How to Tame a Maewing in ARK

 

    The Maewing is ARK's living baby monitor — a duck-billed, platypus-and-flying-squirrel hybrid introduced in the Genesis: Part 2 expansion that doubles as a walking Feeding Trough once tamed. Unlike most of ARK's showcase tames, catching one isn't a fight: ark.wiki.gg describes it as a knockout tame with a meager torpor value, meaning even a high-level Maewing goes down fast once you land your shots. This guide follows the wiki's own taming page point for point — the knockout method, what food to load once it's out, two documented ways to trap it before you start shooting, and the saddle level, base stats, and egg-laying odds waiting for you once it's yours. Where the source page doesn't give a number, this guide says so instead of guessing.

 

The Knockout Taming Method

 

    Taming a Maewing follows ARK's standard knockout (KO) process: you don't feed it directly like a passive grazer, you drop its Torpidity with ranged shots until it passes out, then load its inventory with food so it eats automatically as it wakes. The wiki's own advice: knock it out "preferably with Tranq Arrows... before feeding it berries or meat (though meat is more effective)." Other knockout tools work too — "other knock-out methods are also effective, but may not be as viable" — but Tranq Arrows are the one the page calls out by name. The standout detail here is how little effort the knockout half takes: even a high-level Maewing "will not take long to knock out as they have a meager torpor value," and with a quality Tek Bow or similar high-end tranq weapon, "any Maewing should go down in only one or two shots; even high-level ones." Exactly how fast its Torpidity decays once it's out, and how long that unconscious window lasts, isn't given on the source page — this guide doesn't estimate that figure, so budget your feeding time generously.

 

What to Feed a Maewing While Taming

 

 

    Being an Omnivore, the Maewing "will enjoy any type of food you will throw at it, with a preference for the usual Prime Meat, Mutton or Basic Kibble," per the wiki. Separately, the page's dedicated Preferred Food field names exactly one item: Basic Kibble. The source doesn't rank Prime Meat and Mutton against each other or against Basic Kibble in a tiered effectiveness table the way some other tame pages do — so treat those three as its documented favorites, not a strict best-to-worst order. If you're loading its inventory right after knockout, the wiki separately notes berries or meat both work, "though meat is more effective."

 

How to Trap a Maewing

 

 

    Because Maewings bolt into the air and glide away at the first sign of danger, the wiki recommends trapping one before you start shooting rather than chasing it down: "Due to its cowardly intention of immediately jumping up into the air with extremely fast gliding and reaction, trapping a Maewing to tame it is preferred early." It lists Chain Bola, Large Bear Trap, and Net Projectile as items that immobilize it.

 

    Two build methods are documented. The Trap Box Method: build a small box out of billboards with one side left open, place three wooden pillars next to it, and use those pillars to add a thatch ceiling over the whole box; lure the Maewing in with Rare Flower (an aggressive lure) or Giant Bee Honey (if it's already near the trap's path), then move in behind it and close the final board once it's inside — "if the ceiling trap is laid out correctly, it will not be able to fly out."

 

    The Net Projectile Method is simpler: fire a Net Projectile directly at the Maewing, since "it will not react to being too close," then tranq it while netted — but move fast, because "the net will only stay for a minute before breaking."

 

Saddle Level, Base Stats, and Egg-Laying Odds

 

 

    Once tamed, a Maewing needs Level 19 to unlock its Maewing Saddle before you can ride it or use its baby-carrying baskets. Its Level 1 base stats, per the wiki's stat table: Health 700 (+59.5/level), Stamina 450 (+22.5/level), Oxygen 150 (+15/level), Food 2000 (+200/level), Weight 400 (+8/level), Melee Damage 20 (+1/level), and Torpidity 100 (+6/level). The table lists extra taming-bonus modifiers next to Melee Damage and Torpidity that this guide can't confidently interpret from the source formatting, so they're left undocumented rather than guessed at.

 

    One stat is unique here: Nursing Effectiveness (base 100%, +1%/level) entirely replaces Movement Speed on a Maewing — "the nursing effectiveness stat completely replaces Movement Speed, and does not affect the speed of the Maewing" — and each point also increases how much a fed baby's Food stat is restored.

 

    Breeding is unusual too: per the wiki, "Both Maewings will lay down eggs," regardless of which one mated, and each egg's quality is random: Basic 35%, Simple 25%, Regular 17.5%, Superior 12.5%, Exceptional 7.5%, Extraordinary 2.5% — a full set of outcomes (35 + 25 + 17.5 + 12.5 + 7.5 + 2.5 = 100%). After hatching, growth runs Baby 4h 37m 46.667s, Juvenile 18h 31m 6.667s, Adolescent 23h 8m 53.333s, which the wiki totals as 1 day 22 hours 17 minutes 46.667 seconds of Total Maturation Time — adding the three stages confirms it: 46h 17m 46.667s = 1d 22h 17m 46.667s. That excludes the separate 1h 25m 42.446s Incubation Time before the egg hatches.

 

Trap it before you tranq it — Maewings glide away fast, and chasing one burns more time than building a billboard box. Load Basic Kibble or Prime Meat into its inventory once it's unconscious, so it eats as it wakes. Even high-level Maewings barely register on Torpidity, so a Tek Bow or other high-end tranquilizing weapon should drop one in a shot or two once cornered. If breeding, remember either Maewing in a pair can lay the egg.

 

Running your own ARK server

 

    Taming a Maewing is quick, but making full use of it — running a nursery, breeding toward better-quality eggs, keeping a saddle-ready Level 19 mount on hand — takes an always-on world, not a few hours on someone else's server. A private ARK server keeps your trap standing, your tribe's Basic Kibble stockpile untouched, and your tamed Maewing exactly where you left it, with no random-server wipe risk while you're mid-breeding. It also lets you time incubation and maturation — the better part of two days from egg to adult — around your own schedule.

 

Conclusion

 

    Taming a Maewing in ARK comes down to what the wiki actually documents: it's a knockout tame with an unusually low torpor value, it prefers Basic Kibble, Prime Meat, or Mutton, it's best trapped with a billboard-and-thatch box or a Net Projectile before you tranq it, and it needs Level 19 for its saddle. Past that — exact tranq shot counts by weapon, Torpidity decay speed, and per-map spawn rarity — the source page doesn't break those numbers out, so this guide doesn't invent them.

 

    Ready to raise a nursery full of Maewing-fed babies without a server wipe wrecking your breeding line? Spin up your own ARK server and start taming. Use promo code WELCOME for your first month free.