Pest Farming: The Key to Farming Profits

Author: BovineBoy

PSTF101: Intro to Pest Farming

Publisher: Happyflapper

January 19, 2025

= ''What is Pest farming?'' =
Pest Farming is a unique and different way of maximizing the crop output you have in Hypixel Skyblock. This involves manipulating the environment to favor the spawning of a particular type of pest, then harvesting dropped resources from them efficiently. In this guide, you will get to know the basic concepts of Pest Farming; essential aspects will be explained in detail such as:

* '''Selecting the Right Pest''': Learn which pests offer the most lucrative rewards and how their fleeing patterns differ.
* '''Understanding Pest Spawning Mechanics''': Learn how factors like player proximity, environmental conditions, and nearby structures influence pest spawns.
* '''Building Efficient Pest Farms''': Explore various farm designs, from simple, low-maintenance setups to complex, high-output systems.
* '''Essential Equipment and Tools''': Learn about gear, enchants, and skills that maximize your efficiency in pest farming.
* '''Pest Farming''': Learn actual Pest Farming tips such as pet swapping and optimizing resource drops.

Through mastery of these principles, you can greatly improve the rate of resource collection, thereby unlocking many different and powerful items and upgrades within Hypixel Skyblock.

= ''Selecting the Right Pest'' =
First off, what is a pest? A pest is a small creature represented by a custom player head that spawns exclusively in the Garden in Hypixel Skyblock (except Rats, though they can’t be vacuumed in the hub). There are in total 11 types of pests, each having its own loot table. The Pests and their drops are as follows:

== ''Pests'' ==
{| class="wikitable"
|Fly
|Enchanted Wheat, Beady Eyes, Pretty Fly Vinyl, Enchanted Hay Bale
|-
|Cricket
|Enchanted Carrot, Chirping Stereo, Cricket Choir Vinyl, Enchanted Golden Carrot
|-
|Locust
|Enchanted Potato, Sunder VI, Cicada Symphony Vinyl, Enchanted Baked Potato
|-
|Rat
|Enchanted Pumpkin, Rat Pet (Legendary), Rodent Revolution Vinyl, Polished Pumpkin
|-
|Mosquito
|Enchanted Sugar, Clipped Wings, Buzzin' Beats Vinyl, Enchanted Sugar CAne
|-
|Earthworm
|Enchanted Melon, Bookworm’s Favorite Book, Earthworm Ensemble Vinyl, Enchanted Melon Block
|-
|Mite
|Enchanted Cactus Green, Atmospheric Filter, DynaMITES Vinyl, Enchanted Cactus
|-
|Moth
|Enchanted Cocoa Beans, Wriggling Larvae, Wings Of Harmony Vinyl, Enchanted Cookie
|-
|Slug
|Enchanted Mushroom, Slug Pet, Slow And Groovy Vinyl, Enchanted Mushroom Block
|-
|Beetle
|Enchanted Nether Wart, Pesterminator I, Not Just A Pest Vinyl, Mutant Netherwart
|-
|Field Mouse
|Random Enchanted Crop, One of Each Bait, Squeaky Toy, Squeaky Mousemat
|}
It should be noted that each pest has a 10% chance to drop a random bait (Compost, Honey Jar, Dung, Plant Matter, and Tasty Cheese) which is used to fuel the Sprayonator and Mouse Traps. Also if you are lucky you can drop a '''[https://hypixel-skyblock.fandom.com/wiki/Dung_Dye Dung Dye]''' (1/250,000). When rolling for pest drops, '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Farming_Fortune farming fortune]''' is included into the general equation rather than magic find. The equation for pest drops are as follows:

<math>Drop Chance = Drop Chance * ( 1 + \left ( \frac{FarmingFortune + CropFortune}{600} \right )</math>

When calculating pet drops, '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Pet_Luck pet luck]''' is also added to Farming Fortune and Crop Fortune. Keep in mind that all drops greater than a 5% chance are not affected by farming fortune.

So which pest should you try to farm, it depends. For money, currently and for the foreseeable future, the Bazaar market is leaning towards farming the Beetle Pest for its nether wart and the Pesterminator I books. That said if the price of Pesterminator I ever drops below 210,000 coins on the Bazaar, the Slug pest will be more profitable. For Ironman profiles, you should always farm Slugs for money since they have the best NPC sell price per pest. For crop collection you should always farm the pests with the corresponding drop to the collection or garden milestone you are trying to maximise. In regards to farming exp, Each pest drops a base 1,500 Farming XP, which is then influenced by your '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Farming_Wisdom Farming Wisdom]'''.

Pest drops are affected by Farming Fortune, but as shown not all pests are created as equals. Each pest has its own drops to a different scaling factor to Farming Fortune as shown below.
[[File:Farming fortune to Pest drops.png|thumb|520x520px]]Crop Scaling (farming fortune/drops)
{| class="wikitable"
|Fly
|Rat
|Slug
|Mite
|Mosquito
|Moth
|Beetle
|Cricket
|Locust
|Earthworm
|-
|35
|35
|35
|17.5
|17.5
|12
|12
|10.5
|10.5
|7
|}
Each crop also starts off with a different base drop amount at zero farming fortune.
{| class="wikitable"
|Fly
|Rat
|Slug
|Mite
|Mosquito
|Moth
|Beetle
|Cricket
|Locust
|Earthworm
|-
|1
|1
|1
|2
|2
|3
|3
|3
|3
|5
|}
This means that at 1750 farming fortune, a rat would drop 51 enchanted pumpkins while an earthworm would drop 255 enchanted melons.

To calculate your drops the formula is:

<math>Drops = BaseDrops + \left ( \frac{Farming Fortune}{Crop Scaling Number} \right )</math>

= ''Pest Spawn Mechanics'' =
Starting at Garden Level V, a Pest has a 1/500 (0.2%) chance to spawn whenever a Player breaks a crop in '''The Garden'''. Although you unlock pests at garden level 5, some pests such as the Beatle pest can only spawn at higher garden levels. This can be reduced to 1/425 by the '''Atmospheric Filter''' (Dropped from Mite Pest) during Autumn. The Pest spawned is not affected by the Crop broken, but specific Pests can become more common via the '''Sprayonator''' or playing Pest Vinyls using the InfiniVacuum™ Hooverius. Note that the Pest vinyls don’t increase the chance of spawning pests, only that they increase the chance that the spawned pest is of your desired type.

The key ability that the Sprayonator gives you is the 2x chance to spawn pests. The default cooldown between Pest spawns is 5 minutes and it can be modified using Sprayonators, '''Finnegan''' (Pest Eradicator Perk), '''Pest Vest''', '''Pesthunter Equipment''', and the '''Squeaky Reforge''' on Equipment.
{| class="wikitable"
|Finnegan
|0.5x
|-
|Pest Vest
|0.8x
|-
|Pest Hunter Equipment
|0.90x each (0.60x cumulative)
|-
|Squeaky (up to 4 times)
|0.975x each (0.90x cumulative)
|}
This means that the minimum achievable pest cooldown is approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds during Finnegan, and 2 minutes and 15 seconds when Finnegan is not mayor.

Whenever using the sprayonator, you need to select a bait to attract certain pests. Remember to use the correct bait to farm each pest for maximum efficiency
{| class="wikitable"
|Dung
|Honey Jar
|Plant Matter
|Tasty Cheese
|Compost
|-
|Fly, Beetle
|Cricket, Moth
|Slug, Locust
|Rat, Mite
|Mosquito, Earthworm
|}
The only place that Pests may spawn is in the plot the player is farming in, or any directly adjacent plot (except diagonally). By default, only one Pest will spawn at a time, this can be increased with Bonus Pest Chance. Pests can also spawn while the player is outside The Garden, up to one per hour.

In addition to spawning on the plot you are farming at, they will also spawn on the highest point of the farm, this means that if you have a tall and complicated farm, it will be harder to catch them, wasting time

[https://hypixel-skyblock.fandom.com/wiki/Bonus_Pest_Chance ൠ '''Bonus Pest Chance'''] is the key stat for pest farming, it is what allows you to make more than others who farm. There are many ways to get Bonus Pest Chance and the maximum you can currently obtain is 392 Bonus Pest Chance. However this is not the desired pest chance you want, you will want to have as close to 300 pest chance as possible so that you spawn 4 pests at a time (1 base spawn + 3 from Bonus Pest Chance). The reason that we only want four is because your pests can infest your garden. When you have 0-3 pests in your garden you take a 0% reduction to your farming fortune, but when you have more than 3 you take a 5%-75% farming fortune reduction.
{| class="wikitable"
|0-3
|<nowiki>-0%</nowiki>
|-
|4
|<nowiki>-5%</nowiki>
|-
|5
|<nowiki>-15%</nowiki>
|-
|6
|<nowiki>-30%</nowiki>
|-
|7
|<nowiki>-50%</nowiki>
|-
|8 (maximum)
|<nowiki>-75%</nowiki>
|}
These percentages can be reduced by having more Bonus Pest Chance, but you will want to have your normal farming gear when vacuuming up the pests for the most drops and drop chance, which will be covered in '''Tools and Equipment'''. The Reason for 4 pests is that when calculating your farming fortune on pest drops, it will minus the total amount of pests in your garden, then calculate the pest drops. Thus it is as though you had no reduction to farming fortune at all.

= ''Building the Best Pest Farm'' =
[[File:ZachplaysAN's cane farm.png|thumb|397x397px]]
Although pests won’t spawn slower or faster depending on the crop you farm, the crop you farm can be a hindrance to vacuuming, spawning or finding pests. You will want an optimized farm, meaning as close to 20 blocks per second and you will want a one by one infinite farm, so you don’t have to spray multiple plots with the Sprayonator. The two crops that are easy to build farms for and are infinite (at Garden lvl 15) are the Mushroom and the Sugar Cane farms. This being said, I do not recommend that you use any mega farms, no 1x5 farms such as the Grooveman 7.0 farm, as they are long, tall, and complicated. With the one layer mushroom or sugarcane farms, you can place a layer of glass over the top of the farm so that the pests will always spawn on top as shown by this screenshot of [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJPSSQAQ9_iPwpJqnd4WSIw '''ZachplaysAN’s'''] sugarcane farm.

= ''Tools and Equipment'' =
This section will be split into four sections, Armor, Equipment, Pets, and Pest tools. Each one of these sections is vital so that you can pest farm with maximum efficiency.

== ''Armor'' ==
To begin, let's talk about armor. You will need two sets of armor to maximiser farming potential, Fermento and Biohazard armor. Fermento and Biohazard should be maxed differently which includes the following.
{| class="wikitable"
|Upgrades
|Biohazard
|Fermento
|-
|'''Mossy Reforge'''
|
|✅
|-
|'''Bustling Reforge'''
|✅
|
|-
|'''Pesterminator VI'''
|✅
|✅
|-
|'''Recombobulator 3000'''
|
|✅
|-
|'''Perfect Peridot'''
|
|✅
|}

== ''Equipment'' ==
The next section is the Equipment that you need. Thankfully this is very simple as there are 4 pieces of equipment you need.
{| class="wikitable"
|Upgrades
|Pesthunter’s Necklace
|Pest Vest
|Pesthunter’s Belt
|Pesthunter’s Gloves
|-
|'''Squeaky Reforge'''
|✅
|✅
|✅
|✅
|-
|'''Green Thumb V'''
|✅
|✅
|✅
|✅
|-
|'''Recombobulator 3000'''
|✅
|✅
|✅
|✅
|}
Now the reason that we are using the Pest Vest aside from the Lotus Cloak, Pesthunter’s Cloak, or Zorro Cape, is that the Pest Vest gives two unique bonuses. It provides +10 Bonus Pest Chance and also reduces the spawn cooldown of pests by 20%, shortening our time between pest spawns as opposed to 10% reduction from the Pesthunter’s Cloak.

Another Strategy you can use is to have a full Lotus Equipment Set that you can switch too to get more farming fortune when vacuuming pests.

== ''Pets'' ==
For Pets you will need the '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Mooshroom_Cow_Pet Mooshroom Cow Pet]''', '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Slug_Pet Slug Pet]''', and '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Hedgehog_Pet Hedgehog Pet]'''.
{| class="wikitable"
|Upgrades
|Mooshroom Cow
|Hedgehog
|Slug
|-
|'''Legendary'''
|✅
|✅
|✅
|-
|'''Brown Bandana'''
|
|
|✅
|-
|'''Green Bandana'''
|✅
|✅
|
|}
Now of course you will want to have your pets as close to or at [lvl.100] to have the best efficiency. With that being said you can and should substitute the Mooshroom Cow Pet with the '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Elephant_Pet Elephant Pet]''' if you have less than 1,172 strength since the elephant will provide more farming fortune. If you are farming for money however (opposed to a contest) you should always use a Mooshroom Cow as the bonus mushrooms generated by the “Mushroom Eater” perk will add a boost to your income.

== ''Tools'' ==
Regarding tools, we recommend that you use whatever specialised tool that Anita will sell you for each crop (eg. Melon Dicer for Melons). There used to be an exception in the form of the '''Daedelus Axe''' for farming mushrooms. However with the new update, using the Daedalus Axe will '''NOT''' allow you to break blocks.

You will also need a '''Sprayonator''' and the '''Infinivacumm™ Hooverus''' to spray for your pest on your 1x1 farm and the vacuum to play vinyls and suck up pests.

= ''Pest Farming'' =
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP6IIFC4QUc Pest farming video demonstration]

The video above was annoying and not loading or being able to be inserted, so you can use this link to see what you are supposed to do. Otherwise here is a summary of what was done in the video

# Spray your 1x1 plot with your bait of choice.
# Equip Mooshroom Cow or Elephant pet and start to farm normally
# One it has been two minutes, switch from your Fermento Armor to your Biohazard Set.
# Switch to Slug pet, and start farming
# Once the Pests have spawned, type “/setspawn” in the chat
# Then switch to Hedgehog pet and Fermento Armor
# After vacuuming the pests, type “/warp garden”
# Repeat starting on step “2”

A useful tip is to use key binds and '''[https://wiki.hypixel.net/Autopet AutoPet Rules]''' to make the process faster and more efficient. Here are the commands you should choose to key bind. Key bind “/setspawn” and “/warp garden” to return to the farm faster. The rules you should have in Auto Pet are as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|You equip your wardrobe slot [whatever set Fermento is in].
|Summon Hedgehog
|-
|You throw a fishing hook.
|Summon Mooshroom Cow
|-
|You equip your wardrobe slot [whatever set Biohazard is in].
|Summon Slug
|}
These pet rules will equip the best pet as you farm, just remember to throw out a fishing rod to swap back to your Mooshroom Cow Pet and you will have the best efficiency when pest farming

''Works Cited'':

Wiki, C. T. H. S. (n.d.-a). ''Bonus pest chance''. Hypixel SkyBlock Wiki. <nowiki>https://hypixel-skyblock.fandom.com/wiki/Bonus_Pest_Chance</nowiki>

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Wiki, C. T. H. S. (n.d.-e). ''Farming wisdom''. Hypixel SkyBlock Wiki. <nowiki>https://hypixel-skyblock.fandom.com/wiki/Farming_Wisdom</nowiki>

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Wiki, C. T. H. S. (n.d.-h). ''InfiniVacuumTM hooverius''. Hypixel SkyBlock Wiki. <nowiki>https://hypixel-skyblock.fandom.com/wiki/InfiniVacuum%E2%84%A2_Hooverius</nowiki>

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ZachPlaysAN. (2024, November 23). ''This is BETTER than regular farming. . . (Hypixel Skyblock Ironman) Ep.905'' [Video]. YouTube. <nowiki>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jg37Zudw-s</nowiki>

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