The Rhyniognatha is the only creature in Ark whose tame starts by taming something else. A wild Rhyniognatha cannot be tamed and a tamed one cannot be bred, so the only way to get one is to impregnate one of your own creatures with it. It is the most involved tame in the game, and that is exactly why it is worth doing.
The numbers
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Taming type | Pheromone and host impregnation (no knockout) |
| Health | 900 |
| Food | 1,840 |
| Weight | 1,100 |
| Melee Damage | 100 |
| Torpor | 800 |
| Host requirement | 300+ drag weight, 650+ for 100% host size |
| Found on | The Island, Ragnarok, Valguero, Lost Island, Astraeos |
Two of those lines are the whole tame. The host needs 300 drag weight or more — below that it cannot be impregnated at all, which rules out some large-looking creatures purely on a stat — and 650 or more gives 100% host size. The base stats come from the same wiki entry and are not estimates.
The method, in one sentence
Get pheromone from a wild male, weaken a wild female below 10% health, use the pheromone on a tamed host with enough drag weight, and the female impregnates it — after which the host dies and you imprint the live baby.
That is the whole tame. Everything hard about it is in the execution.
Step by step
- Collect the pheromone from a male. Rhyniognatha pheromone drops from wild male Rhyniognathas only, so check the sex before you spend the attempt.
- Find a female and weaken her below 10% health. She has to be brought down to under 10% HP before she will impregnate anything. In Survival Ascended you can trap her to do this — but you cannot complete the impregnation while she is trapped, because the structures block her animation. Trap, weaken, then release her for the actual step.
- Choose your host. It must be one of your own tamed creatures with 300 or more drag weight. Anything above 650 gives 100% host size, so an Argy or a high-weight creature is the safe pick. A creature with a low drag weight will not work no matter how big it looks.
- Apply the pheromone. With the female weakened and the pheromone in hand, use it on the host. An effect surrounds the host while the pheromone is in use, and the female may then attempt the impregnation.
- Let her drift off and track her. After impregnation the Rhyniognatha slowly flies away. You can use a Pteranodon and its Tracker to follow her, or trap her in a wide open cage with exits your host can safely walk out of. A large trap of eight stone behemoth gates in a row, with a gate at each end and one in the middle, lets you impregnate several hosts with the same female — close the middle gate, move the impregnated creature out, put the next one in.
- Wait out the pregnancy, then move the host carefully. Do not use a Cryopod on an impregnated creature — it destroys the embryo. Move the host the long way on the ground, or use a flying method such as a Rhyniognatha or a Tapejara where applicable.
- Imprint the baby the moment it is born. The birth is live, not an egg. The host is killed in the process, so only use a creature you are willing to sacrifice.
Why the method is what it is
The creatures that break the knockout rule are the ones players search for by name, because the standard trap does not apply to them. This one follows its own rule, and the guides that treat it like a Rex are the ones that waste the attempt.
Because the baby’s stats are drawn at random from the host, the same female can be reused across several hosts — including clones of the same donor line — and still produce different stats and levels each time.
The three ways this goes wrong
- Using a host below 300 drag weight. The impregnation simply will not take, and no amount of waiting changes it.
- Cryopoding the pregnant host. It destroys the embryo and you lose the host for nothing.
- Leaving the female trapped in Survival Ascended. The structure blocks her animation, so the impregnation never starts. Trap her to weaken her, then let her out.
A quick checklist
- Rhyniognatha pheromone from a wild male, in hand.
- A host with 300+ drag weight, 650+ for full host size.
- A female weakened below 10% health and out of any trap.
- A way to track her, or a wide cage with exits.
- A plan to move the pregnant host without a Cryopod.
For the stats of the other creatures, see the best tames guide. For the commands to place one in front of you, see the spawn commands guide.