You finally did it. The Ender Dragon is a pile of dissolving pixels and experience orbs, the portal home has opened, and there it is—the rarest item in the game. It sits perched on top of the bedrock pedestal like a trophy. But if you try to mine it with a pickaxe, it vanishes. Don't panic. It didn't despawn. It just teleported because that’s what dragon eggs do when you touch them. Knowing how to pick up the dragon egg in minecraft is basically a rite of passage for players who want to prove they actually conquered the End.
If you've played Minecraft for more than five minutes, you know the game loves to subvert your expectations. Most blocks break when you hit them. Not this one. The dragon egg is technically a gravity-affected block, similar to sand or gravel, but with the added "fun" mechanic of teleporting up to 15 blocks away if you interact with it. If you aren't careful, that egg could end up in a dark corner of the End or, worse, falling straight into the void.
Why the Dragon Egg Teleports (And Where it Goes)
The egg is a bit of a diva. In the code, it’s programmed to seek out a nearby air block if it’s clicked or attacked. It doesn't matter if you're in Creative or Survival; that first click sends it flying. Most players freak out the first time this happens. They think they've lost their only chance at the game's ultimate trophy.
The teleportation logic is actually pretty specific. It looks for a 15x15x7 area around its current position. It wants a spot that isn't solid. If you’re standing on the main island, it’s usually fine—it’ll just pop to a nearby patch of end stone. However, if you built a bridge out over the void to fight the dragon, you're in a bit of a "danger zone" situation.
Honestly, the teleport is actually your best friend if you don't have the right tools on hand. You need it to move off that bedrock pedestal because you can't mine the bedrock underneath it. By clicking it once, you move it to a location where you can actually work with the ground beneath it. Just make sure you track where it lands.
The Piston Method: The Most Reliable Strategy
If you want to be 100% safe, use a piston. This is the "professional" way to do it. Since the egg is a block that can't be "mined" in the traditional sense, you have to force it to drop as an item. Pushing it with a piston does exactly that.
First, get the egg off the bedrock. Give it one soft punch. It'll teleport nearby. Once it’s sitting on regular End Stone, you’re ready. Place a solid block next to it, then place a piston facing the egg. You don't need a sticky piston; a regular one works just fine. Place a lever or a redstone torch next to the piston.
Flip the switch. The piston extends, tries to occupy the space the egg is in, and since the egg can't be pushed like a normal block, it breaks and drops as a collectible item. Pick it up. You've officially figured out how to pick up the dragon egg in minecraft without any fancy glitches.
The Torch Trick: For the Resource-Poor Explorer
Maybe you forgot to bring redstone to the End. It happens. I’ve done it. If you don't have a piston, you can use the gravity trick. This is the same way people mine large amounts of gravel or sand quickly.
- Find where the egg teleported to on the End Stone.
- Dig down two blocks directly underneath the egg.
- Place a torch (or a slab, or even a button) in that hole, two blocks below the egg.
- Break the block directly holding the egg up.
The egg will fall. When a gravity-affected block hits a non-solid block like a torch while falling, it breaks into its item form. It’s satisfying. It’s fast. Just make sure you don't accidentally click the egg again while digging, or you'll be chasing it across the island for another five minutes.
Common Myths and the Bedrock Edition Problem
There is a lot of misinformation out there about the dragon egg. Some people claim you need a Silk Touch pickaxe. You don't. Silk Touch does absolutely nothing for the dragon egg. Others say you can catch it in a bucket. Also false.
Then there’s the Bedrock Edition vs. Java Edition debate. On Minecraft Bedrock Edition, a second dragon egg can sometimes glitch into existence when you kill the dragon for a second time, but on Java, you only ever get one. It is the only truly unique item in a standard survival world. If you lose it in the void, it’s gone. There is no "respawn egg" command unless you're willing to open your world to cheats.
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What Do You Actually Do With It?
Once you have the egg in your inventory, you might be wondering what it does. Here’s the "kinda" disappointing truth: it does nothing. It doesn't hatch. You can't grow a pet dragon. There have been rumors for a decade that Mojang would add a use for it, but so far, it’s just the world's most prestigious lamp base.
Most people use it as a centerpiece for a trophy room. Since it’s a light source (it emits a light level of 1), it looks pretty cool sitting on a pedestal of netherite or gold. Some players use it in complex redstone "display cases" where it teleports around when players get too close, though that’s a risky game to play with such a rare item.
Essential Steps for Success:
- Always carry a torch or a piston before you enter the End portal. It saves you the headache of improvising later.
- Clear the area around the egg if it teleports near an edge. You don't want a stray arrow or a misclick sending it into the abyss.
- Check your inventory space. It would be heartbreaking to break the egg only for it to fall into the portal and disappear because your slots were full of end stone.
- Label your coordinates. If the egg teleports and you lose sight of it, don't wander aimlessly. Check the corners of the obsidian pillars.
If you’re playing on a multiplayer server, getting the egg is a massive flex. It’s usually the first thing stolen in a base raid, so if you’ve followed these steps and successfully brought it back to the overworld, hide it well. Ender chests are your friend here. Unlike the physical block, an egg stored in an Ender chest is tied to your account and safe from griefers.
The process of how to pick up the dragon egg in minecraft is less about skill and more about patience. Don't rush it. Take the extra thirty seconds to set up the torch or the piston. When you're standing in your base later, looking at that weird, pulsing purple egg, you'll be glad you didn't just try to mine it with your diamond pickaxe.
To make sure you never lose your progress, always bridge back to the central portal before attempting to move the egg. If it teleports while you're on a narrow bridge, the chances of it landing on solid ground are slim. Always bring the egg to the center of the main island first. Once it's on a large flat surface of End Stone, the piston method is nearly foolproof. After you've secured the egg, place it in an Ender Chest immediately. This ensures that even if you die to a stray Enderman or fall into the void on your way back to the portal, the egg remains safe in your "personal" inventory space.