Rabbits are the cheapest renewable meat in Don’t Starve Together, and catching one does not require a weapon, bait, or good timing. It requires a Trap and a rabbit hole.
Quick answer: Craft a Trap from 6 Cut Grass and 2 Twigs in the Tools tab, place it directly on top of a rabbit hole in a Savanna, then walk back and check the trap once the rabbit is caught.
Trap recipe and requirements
The Trap sits in the Tools tab and is available from the start, so you do not need a Science Machine to prototype it. Its description reads “Capture small creatures,” and rabbits are one of the creatures it works on.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Recipe | 6 Cut Grass, 2 Twigs |
| Crafting tab | Tools |
| Station needed | None |
| Catches | Rabbits and Beardlings only (common Trap) |
| Rabbit drop when murdered | 1 Morsel |
If the build button is greyed out and the game says you are missing important components, you are short on Cut Grass or Twigs. Both come from grass tufts and saplings, which grow thickly in the same Savanna where rabbit holes appear.
Where rabbit holes spawn
Rabbit holes appear in Savanna and Grassland terrain, and the Savanna is by far the densest source. On the map, look for the flat yellow-brown ground dotted with grass tufts and Beefalo herds. Rabbits themselves also wander through Forest areas, but the holes are what you actually need, since they are the spawner.
Each hole produces a new rabbit roughly every 2.5 days. A rabbit that escapes back down its hole does not start that timer; it simply hides and comes back out after a short random delay. If you plan to live off morsels, count the holes near your camp. Around four per player is a workable minimum, and roughly 15 holes covers one player’s full daily hunger.
Catch a rabbit with a Trap
How to know the catch worked
A sprung Trap looks visibly different on the ground and the cursor prompt reads “Check Trap” instead of “Pick up Trap.” That prompt is the only confirmation you need. Once you click it, the rabbit appears as an inventory item that does not stack, so each catch takes its own slot.
Note: If the rabbit looks black and shaggy, you caught a Beardling. That happens whenever your sanity is under 40 percent, and it converts every rabbit in the world and in your inventory. Beardlings drop Beard Hair, Monster Meat, or Nightmare Fuel instead of a Morsel.
Why a trap catches nothing
A trap that never springs almost always comes down to one of a small number of causes.
| Cause | What to do |
|---|---|
| Trap is not close enough to the hole | Reposition it directly over the entrance rather than beside it |
| Hole was dug up with a Shovel | That spawner is gone; use a different hole |
| Hole is collapsed during Spring rain | Wait until a few days into the following season for it to reopen |
| Rabbit was killed or caught very recently | Allow about 2.5 days for the next one to spawn |
Digging a hole is worth avoiding unless you specifically want a homeless rabbit, since destroyed holes only regenerate during Summer and only one at a time. Four holes dug up at once take 20 days of Summer to come back.
Faster methods once you have one trap
Placing traps on holes is passive and reliable, but there are quicker options when you need a rabbit right now. Dropping a Carrot or Berries on open ground and setting a trap between the bait and the rabbit works, since rabbits move in a straight line toward food. You can also drop the bait straight into the trap itself, which shows a “Bait” prompt before you click.
A no-bait version works too. Stand on the rabbit hole so the rabbit cannot get home, place the trap about four turf tiles away between the hole and the rabbit, then run at the rabbit to scare it. It bolts toward the hole, hits the trap, and you collect it. This gets unreliable when several holes sit close together, because the rabbit has somewhere else to run.
At night, any rabbit caught outside its hole falls asleep and stops moving, which lets you drop a trap right on top of it.
What caught rabbits are used for
A murdered rabbit gives one Morsel, worth 12.5 hunger raw and a meat value of 0.5 in the Crock Pot. One Morsel plus three berries or carrots makes Meatballs, and a Morsel left on a Drying Rack for a day becomes Small Jerky, which keeps far longer through Winter.
Live rabbits are also a crafting ingredient. They are consumed by three recipes, so it is worth keeping a couple uncooked if you are heading toward the magic tab.
| Item | Cost | Station |
|---|---|---|
| Rabbit Earmuffs | 2 Rabbits, 1 Twigs | Science Machine |
| Prestihatitator | 4 Rabbits, 4 Boards, 1 Top Hat | Science Machine |
| War Saddle | 4 Rabbits, 4 Steel Wool, 10 Logs | Alchemy Engine |
One thing to keep in mind before you start clearing out a Savanna: rabbits count as innocent creatures. Each kill adds a point of Naughtiness, which can summon Krampus, and Don’t Starve Together tracks a separate Rabbit Naughtiness counter that can bring out the Wrathful Rabbit King. Spacing out your harvesting, or letting trapped rabbits starve into Morsels on their own, keeps both counters quieter than mass murder does.
