The Crane is an Epic pet in Steal an Egg, and it is the single key that turns on the Sakura Incubator at the far end of the Cherry Blossom zone. Without one, the Bloom and Spirit Bloom mutations stay locked. The catch is that the Crane only hatches from eggs stolen out of Cherry Blossom, currently the hardest area in the game to escape cleanly.
Quick answer: Reach the Cherry Blossom zone with at least 2.5 billion Speed, steal an egg with a pink cap and a dark line through its center, carry it back to your base, and hatch it. When it produces a Crane, take that Crane to the Sakura Incubator at the end of the zone and submit it to unlock the machine permanently.
Speed and gear you need for the Cherry Blossom zone
Cherry Blossom is guarded by the Kitsune. If it catches you mid-steal, you are knocked all the way back to the Abyss Ocean zone, so a failed run costs time rather than your progress. The listed entry threshold is 2.5 billion Speed, but that number only holds up on the smallest eggs. Most players who steal reliably sit higher.
| Speed level | What to expect |
|---|---|
| 2.5 billion | Bare minimum. Only realistic on the smallest eggs and still risky. |
| 2.9–3.5 billion | Comfortable solo escapes, even while carrying larger eggs. |
| 4 billion+ | Very safe. Runs rarely fail. |
Bringing an Eternal Trail helps you get in and out before the Kitsune closes the gap. If your Speed is stuck near the floor, prioritize treadmill and pen upgrades first, and grab the free treadmill boost that appears during admin event windows before you attempt a run.
Stealing and hatching the Crane egg
The Crane is the most common Epic pull in Cherry Blossom, so landing it is the expected result of a good run rather than a rare drop. You are looking for a specific egg, not the machine itself. The Crane never comes from the Sakura Incubator.
The low-Speed wall trick for the Crane egg
If you can pick up an egg and survive at least one hit without instantly losing it, you can move the egg home even below the recommended Speed. When the Kitsune knocks you down, the egg does not snap back to its nest. It stays roughly where you dropped it.
Note: The main risk here is another player grabbing the egg while it sits on the ground, so keep the bat ready. Wall-based tricks like this can stop working after a game update.
Unlocking the Sakura Incubator with your Crane
The Sakura Incubator sits at the very end of the Cherry Blossom zone. With a hatched Crane in your inventory, walk up to it and interact. The size and any mutations on the Crane do not matter, so submit the smallest one you have.
When you hand it over, the Crane flies onto the machine in a short cutscene and activates it. You lose that specific Crane for good, but the unlock is permanent. You will never need to sacrifice another one to use the incubator again. You know it worked when the “Return the Crane” prompt clears and the Great Bloom event becomes available.
Tip: Because the Crane is the most common Epic in the zone, you can easily farm another copy afterward if you want one sitting in your pen for its $4K per second income.
What the Sakura Incubator gives you
Once unlocked, the incubator lets you add exclusive Sakura mutations to your eggs. It runs on Sakura Crystals, which come from The Great Bloom event. During Great Bloom, giant crystal cherry blossom trees appear across the zone, and you smash them with the starting baseball bat to collect crystals.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Great Bloom frequency | Every 30 minutes (server time) |
| Great Bloom duration | About 3 minutes |
| Crystal source | Smash the Sakura crystal trees with the bat |
| Charge to mutate | At least 100% (150% is the max) |
After unlocking the machine, a timer above it shows when the next Great Bloom begins, and an on-screen message fires when it starts. Stay inside the zone before the window opens so you spend the full three minutes farming instead of traveling.
To mutate, keep an egg in your inventory, interact with the incubator, submit that egg, deposit crystals until the charge hits at least 100%, then confirm. You cannot mutate a pet that has already hatched or an egg you have laid down in your pen, so save your best rare eggs in your inventory for this. Each roll lands one of two outcomes.
| Mutation | Chance | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Bloom | 97.5% | 1.5x |
| Spirit Bloom | 2.5% | 3x |
Spirit Bloom needs no special item or egg. You simply keep charging eggs and rely on the roll, and charging to the 150% cap improves your odds of hitting the rarer result. Because a weak egg costs the same crystals as a strong one, always mutate a high-value egg so the crystals are not wasted regardless of which mutation you land.
That covers the full loop, from grinding Speed and slipping the Kitsune to sacrificing a single Crane and rolling Bloom mutations. Once the incubator is on, your routine shifts away from hunting Cranes and toward timing Great Bloom, stockpiling crystals, and blooming the pets you actually want to keep.
