This is the requirement BioEden does not put a number on, and it is the one that quietly destroys more domes than any climate mistake. Diet is effectively a hidden stat, and if you get it wrong the consequence is not a warning icon — it is a missing animal.
The short answer
Yes, carnivores and herbivores can technically share a BioEden dome. No, you should not let them. A carnivore housed with prey will hunt it. Your climate can be perfect, your decoration can be maxed, and your herbivore population will still fall.
Why the Bestiary does not warn you clearly
The Bestiary requirement panel lists a field called Animal and Plant Required. For Landowl that reads "Fern ×2" — pure vegetation. For a carnivore, the same field is where prey or feeding provision would appear. The problem is that this reads as a *requirement to add something*, not a *warning about what the animal will do to your existing residents*.
So a player reasonably concludes: this animal needs food, I will provide food. What they do not conclude is: this animal will treat my Landowls as food if I do not.
The three ways to handle carnivores
1. Separate domes (recommended)
The clean solution. Carnivores in one dome, herbivores in another. Costs more in infrastructure, eliminates the problem entirely, and has the side benefit of letting you centre each dome's climate for Perfect status.
2. A Carnivore Feeder
Provide meat so the carnivore does not hunt. This is what the Carnivore Feeder exists for, and it is the intended mechanical answer. Two caveats: you must actually find it in the build menu, which is its own problem, and it must be within effective range and properly supplied — a placed feeder that is out of reach or unpowered does nothing, which is the feeder not registering issue.
3. Climate wedges within one dome
Divide the dome floor into climate zones so different species occupy different areas. This works, but it introduces the adjacency problem in its sharpest form. The rule: never place a carnivore on the shared edge between two wedges. A predator sitting on the boundary has access to both zones, which defeats the entire point of the division. See mixed-biome domes.
Diagnosing "my animals keep disappearing"
If your population is falling and you cannot see why, work through this in order:
- Is there a carnivore in the dome? Check every resident, not just the ones you remember adding.
- Is the Carnivore Feeder placed, powered and in range? Placement alone is not enough.
- Is the feeder the right type? A herbivore feeder will not satisfy a carnivore, and vice versa.
- Are the two species adjacent across a wedge boundary? Separation on paper is not separation in practice.
- Only then consider climate. An animal outside its temperature or humidity band declines too, but it declines
differently — it fails to reach Residency rather than vanishing from a stable population.
Diet overrides every tier list
Any BioEden animal tier list that ranks species purely on climate tolerance or DNA cost is incomplete, because diet is the variable that collapses those rankings. A species that is cheap, hardy and easy to satisfy becomes a liability the moment you house it with something that eats it — or the moment it eats something you spent 10 DNA on.
The practical planning rule: decide the diet composition of a dome before you decide its climate. Climate is adjustable with devices. Diet conflict is not adjustable at all; it is either separated or it is a problem.
What about predator-prey as a feature?
BioEden is a cozy game, not an ecosystem simulator with a target predator-prey equilibrium. There is no evidence that maintaining a hunting population is desirable or rewarded. Treat predation as a constraint to be managed, not a system to be balanced.
Summary rules
- Separate domes by diet wherever you can afford to.
- If you cannot, place and supply a Carnivore Feeder before the carnivore, not after.
- Never put a carnivore on a wedge boundary.
- Check diet before climate when animals disappear.
- Do not spend 10 DNA on a species and then house it with something that eats it.
Frequently asked questions
Can carnivores and herbivores live together in BioEden?
Technically yes, practically no. The carnivore will hunt your herbivores. Separate them into different domes, or supply a Carnivore Feeder so the predator is fed.
Why do my BioEden animals keep disappearing?
Almost always a carnivore in the same dome. Check every resident's diet before you start adjusting climate, because a population that vanishes from a stable dome is being eaten, not failing a requirement.
Does the Carnivore Feeder stop predation?
That is its purpose. It must be the correct feeder type for the animal's diet, in range, and properly connected — a placed but unsupplied feeder does nothing. See feeder not registering.
Where does the Bestiary show diet?
Under “Animal and Plant Required” in the requirement panel. For Landowl that reads Fern ×2. The field describes what to provide, not what the animal will do to existing residents.
How this BioEden page was verified
BioEden Wiki & Guide is an independent fan resource, not an official one. The species names, DNA costs and climate values on this page were transcribed directly from an official BioEden Bestiary screenshot; any value not legible in official material is marked as unconfirmed rather than estimated. Where BioEden has not published a value, this page says so instead of guessing, because a wrong number in a BioEden guide costs a reader a dome rather than merely being untidy. Spot something out of date after a BioEden patch? Send us a correction and we will fix it and log it on the BioEden news page.
Primary sources: BioEden on Steam · Focus Entertainment · Official Steam discussions · official in-game screenshots. Last reviewed .