ARK Aberration Guide: How to Tame a Bulbdog (and Why You Should)

If you’ve spent time with the new Aberration expansion for ARK: Survival Evolved, you’ve probably seen more than a few Bulbdogs wandering around the mushroom forest already. They’re cute and unseemly, but if you were to tame one of these beasts, you’d find it actually proves to be a strong personal companion for exploring the new map.

So how do you tame a Bulbdog of your own, and how exactly does it help you out in the new Aberration expansion? Let’s dive in!

How to Tame a Bulbdog in ARK Aberration

Bulbdogs are passive tames, which means you must follow them around and feed them until they’re friendly enough to follow you around in turn. To do this, you just put food in your last hotbar slot, and use it when the taming prompt shows up while looking at the creature.

These adorable angler-fish-dog-things primarily eat meat, but there are select kinds of plant matter they’re willing to chow down on. They’ll eat certain types of seeds, for example, but what they really love are Aquatic Mushrooms. Those are found simply by gathering at mushroom patches on the Aberration map.

You could choose to make the taming process easier by building a small structure around the creature, but it may be more hassle than it’s worth unless there are dangerous creatures around. Alternatively, you could take a flying mount and drop it into a pen, but by the time you have something that can fly, you should ideally have one of these anyway. And why is that?

Why You Should Tame a Bulbdog in ARK Aberration

The Bulbdog may not be all that menacing, but its light-emitting bulb has interesting effects that help with traversing the new map. It needs a charge from creatures like Glowbugs in order to use the light, but it’s well worth it when you’re exploring the creepy Bioluminescence area.

The light fends off the Nameless, which spawn the Reaper King if they manage to swarm you. They will swarm you, too, if you don’t bring a lit-up Bulbdog, so make sure you have one on your shoulder. After all, a Reaper King is really not something you want to deal with unprepared.

Outside of the Bioluminescence area, the light has the chance of attracting other small creatures. Overall, this unique Bulbdog is a handy creature to keep around. You’d be loath to be without one by your side on your journeys in Aberration.

For more tips on surviving the latest expansion and more, be sure to check out our ARK: Survival Evolved guides.