How to Tame a Triceratops in ARK

 

    The Triceratops — Trike, for short — is one of ARK's earliest reliable tames: a knockout (KO) job on a Herbivore that the infobox lists as Docile, even though its own in-game dossier calls it "Short-Tempered" once provoked. This guide walks through exactly what ark.wiki.gg documents: how the KO method and trap work, what to feed a Trike once it's out, how much Simple Kibble the taming table actually calls for at six different wild levels, and the full egg-to-adult timeline if you'd rather breed one instead. Anywhere the source doesn't give a clean number, this guide says so instead of guessing.

 

How to Find and Knock Out a Triceratops

 

    The wiki's infobox lists the Triceratops as Diet: Herbivore, Temperament: Docile — it won't attack until provoked. But its dossier, written in-game by Helena Walker, describes it differently: "Triceratops styrax... Temperament: Short-Tempered... Normally a very docile grazing animal, Triceratops becomes aggressive once angered." Both descriptions come straight from the source; this guide isn't picking one over the other.

 

    For the knock-out itself, the wiki's KO Strategy section says Trikes "are rather slow, you can kite one easily" — fire Tranquilizer Arrows with a few seconds between shots while backing away, letting Torpor build. It also flags an easier method: "create a simple trap using a foundation, wall, and ceiling of any kind in a 'Z' shape. The Triceratops will attempt to turn around when it hits the ceiling, allowing players to snipe its body and move through the ceiling after it." A stuck Trike near two or three beach trees, the page adds, becomes "incredibly easy to knock out, as it can't attack you."

 

    Base stats back this up: at Level 1 a wild Trike has 375 Health (+75 per level) and 250 Torpidity (+15 per level), so a Level 20 wild Trike would have roughly 375 + 75 × 19 = 1,800 Health and 250 + 15 × 19 = 535 Torpidity — both numbers scale identically per level, which is why higher-level Trikes take proportionally longer to knock out and kill by accident. Its Melee Damage is 32 (+1.6/level) via its Head Strike attack, Drag Weight is 300, and it drops 16 XP on a kill.

 

What to Feed a Triceratops Once It's Knocked Out

 

 

    The infobox lists the Triceratops's Preferred Kibble twice — once as "Simple Kibble" and once as "Kibble (Carno Egg)" — without saying which applies to which game version. This guide reports both exactly as the source lists them rather than guessing that one supersedes the other. Its Preferred Food (non-kibble) is listed simply as "Crops." The Trike is not Torpor Immune, so standard Tranq Arrows/Darts work normally, and it's Tameable, Rideable, and Breedable per the infobox — all three flagged "Yes." Once tamed, it needs the Trike Saddle, which unlocks at Level 16.

 

    If you're crafting Simple Kibble yourself, the wiki's own ingredient list for it is: 1× Cooked Fish Meat, 1× Small Egg, 5× Fiber, 5× Mejoberry, 2× Rockarrot, 1× Water.

 

How Much Simple Kibble You Need, by Level

 

 

    The wiki's ARK: Survival Evolved taming-food table gives Simple Kibble quantities and total feeding time at six wild levels: Level 1 — 2 kibble, 0:01:36; Level 30 — 5, 0:04:00; Level 60 — 8, 0:06:24; Level 90 — 11, 0:08:48; Level 120 — 14, 0:11:12; Level 150 — 16, 0:12:48. The quantity climbs +3 kibble roughly every 30 levels (2→5→8→11→14, then +2 to 16), and feeding time rises from 96 seconds at Level 1 to 768 seconds at Level 150 — a difference of 672 seconds, or 11 minutes 12 seconds, computed directly from the two timestamps.

 

    Each level bracket in the same table also lists a Torpidity-depletion rate and a "time until all torpidity is depleted" figure: 0.3/s and 00:13:53 at Level 1, rising to 1.04/s and 00:40:00 at Level 150 — that's your real feeding window once the Trike goes down, and it gets longer at higher levels even though the Torpidity pool is bigger. The same table also lists a row of six KO shot counts per level (for example "×25; ×11; ×3; ×2; ×2; ×1" at Level 1), but the page's text strips the weapon/ammo icon that normally labels each number, so which figure belongs to Bow, Crossbow, Dart, or another tool is undocumented here — this guide isn't assigning weapons to numbers it can't confirm.

 

Breeding a Triceratops: Egg and Growth Timeline

 

 

    A tamed pair produces a Trike Egg, incubated at 22–28°C / 72–82°F in the wild, or a steady 25°C / 77°F in an Egg Incubator. From there the wiki lists: Incubation Time 2h 29m 59.28s; Baby Time 4h 37m 46.666s; Juvenile Time 18h 31m 6.662s; Adolescent Time 23h 8m 53.328s; Total Maturation Time 1d 22h 17m 46.656s; Breeding Interval 18h – 2d.

 

    The Total Maturation figure checks out against the individual stages: Baby (4h 37m 46.666s) + Juvenile (18h 31m 6.662s) = 23h 8m 53.328s, and adding Adolescent (another 23h 8m 53.328s) gives 46h 17m 46.656s — which is exactly 1d 22h 17m 46.656s, matching the wiki's own Total Maturation Time. Note that figure counts post-hatch growth only; Incubation Time happens before the egg hatches and isn't part of that sum.

 

Kite, don't chase — a Trike's charge is fast but its turn radius isn't, so circling or using a "Z"-shaped foundation/wall/ceiling trap beats running in a straight line. Stockpile Simple Kibble ingredients (Fiber, Mejoberry, Rockarrot, Small Egg, Cooked Fish Meat, Water) before you knock one out, since Crops alone will work but take longer per the source. If you're breeding instead of taming, hold the egg at 25°C in an Incubator rather than gambling on the wider wild range.

 

Running your own ARK server

 

    A Trike tame or breeding project takes real, uninterrupted time — over 46 hours of egg-to-adult growth alone, per the numbers above — and that's hard to protect on a server you don't control. A private ARK server keeps your trap standing, your kibble ingredients in the fridge, and your incubating egg at a steady temperature without another tribe wandering through or a public server wiping mid-cycle. It also means the six-shot KO run above can happen on your own schedule, with your own tribe, instead of whoever else is logged into a crowded host.

 

Conclusion

 

    Taming a Triceratops comes down to what ark.wiki.gg actually documents: knock it out with Tranq Arrows or a Z-shaped trap, feed it Simple Kibble (or Crops in a pinch), expect the kibble cost to climb from 2 at Level 1 to 16 at Level 150, and have the Trike Saddle ready by Level 16. Breeding one instead means a Trike Egg, roughly 22 hours of post-hatch growth, and a breeding interval of 18 hours to 2 days. Anything the source didn't clearly label — which weapon produces which shot count, or which game version prefers which kibble — is flagged above rather than guessed.

 

    Ready to tame or breed your own Triceratops without a public server wiping your progress? Spin up your own ARK server and get taming. Use promo code WELCOME for your first month free.