The most common BioEden misunderstanding is thinking that an animal which survives in your dome is an animal that has settled in it. Those are two different states with two different checklists, and the Bestiary shows them as two separate tabs.
The three tabs
Selecting any species card in the Bestiary opens a requirement panel with three tabs: Biome, Residency and Mating. They are sequential and cumulative.
| Stage | The question it answers | Typical requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Biome | Can this animal survive here? | Temperature inside the band, humidity inside the band, required plants present |
| Residency | Will this animal choose to stay permanently? | All of the above, plus decoration, water access and sufficient space |
| Mating | Will this animal reproduce? | All of the above, plus a compatible partner and no active stressors |
The gap between Biome and Residency is where players get stuck. The climate is right, the plants are placed, the Biome tab is green — and the animal still is not a resident. That is not a bug. Residency is asking for things Biome never mentioned.
What Residency actually wants
Decoration
A general measure of how furnished the dome is. Rocks, burrows, water features and vegetation all contribute. Official screenshots show populated domes containing stone burrows, boulder formations, scattered flowers and a central water feature — that density of objects is not decorative, it is the decoration score.
Water access
A watering hole appears in essentially every populated dome shown in official material. It is one of the highest-value single placements in the game: it contributes to decoration and provides the water access residents want.
Space
Animals need room. A dome crammed with climate devices and vegetation can technically satisfy every listed requirement and still feel cramped. If a dome is at capacity, the answer is another dome, not another decoration.
The diagnostic sequence
- Open the Bestiary and read the Residency tab specifically. Not the Biome tab. They list different things and it is easy to re-read the one you already satisfied.
- Turn on the dome overlays. The temperature and humidity toggles show distribution across the floor. An animal spending its time in a cold corner is outside its band even if the dome average looks fine.
- Place a watering hole if there is not one. Cheap, high impact, and it addresses two requirements at once.
- Add decoration in the area the animal actually occupies. Furnishing the far side of the dome does less than furnishing where it spends its time.
- Check who else lives here. A carnivore in the dome is a stressor, and a stressor is a Residency and Mating problem before it is a survival problem. See carnivores vs herbivores.
- Check your networks. A humidifier that keeps cutting out because the water network is saturated produces an unstable dome, and instability reads as an unsatisfied requirement.
Residency is where domes stop being cheap
There is a useful mental shift here. Getting an animal to *survive* is a climate problem, and climate is solved with two devices. Getting it to *settle* is a furnishing problem, and furnishing consumes floor space, materials and often water.
This is why the second dome matters so much in BioEden's progression, and why players who cram every species into one dome plateau. A dome that holds four species at Biome stage is doing less for you than a dome that holds two species at Mating stage.
Residency and Perfect are not the same thing
Residency is a threshold: satisfied or not. Perfect is a quality rating about how centred your climate is within the species' band. You can have a fully settled, breeding population that has never been Perfect, and that is a completely valid way to play. Perfect exists for the extra lore entries, not for progression.
When nothing works
If a species genuinely will not reach Residency after all of the above, the most likely remaining explanations are:
- Overcrowding. Try the same species in a fresh dome with generous space.
- A stressor you have not spotted. Check every resident's diet.
- Climate instability rather than climate error. Watch the overlays over time, not once.
- An undocumented species-specific requirement. Only Landowl's full requirement list appears in official
material. If you find another species' Residency tab, send us a screenshot.
Frequently asked questions
Why won't my BioEden animal settle in the dome?
You have satisfied the Biome tab but not the Residency tab. Residency wants decoration, water access and space on top of climate. Add a watering hole and furnish the area the animal actually occupies.
What is the difference between Biome and Residency in BioEden?
Biome asks whether the animal can survive: temperature, humidity and required plants. Residency asks whether it will choose to stay, and adds decoration, water and space. They are separate tabs with separate checklists.
What counts as decoration in BioEden?
Rocks, burrows, water features and vegetation all contribute. Populated domes in official screenshots are densely furnished, and that density is the decoration score rather than pure aesthetics.
Does a watering hole help Residency?
Yes, and it is the single most efficient placement because it addresses water access and contributes to decoration at the same time.
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 .