Welcome to the Chocobo Ranch. Here is where people all over the world bring their Chocobo's to be kept and raised. That is until Meteor was summoned. Now there is nothing but an empty ranch. The perfect time for you to become a champion Chocobo breeder.
Chocobo's are known throughout the Final Fantasy series. They made their debut in Final fantasy II, and have been in every title since then. However, in Final Fantasy VII they become a lot more than just a way of traveling. This section will cover everything there is to know about Chocobo breeding, raising, getting that ultimate Chocobo, and even the little known Enemy Skill the lovable bird can teach you.

*A note before we begin*
It is imparitive that you save all the time, while breeding Chocobo's. This way if something goes wrong i the breeding or racing, you can just reload your last save. Trust me, there is nothing more frustrating than getting half way through the process, and screwing it up without saveing.

Getting Started

On disk 2, after you escape Junon, you can begin the long process of breeding Chocobo's. (Though you cannot race them, until Cloud re-joins the party) To begin, head over to Chocobo Ranch, and speak with Choco-Bill. He will gladly rent you up to 6 stables for 10,000 gil each. When you first begin, you may only want one stable. But you will definitely want to get all six of them. When you have your stables, it is time to go collect some Chocobo's!

Catching Chocobo's

Chocobo's are very easy to capture. All you need is a few greens to feed it during battle, a "Chocobo Lure" Materia, and some Chocobo tracks. Chocobo tracks are tracks on the ground, that look like the tracks in the image to the left.
When you are ready, simply run around these tracks, until a battle begins. Eventually a random battle with different music will begin. When the battle starts immediately feed the Chocobo a green, to keep it distracted from the fight. If you do not feed it, they will get scared and run off. (Also, if you hit it with anything, it will counter attack, and run off.) Once you feed it a green, you will need to defeat all the enemies before it finishes eating. If they finish eating first, give it another green ASAP.

If you finish the battle before the Chocobo runs off.... congratulations, you just caught your first Chocobo! Here are the controls for riding one:

D-Pad/Left analog - Moving on the world map

 - mounting/dismounting the Chocobo

 - Boarding the Highwind with a Chocobo

Just a friendly reminder: If you don't have a stable rented, the Chocobo will high-tail it home when dismounted.

Breeding the Chocobo's

When you are ready with a few stables, it is time to begin catching and breeding your very own Chocobo's.
When you catch a Chocobo and dismount it, it will ask if you want to keep it or release it. You can send up to four Chocobo's back to teh stable at a time. When you have caught enough, return to the barn and talk to Choco-Billy. He will inspect each bird as it comes in. There are several different types of Chocobo's out there. Here is a list of the different types of Chocobo's, as well as Billy's reactions:

Finding the right Chocobo

There are several areas where Chocobo's run wild, and it's not just the grassy areas either. You can find them around the southern jungles of Mideel, where it is hot and humid. You can also find them in the extreme north by Icicle Inn. The harsher the climate, the stronger the Chocobo will be. Chocobo's are also only seen with certain types of enemies. This is the key to finding the right Chocobo. Below is a list of the Chocobo's areas, types roaming there, and the enemies they roam with.

Icicle Inn

Believe it or not, there really is not a whole lot of hunting you actually have to do. In total, you will need to go find a Chocobo type only twice. Otherwise the rest of the time will be spent either at the ranch feeding, or in the Gold Saucer racing.
The first set of Chocobo's you will want is a male and female "Great Chocobo". These are found in the Mideel and Rocket Town areas. I always have had an easier time finding them in the Rocket Town area, Vs the Mideel area. You cannot determine the sex of the bird, until you return to the ranch. So to save a bit of time, I would suggest capturing no less than four before returning to the ranch. This will help speed up the process of finding a male and female Chocobo.
Once you have gotten your Chocobo's it is time to begin preparing for the breeding process. You will want to feed your Chocobo's greens to get their stats to the highest levels. Certain greens raise some stats, while other greens raise different stats. Some greens raise stats faster than others. This is where it can get a bit costly. Greens aren't cheap, and it will take a lot more than just 100 to max a stat out. Where do you get the money you might ask? Here is my trick. If you played the entire game with all your characters having the Restore-All combination, you should have at least 3 mastered All Materia. When they are mastered, you can sell them for 1,400,000 Gil each. This gives you a total of 4,200,000 Gil to work with. This should be enough to get you almost all the way through the breeding process. When deciding which green to buy, you should consider which green raises the most stats. Below is a table showing the different greens, their cost, and the stats they raise.
With the method and greens I always use, I need a total of 4 mastered All Materia. This always gets me through the entire breeding process with a couple hundred thousand left over after the fact.

Chocobo Ranch Greens

Of course the Chocobo Ranch is not the only place you can buy greens.........

Chocobo Sage

The Chocobo Sage is found in a small shack between Icicle Inn, and the forgotten City. Inside the shack, you will notice the Green Chocobo in the stable. Speak to the Chocobo and it will cough up an Enemy Skill Materia.
When you speak to the Sage, ask about his green Chocobo. He will then begin the process of breeding different types of Chocobo's. This, however, will take forever, since his memory is more than fuzzy. You will need to visit him about every 1/2 an hour, to get the entire scoop. Also, every time he gives you new information, return to the ranch and tell Choco-Cole. She will jot everything down for you.

The Chocobo Sage also sells two types of greens. Though they raise the birds stats a lot faster than the ones at the ranch, they are far more expensive to get.
How I do it...? For each Chocobo I need to feed, I get a single set of Reagan, Sylkis, Gysahl, and tantal Greens. in one shot of all four, this will even max the stats of the Gold Chocobo (The first one you breed. Not proven for any others bred afterwards).

Let the races begin!

When your Chocobo's stats are maxed out, it is time to hit the Gold Saucer for some racing. When you get to the Racing Forum, speak to Ester (The one who spoke to Dio about your prison release earlier) and she will register your Chocobo. Your Chocobo will always begin in the C Class. It is up to you to get them past the other three classes.
(All information on racing can be found in the Gold Saucer section)

Your goal is to get the male and female into at least S Class standings. When this is done, it is time to mate them. You will then need to find special types of nuts to give them. So how about we go after it now?
The nut you will be looking for is the Carob Nut. These are gotten from the Valkorados enemy in the Northern area around Bone Village. You will quickly learn

he has quite a lot of HP, and for under developed teams, he can be one heck of a challenge. You will need to steal 3 Carob Nuts, in order to get through the entire breeding process. Some hints for him, Bad Breath will put him to sleep, and Laser works on him quite well.
When you have your Nut to use...SAVE!!! and then speak to Billy. Select mating, and choose your birds. Use the Carob nut, and with any luck you will have a Mountain (Green) or River (Blue) Chocobo. When you get your new one, you will also want to feed and race it to S Class. You will also need to spend about 1/2 an hour running around the world, before the Chocobo's can be mated for the other you are missing. (This holds true for all mating, and you must be out in the world. Towns, and Gold Saucer do not count) When you have both Green and Blue Chocobo's in S Class, with their stats maxed, it is time for the Mountain/River (Black) Chocobo.

To get the Black Chocobo, you will need to mate the Green and Blue Chocobo's with the Carob Nut. You should get the Black Chocobo no matter what color gets chosen first. Though you might not. This is why you are saving all the time right?. When you get your Black Chocobo your next step is...you guessed it...feeding and racing it.
When you are ready to get the ultimate Chocobo, you will need to go out hunting one more time. This time you need to capture a "Wonderful Chocobo" found in the Icicle Inn area. You will then need to feed and race it as well. Make sure that your Wonderful Chocobo is the opposite sex from your Black Chocobo.
This time you will need a different nut for breeding. North of the ranch is a small island with a bit of

Forest in it. This is the Goblin Island. You will need to steal a Zeo Nut form the Goblins living there. This is the only place in the world where these can be gotten. (you might want to get teh Goblin Punch Enemy Skill while you are there)
When you have your nut, return to the ranch and speak to Billy. When it is time to choose the Chocobo's for mating, make sure to pick the Black one first. (I have tested this over and over, and have yet to get a Gold Chocobo when I chose the other first) Feed them the Zeo Nut, and prepare for the best Chocobo in the game....

THE GOLD CHOCOBO!!!

Congratulations, you finally made it through the long, costly process of breeding Chocobo's. I bet you are wondering what the pay off is right? Trust me you are not going to be disappointed.

Mime Materia

Quadra Magic Materia

HP<->MP Materia

Knights of the Round Materia

Chocobuckle Enemy Skill

Getting the Chocobuckle Enemy Skill is a bit tricky. You first need to learn the Level 4 Suicide from either Mu's or Trickplays. Mu's are found around the ranch, while Trickplays are located around Bone Village. You will also need either Mimment, or Sylkis Greens. Then you will need to find a level 16 Chocobo. Before you go scouring the world looking for one, I will tell you they can only be found around the Chocobo Ranch. Level 16 Chocobo's are found with 2 Levrikons ONLY. If they are with any other type of enemy, even one Levrikon, they are not level 16. Here is what you need to do:


1-Feed it one of the greens
2-Have the person waiting to learn the Chocobuckle Skill, hit it with Level 4 Suicide.
This will cause the Chocobo to use the skill and flee. To save time, you should ahve the one learning the skill equipped with all the Enemy Skill Materia equipped on the left most side of their weapon and armor. This enables getting the Skill on several Materia at once.

That about sums it up for the Chocobo's in Final Fantasy VII. Hopefully you will find everything you are looking for in this guide. Below is a quick reference on breeding the Chocobo's. Do not give up, or get frustrated if things go wrong. Breeding isn't the easiest thing to do, and is very time consuming. Just remember the big pay-offs when you are finished!