How To Tame Insects In RimWorld: Complete Insectoid Domination Guide

Taming aggressive insects in RimWorld requires breaking their hive allegiance by non-lethally incapacitating them through hypothermia, heatstroke, or psychic lances before rescuing them. Once an insectoid loses its hive connection and recovers as a neutral wild creature, an animal handler with adequate skill can permanently tame it using raw meat, kibble, or vegetables. Mastered Megaspiders and Spelopedes provide high-durable melee tanks and hauling labor for your colony.

Colony Preparation & Animal Handling Checklist

Successfully capturing and taming RimWorld insectoids—specifically Megascarabs, Spelopedes, and Megaspiders—demands precise environmental preparation and specialized pawn skill sets. Attempting to tame an insect while its parent hive is active, or engaging an active swarm with standard melee attacks, inevitably leads to lethal colony wipeouts.

Before initiating an insectoid capture operation, your colony must prepare proper containment zones, non-lethal incapacitation equipment, and designated handlers who meet mandatory skill thresholds.

Technical & Material Requirements

• Essential Equipment & Tools: Psychic Shock Lances, temperature control systems (2-4 Industrial Coolers or Heaters for temperature traps), Wooden Clubs (if weapon-downing), Herbal Medicine, and animal sleeping spots placed in isolated temperature-controlled barracks.
• Mandatory Skill Benchmarks:
  
  
  • Megascarab: Animals Level 4+
  • Spelopede: Animals Level 5+
  • Megaspider: Animals Level 7+
  • Medical Staff: Doctoring Level 6+ (required to tend downed insects without accidentally euthanizing them)
• Taming Bait Reserves: Kibble, Raw Meat, Carnivore Fine Meals, or Insect Jelly (reserve at least 15-20 food items per wild Megaspider attempt).
• Operation Timeline: Expect 1 to 3 in-game days for hypothermic incapacitation, rescue recovery, and faction detachment, followed by 2 to 7 days of daily taming attempts based on wildness stats.

Step-by-Step Insectoid Neutralization & Taming Workflow

Step 1: Sever the Hive Allegiance

Insects spawned from an Infestation belong to the Hive faction, making them permanently aggressive toward your colonists regardless of your handler's skill level. You must isolate the insects from their parent hives to force the game mechanics to reclassify them as wild fauna.

1. Locate an isolated infestation in an overhead mountain area or cavern.
2. Wait for nightfall (22:00 to 06:00) when insectoids enter their deep sleep cycle.
3. Send a stealthy pawn or long-range shooter to lure the insects away from the hives without destroying the insectoids themselves, or wait until the insects roam outside their aggro radius.
4. Destroy all active Megaspider hives, Spelopede hives, and deep jelly nodes using fire or long-range gunfire. Once all hives in the cluster are destroyed, surviving insects enter a roaming "wild" state, though they remain aggressive if approached directly.

Step 2: Non-Lethal Incapacitation Strategy

To tame a wild insectoid, it must be knocked down without dying from severe bleeding or brain destruction. Gunfire using high-damage weapons will destroy fragile limbs and cause fatal blood loss. Choose one of two optimal non-lethal incapacitation routes:

1. The Cryo-Trap Method (Recommended): Construct a sealed double-walled stone chamber around or adjacent to the wild insects. Install 3 to 4 industrial coolers targeted into the room. Lower the target temperature to -50°C (-58°F). As the room cools, the insects will develop hypothermia. At 80% hypothermia severity, the insectoids drop to the floor incapacitated from severe hypothermia without suffering sharp structural damage.
2. Psychic Shock Method: Draft a colonist carrying a Psychic Shock Lance. Target a high-value Megaspider or Spelopede from maximum range. The lance instantly downs the target by inducing brain psychic shock, leaving a negligible 10% risk of causing a permanent brain scar.

Warning: Avoid using incendiary weapons or flame traps inside temperature rooms. Insects panic violently when set on fire, smashing doors and causing heatstroke levels that instantly ignite their chitin, burning the creature to ash before it can be rescued.

Step 3: Medical Stabilization and Alignment Reset

Once the targeted insectoid drops to the floor in an "incapacitated" state, you must move rapidly before hypothermia wears off or the creature bleeds out from secondary injuries.

1. Set up an enclosed room with animal sleeping spots set to "Medical." Ensure the ambient temperature of this medical room is kept safe at 15°C to 20°C (59°F to 68°F).
2. Select a drafted colonist and right-click the downed insectoid to select Rescue [Insect Species].
3. Move the insect to the animal sleeping spot.
4. Assign your doctor to tend the insect using no medicine or herbal medicine to patch any minor bruises.
5. Wait for the insectoid to regain consciousness. Because the hive is destroyed and the insect was rescued by your faction, its hostility flag completely clears. It will wake up as a neutral wild animal roaming inside your containment area.

Pro-Tip: Keep the containment room door forbidden once the insect regains consciousness. This prevents the wild insect from wandering out into your colony or attacking colonists while it waits for your handler's daily taming interaction.

Step 4: Systemic Handling and Domination

With the insectoid secured inside your containment block as a neutral wild creature, your primary handler can begin the daily taming cycle.

1. Restrict the neutral insectoid to a small, enclosed room containing a stack of kibble or raw meat so it does not starve.
2. Assign your highest-level Animal Handler to prioritize the "Tame" work task. Ensure the handler carries preferred food items in their inventory.
3. The handler will enter the containment zone daily to attempt taming. Due to high wildness stats (up to 96% for Megaspiders), expect multiple failed attempts before success.
4. Once successfully tamed, immediately open the animal's training tab and assign Obedience, Release, and Hauling commands.

Insectoid Species Stats & Taming Thresholds

The table below outlines the exact technical parameters, skill requirements, and handling metrics required for all three insectoid species found in RimWorld:

Field Failures & Crisis Management

Insectoid Dies During Down Processing

• Root Cause: The target ambient temperature in your hypothermia trap was set lower than -70°C, causing lethal frostbite death before hypothermia downed the creature, or weapon-based downing inflicted fatal torso damage.
• Actionable Fix: Build a double-vented temperature buffer room. Set target coolers to precisely -45°C (-49°F) for Spelopedes/Megaspiders. Assign a pawn to monitor the health tab of the insect; draft your rescue team the exact moment hypothermia reaches "Severe" (80-85%) and rescue the creature immediately before frostbite destroys limbs.

Handler Triggered a Species Revenge Aggro Chain

• Root Cause: Megaspiders feature a high wildness rating (96%) and carry a 3.3% chance to initiate a revenge attack upon every failed taming attempt.
• Actionable Fix: Position a secondary colonist equipped with a Shield Belt and a non-lethal blunt weapon (or a door-choke setup) right outside the taming chamber door. If the Megaspider turns hostile, immediately step out of the door to break line of sight, as wild insects will de-aggro quickly once doors close between them and the handler.

Rescued Insectoid Wakes Up Hostile

• Root Cause: An active hive or jelly structure associated with the original infestation remained un-destroyed elsewhere on the map, keeping the insect locked to the "Hive Faction."
• Actionable Fix: Check the map using the target filter or search function to locate hidden hive structures in unrevealed mountain pockets. Destroy every single hive component on the entire map before tending or rescuing downed insects.

Tamed Insect Dies of Starvation in Winter

• Root Cause: Insects possess high body size metrics and require substantial daily nutritional intake. When wild plants die off during cold snaps or winters, tamed insects rapidly starve.
• Actionable Fix: Create a dedicated animal food stockpile inside your insect barn restricted to Kibble, Corpses, or Hay. Set the zone restriction of your tamed Megaspiders directly to this barn during extreme weather conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you tame insects while their hive is still intact?

No, insects attached to an active hive belong permanently to the Hive faction and cannot be tamed. You must destroy all connected hives on the map and reset the insectoid's hostility state through downing and rescuing before taming options become available.

What is the best food to use for taming Megaspiders?

Raw Meat, Corpses, and Kibble are the best food items for taming Megaspiders. Kibble is highly recommended for supply efficiency, while Raw Meat provides a strong nutritional value that prevents the insect from starving during extended taming periods.

Do tamed insects produce Insect Jelly automatically?

In unmodded core RimWorld, tamed insects do not produce Insect Jelly. Insect Jelly is produced exclusively by active, naturally spawned hives. Tamed insects function purely as biological combat units, defensive tanks, and haulers.

Will tamed insects attack wild infestations automatically?

Tamed insects treat wild infestations as enemies just like any other colony pet or colonist would. If assigned to a master pawn or placed in a defensive zone near an incoming infestation swarm, your tamed Megaspiders will attack wild insects on command.

Can tamed Megaspiders haul items around the colony?

Yes, Megaspiders possess Advanced trainability, allowing handlers with Animal Skill Level 7 or higher to train them in Release and Hauling tasks. Megascarabs and Spelopedes lack full advanced trainability and cannot be trained to haul.

Fortify Your Colony's Bio-Defenses

Mastering non-lethal temperature management and downing mechanics allows you to turn lethal infestation events into an army of loyal biological shock-troops. Prepare your handling pens, calibrate your hypothermia traps, and convert wild Megaspiders into your colony's ultimate front-line defensive force.