You just did it. You climbed the pillars, dodged the breath attacks, and watched that purple health bar finally hit zero. The explosion of experience points is legendary. And there, sitting on top of a pedestal of bedrock, is the rarest item in the game. The dragon egg. It’s a trophy, a flex, and the most confusing block in Minecraft history.
Honestly, the first thing most people do is try to punch it. Don't do that. It’ll just teleport away, probably into a dark corner of the End or straight into a pool of void juice if you’re unlucky.
But once you’ve chased it down and tucked it safely into your chest back at base, the question always comes up: how to grow the ender dragon egg? You’ve likely seen the clickbait thumbnails. You’ve probably heard a friend swear that if you place it on obsidian and wait 100 days, it hatches. Well, I’ve got some bad news and some weirdly good news.
The short answer? You can't actually hatch it. At least, not into a pet dragon in the vanilla game.
The Myth of the Hatching Egg
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way. In the unmodded version of Minecraft—whether you’re on Bedrock, Java, or console—the dragon egg is a decorative block. It doesn’t have a "growth" stage. It doesn't have a timer. It’s essentially a very fancy, gravity-affected lamp that doesn't give off light.
Why does everyone think you can grow it? Blame the early days of the internet. Back when Notch was still leading development, there was a lot of chatter about making the egg functional. It never happened. Then came the "Dragon Mounts" mod. That mod was so popular that it basically rewrote the collective memory of the fanbase. People saw YouTubers riding dragons and assumed it was just a feature they hadn't figured out yet.
It isn't.
If you're playing on a standard server or a solo world without mods, the egg is a trophy. Period. It represents your victory over the "final" boss. But that doesn't mean the dragon is gone forever.
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How to Grow the Ender Dragon Egg Back into a Boss
If your goal isn't a pet, but rather getting the dragon back into the world, that is actually possible. We call this "respawning," but for some players, it feels like growing the dragon back from the essence of the End. To do this, you don't actually need the egg itself. You can keep the egg in a frame on your wall.
What you actually need are End Crystals.
Four of them, specifically. You craft these using glass, a Ghast tear, and an Eye of Ender. Once you have them, head back to the central exit portal in the End. You place one crystal on each of the four sides of the bedrock portal.
The moment that fourth crystal snaps into place, the world goes crazy. The pillars start rebuilding. The crystals on top of them reignite. It’s a cinematic masterpiece of block-based engineering. Finally, the beam of light shoots into the sky, and the Ender Dragon is reborn.
Why Bother Respawning?
You might think it's a lot of work for a fight you've already won. It is. But if you want to fully "complete" your world, you have to do it. Every time you kill the dragon again, a new End Gateway opens. These are those tiny 1x1 portals floating in the sky that warp you to the outer islands. If you want a massive collection of Elytra or a Shulker farm that would make a technical player weep with joy, you need those gateways.
Also, Dragon's Breath.
You can’t make lingering potions without it. You need to bring empty glass bottles to the fight and scoop up the purple clouds the dragon spits out. No dragon, no breath. No breath, no tipped arrows.
The Modded Reality: Actually Growing a Pet
Now, if you’re sitting there thinking, "I don't care about the boss, I want a pet," then we need to talk about the PC side of things. This is where the "how to grow the ender dragon egg" search usually leads. If you are on Java Edition, you have access to the stuff that makes the myths real.
The most famous is Dragon Mounts: Legacy.
In this mod, the environment where you place the egg determines what kind of dragon hatches. Place it in water? You get a Water Dragon. Put it deep underground? Ghost Dragon. Surround it with emeralds? Forest Dragon. It actually adds the gameplay loop people have been dreaming about since 2011. You wait for the egg to hatch, you feed the baby fish, and eventually, you're flying across the overworld.
But stay grounded. If you are on an Xbox, a PlayStation, or a Switch, you are playing the Bedrock version. Unless you buy a specific "Dragon" map from the Marketplace, you are stuck with the trophy.
Moving the Egg Without Losing It
Since the egg teleports when you touch it, getting it home is a nightmare for beginners. Most people try to mine it with a pickaxe. Big mistake.
To "harvest" the egg so you can display it:
- Hit it once so it teleports onto a solid surface (not the portal).
- Dig two blocks down directly next to it.
- Dig out the block under the egg, but quickly replace it with a torch.
- Break the block the egg is sitting on so it falls onto the torch.
The egg will "break" into an item you can pick up. It treats the egg like sand or gravel. Because the torch is a non-solid block, the egg can't exist on top of it and turns into a collectible item.
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Technical Quirks and Bedrock Glitches
In some versions of Minecraft Bedrock Edition, there's a long-standing bug where a second egg might actually drop. Usually, you only get one egg per world. It’s the ultimate "one-of-a-kind" item. However, due to how the game handles the death of the first dragon versus subsequent dragons, some players have found themselves with two.
Don't count on it. Treat your egg like it's the only one you'll ever have. If you lose it in the void, it's gone. There is no "regrowing" the egg. You can't craft it. You can't find it in a chest. It is a unique reward for the first time you conquer the End.
What to do with the Egg now?
Once you've realized that "growing" it means either respawning the boss or using a mod, you're left with a choice. Most players build a shrine.
I’ve seen some incredible builds where the egg is the centerpiece of a laboratory, suspended in glass with End Rods providing a glow. Others use it as a literal "dragon's nest" using hay bales and orange stained glass to simulate fire.
If you're on a multiplayer server, the egg is basically a target. It’s the ultimate "Capture the Flag" item. Just remember that if someone griefs it and it falls into a portal, it might end up back at the world spawn point.
Summary of Actionable Steps
Stop searching for a secret incubation chamber. It doesn't exist in the base game. If you want to move forward, here is exactly what you should do:
- Secure the Egg: Use the torch trick mentioned above to pick up the egg without it teleporting into the abyss.
- Choose Your Path: If you want a pet, install the Dragon Mounts: Legacy mod (Java only).
- Respawn the Challenge: If you want to "regrow" the dragon for loot, craft four End Crystals and place them on the exit portal's bedrock rim.
- Collect the Breath: Bring at least two stacks of glass bottles to the next fight. You'll need that Dragon's Breath for high-level alchemy.
- Protect the Trophy: Put the egg in an Ender Chest if you're traveling. If you die with it in your inventory, it's gone forever.
The Ender Dragon egg is a mystery that has fueled a decade of rumors. While the reality of it being a decorative trophy might feel a bit underwhelming compared to the idea of a pet dragon, its value lies in what it represents. You beat the game. Now, go use those End Crystals and do it again.