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Update 1.5 of Stardew Valley added a lot of new content and changes to the game and its intriguing world: Ginger Island and its many secrets, Qi Challenges, the Special Order Board, and even a new beach farm map for players to catch the waves. There are, however, new items and secrets that aren't as well-known about, ones never mentioned in-game until you stumble upon them and realize the game has surprised you yet again.

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One of these items is the Auto-Petter, a special JojaMart item that will pet your animals for you. No surprise that a high-tech device designed to minimize love and effort came from Joja Corporations, but it is admittedly a useful device for the very busy farmers out there that still want their animals to be content while their owner is away. You can find out exactly what an Auto-Petter does and how to get your hands on one below.

What Is The Auto-Petter?

the description for the auto-petter is displayed in the inventory.

This nifty item is certified "Joja Co. patented technology" that will pet all of your animals for you when placed in a barn or coop. It won't work when placed outside, so you'll need multiple for each structure you have animals in. The Auto-Petter will prevent the loss of friendship and mood that happens when animals aren't pet. This is especially great for those busy with the Ginger Island farm or cavern-crawling.

However, the Auto-Petter will only increase friendship by about half the amount normal petting would, meaning that friendship will increase quite slowly when only the device is used. Supplementing the device with regular petting will make getting to maximum friendship a much quicker task, and your animals will stay at maximum friendship after reaching it.

Where To Get An Auto-Petter

the player receives an auto-petter from a skull cavern treasure chest.

There are multiple ways to obtain an Auto-Petter, a merciful game design choice since the Auto-Petter is primarily available in the JojaMart after completing the Joja Warehouse. Luckily, other methods allow players who built the Community Center (instead of the Joja Warehouse) to obtain the item.

JojaMart

If you completed the Joja Warehouse instead of the Community Center, you'll be able to buy as many Auto-Petters as you fancy for 50,000 g each. Sure, it's handy, but at the cost of a local community and business. Oh well!

Skull Cavern Treasure Rooms

On levels 10 and beyond in the Skull Cavern, floors with a treasure chest can randomly appear containing a wide variety of useful items, one of them being an Auto-Petter. Getting these treasure chest floors is made easier with Luck Buffs, the Special Charm, and a high Daily Luck stat. There is a 1/25 chance of getting an Auto-Petter when you open the chest.

Special Items In Barrels/Crates

Special Items can be found 2.2% of the time when breaking crates and barrels. These barrels/crates look the exact same as any other, so you'll just have to break open every one that you find. While in the Mines with the Shrine of Challenge active, you'll have a 2% chance of finding an Auto-Petter if you happen to get those 2.2% of barrels/crates.

Killing Monsters

Special items can also be obtained as drops from monsters. The first strategy is to slay any and all monsters in the Mines while the Shrine of Challenge is active. Less than 0.2% of monsters are capable of dropping special items, and they look indistinguishable from monsters who don't drop them. The second and more targeted strategy is to kill Special Slimes, a special 1.2% of Slimes that have a gold star on their head. These Special Slimes will have a 2% chance of dropping an Auto-Petter, among other items like an Enricher, Radioactive Bars, and Qi Gems.

Next: Stardew Valley: Complete Guide And Walkthrough