Sponge traders

Four wandering traders deal in sponges, one for each element. Each has its own look and only turns up in biomes that match its element.

Trader	Spawn egg	Spawns in
Water Sponge Trader		Oceans, Deep oceans, Rivers, Beaches, Swamps
Lava Sponge Trader		All Nether biomes
Snow Sponge Trader		Snowy biomes
Fire Sponge Trader		Badlands, Desert

Spawning

Sponge traders use their own spawn timer, separate from the vanilla wandering trader:

1. Every in-game day (20 minutes), the game tries to spawn a sponge trader.
2. The first try has a 30% chance. Each failed try raises the chance by 25%, up to 65%. After a trader spawns, it drops back to 30%.
3. The trader appears within 48 blocks of a random player, or of a village bell near that player. The biome at that spot decides which trader it is. If the biome has no trader, nobody spawns that day.
4. It wanders near where it spawned and leaves after 40 minutes (two in-game days), unless you are trading with it.

The spawn timer runs in every dimension. In the Nether, Lava Sponge Traders appear on solid ground near the player's height.

Game rule

Rule	Default	Effect
moresponge:spawn_sponge_traders	true	Set to false to stop sponge traders from spawning naturally. Spawn eggs still work.

/gamerule moresponge:spawn_sponge_traders false

Trades

Each trader picks random offers from three pools when you first talk to it: two it buys, two common sales and one uncommon sale.

Water Sponge Trader

Buys from you · offers 2 of 4

• 4➜Emerald5× per trader
• 4➜Emerald5× per trader
• ➜5Emerald5× per trader
• ➜2Emerald5× per trader

Sells: common · offers 2 of 4

• 5➜Sponge2× per trader
• 3➜Wet Sponge2× per trader
• 20➜Compressed Sponge 1x2× per trader
• 12➜Wet Compressed Sponge 1x2× per trader

Sells: uncommon · offers 1 of 8

• 35➜Compressed Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 55➜Compressed Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 5➜Compressed Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 10➜Compressed Sponge 5x1× per trader
• 20➜Wet Compressed Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 32➜Wet Compressed Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 48➜Wet Compressed Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 6➜Wet Compressed Sponge 5x1× per trader

Lava Sponge Trader

Buys from you · offers 2 of 4

• ➜8Emerald5× per trader
• ➜4Emerald5× per trader
• ➜10Emerald5× per trader
• ➜5Emerald5× per trader

Sells: common · offers 2 of 4

• 18➜Lava Sponge2× per trader
• 10➜Hot Lava Sponge2× per trader
• 28➜Compressed Lava Sponge 1x2× per trader
• 16➜Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 1x2× per trader

Sells: uncommon · offers 1 of 8

• 42➜Compressed Lava Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 60➜Compressed Lava Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 6➜Compressed Lava Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 12➜Compressed Lava Sponge 5x1× per trader
• 24➜Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 38➜Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 52➜Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 7➜Hot Compressed Lava Sponge 5x1× per trader

Snow Sponge Trader

Buys from you · offers 2 of 4

• ➜6Emerald5× per trader
• ➜3Emerald5× per trader
• ➜8Emerald5× per trader
• ➜4Emerald5× per trader

Sells: common · offers 2 of 4

• 14➜Snow Sponge2× per trader
• 8➜Frozen Snow Sponge2× per trader
• 22➜Compressed Snow Sponge 1x2× per trader
• 12➜Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 1x2× per trader

Sells: uncommon · offers 1 of 8

• 36➜Compressed Snow Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 52➜Compressed Snow Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 5➜Compressed Snow Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 9➜Compressed Snow Sponge 5x1× per trader
• 20➜Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 32➜Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 46➜Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 6➜Frozen Compressed Snow Sponge 5x1× per trader

Fire Sponge Trader

Buys from you · offers 2 of 4

• ➜6Emerald5× per trader
• ➜3Emerald5× per trader
• ➜8Emerald5× per trader
• ➜4Emerald5× per trader

Sells: common · offers 2 of 4

• 14➜Fire Sponge2× per trader
• 8➜Burnt Fire Sponge2× per trader
• 22➜Compressed Fire Sponge 1x2× per trader
• 12➜Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 1x2× per trader

Sells: uncommon · offers 1 of 8

• 36➜Compressed Fire Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 52➜Compressed Fire Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 5➜Compressed Fire Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 9➜Compressed Fire Sponge 5x1× per trader
• 20➜Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 2x2× per trader
• 32➜Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 3x2× per trader
• 46➜Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 4x1× per trader
• 6➜Burnt Compressed Fire Sponge 5x1× per trader

TIP

Traders sell soaked sponges too, for fewer emeralds than dry ones. Buying soaked and resetting them yourself is the cheaper option.

Trades are datapack files. See Trader trades to change them.