Slime Charmer, it will only become available after you finish the Monster Eradication Goal of Killing Dust Sprites quest.
Place a Sprinkler near their trough.
Slimes are not hard to maintain and take care of. They are not required to be fed with hay or constant petting, as they are simple creatures needing only water to survive. To keep them hydrated, put a sprinkle near their water trough.
Slime Ranching
If you think the Slime Hutch’s interior space is too constricted, you can move all your Slimes outside your cabinet and build a Slime Ranch. If the area has Slime Incubators and some Fences to enclose your Slimes in a pent, you can put them anywhere on your farm or in Pelican Town! You could only benefit from this by breeding them or killing them for their items because Slimes can’t produce Slime Eggs outdoors.
Due to their massive, open spaces, the best places to build a Slime Ranch are the Quarry, Railroad, and Cindersap Forest. Avoid putting your Slimes on the Beach or the Sewers because they tend to disappear overnight in those areas.
Note that it wouldn’t be possible for you to make a Slime Ranch without a Slime Hutch. By not having this hutch, you could not get that 1% chance of obtaining Slime Eggs from killing Slimes in the mines.
