Cave Spider

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Cave Spider
Cave Spider.png: Infobox image for Minecraft entity 'Cave Spider'
Invicon Cave Spider Spawn Egg.png: Inventory sprite for Cave Spider Spawn Egg in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: Cave Spider Spawn Egg

A cave spider is a smaller spider variant that naturally spawns in sulfur caves. It behaves similarly to a normal spider, but has less health and inflicts Poison with its melee attacks on Normal or Hard difficulty.

Spawning

Size of a cave spider (left) compared to a regular spider (right).

Natural spawning

Cave spiders replace all spider spawns in sulfur caves.

Cave Spider spawns in:
Category: MonsterJava EditionBedrock Edition
Spawn areaSpawn weightSpawn chanceGroup sizeSpawn weightGroup size
Sulfur Caves20⁄3156.35%1201

Monster spawners

Cave spiders spawn from monster spawners in mineshafts at a light level of 0. These monster spawners are surrounded by cobwebs in corridors.

Trial spawners

Cave spiders have a 25% chance to be selected as the "small melee" mob for trial spawners in trial chambers.

Spider jockeys

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.
 

There is a 1% chance for a cave spider to spawn with a skeleton riding it, forming a cave spider jockey. The skeleton has an 80% chance to be replaced by a stray, bogged, parched, or wither skeleton in the biomes where they spawn. Similar to regular spiders, the skeleton controls how both mobs move. Cave spider jockeys can fit through smaller gaps than spider jockeys.

Drops

On death

Java Edition:

ItemQuantity / Chance / Average
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String0–266.67%1.000–383.33%1.500–491.67%2.000–594.44%2.50
Spider Eye[A]0–133.33%0.330–266.67%0.830–383.33%1.330–488.89%1.83

ItemQuantity / Chance / Average
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String0–22⁄310–35⁄63⁄20–411⁄1220–517⁄185⁄2
Spider Eye[A]0–11⁄31⁄30–22⁄35⁄60–35⁄64⁄30–48⁄911⁄6

ItemAmountProbability
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String01⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄6 (16.67%)1⁄12 (8.33%)1⁄18 (5.56%)
11⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄4 (25.00%)1⁄6 (16.67%)
21⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)5⁄18 (27.78%)
301⁄6 (16.67%)1⁄4 (25.00%)5⁄18 (27.78%)
4001⁄12 (8.33%)1⁄6 (16.67%)
50001⁄18 (5.56%)
Average1 (1.00)3⁄2 (1.50)2 (2.00)5⁄2 (2.50)
Spider Eye[A]02⁄3 (66.67%)1⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄6 (16.67%)1⁄9 (11.11%)
11⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄2 (50.00%)5⁄12 (41.67%)5⁄18 (27.78%)
201⁄6 (16.67%)1⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)
3001⁄12 (8.33%)2⁄9 (22.22%)
40001⁄18 (5.56%)
Average1⁄3 (0.33)5⁄6 (0.83)4⁄3 (1.33)11⁄6 (1.83)

Killed1
ItemExpected Drops
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String1.001.502.002.50
Spider Eye[A]0.330.831.331.83

  1. ↑ Only when killed by a player or a tamed wolf.

Bedrock Edition:

ItemQuantity / Chance / Average
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String0–266.67%1.000–366.67%1.330–466.67%1.670–566.67%2.00
Spider Eye[A]0–150.00%0.500–250.00%0.750–350.00%1.000–450.00%1.25

ItemQuantity / Chance / Average
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String0–22⁄310–32⁄34⁄30–42⁄35⁄30–52⁄32
Spider Eye[A]0–11⁄21⁄20–21⁄23⁄40–31⁄210–41⁄25⁄4

ItemAmountProbability
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String01⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)
11⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄6 (16.67%)1⁄12 (8.33%)1⁄18 (5.56%)
21⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄3 (33.33%)1⁄4 (25.00%)1⁄6 (16.67%)
301⁄6 (16.67%)1⁄4 (25.00%)2⁄9 (22.22%)
4001⁄12 (8.33%)1⁄6 (16.67%)
50001⁄18 (5.56%)
Average1 (1.00)4⁄3 (1.33)5⁄3 (1.67)2 (2.00)
Spider Eye[A]01⁄2 (50.00%)1⁄2 (50.00%)1⁄2 (50.00%)1⁄2 (50.00%)
11⁄2 (50.00%)1⁄4 (25.00%)1⁄8 (12.50%)1⁄12 (8.33%)
201⁄4 (25.00%)1⁄4 (25.00%)1⁄6 (16.67%)
3001⁄8 (12.50%)1⁄6 (16.67%)
40001⁄12 (8.33%)
Average1⁄2 (0.50)3⁄4 (0.75)1 (1.00)5⁄4 (1.25)

Killed1
ItemExpected Drops
DefaultLooting ILooting IILooting III
String1.001.331.672.00
Spider Eye[A]0.500.751.001.25

  1. ↑ Only when killed by a player.

Behavior

Cave spiders inherit their behavior from spiders:

  • They are neutral if under daylight or in light levels of 12 or above, otherwise hostile toward players and iron golems. Once they become hostile, light does not affect them.
  • They attack by leaping and biting.
  • They are unaffected by cobwebs and Poison.
  • They are scared of armadillos.

They have some distinctions from regular spiders:

  • They can fit through a space that is one block wide and 1⁄2 block tall.
  • They can go through the spaces between two different types of (unconnected) fences.
  • They cannot spawn with status effects in Hard difficulty.‌[Java Edition only]
  • They flip 90° upon death.‌[Bedrock Edition only][1]

Being arthropods, they are weak against weapons with the Bane of Arthropods enchantment.

Unlike other neutral mobs, cave spiders don't count towards the AngryAt tag.[2][3][4]

The red eyes of cave spiders are emissive with Vibrant Visuals, making them easily distinguishable in the dark caves where they spawn.

Poison

On Normal or Hard difficulty, cave spiders inflict Poison upon attacking.[5] On Normal difficulty, the Poison lasts for 7 seconds and causes 6HP❤️❤️❤️ damage. On Hard difficulty, it lasts for 15 seconds and causes 12HP❤️ × 6. Poison damage is not taken when the player's health is at 1HP💔.

Jockey

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.
 
A cave spider ridden by a baby zombie

15% of nearby baby zombies, husks, or drowned may ride a cave spider that was not spawned as a spider jockey, to form a jockey.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Sounds
SoundClosed captionsSourceDescriptionIdentifierTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
​Spider hisses [sound 1]Hostile MobsRandomlyentity.spider.ambient​[sound 1]​subtitles.entity.spider.ambient​​[sound 1]​1.00.8–1.216
​Spider dies [sound 1]Hostile MobsWhen a cave spider diesentity.spider.death​[sound 1]​subtitles.entity.spider.death​​[sound 1]​1.00.8–1.216
​Spider hurts [sound 1]Hostile MobsWhen a cave spider is damagedentity.spider.hurt​[sound 1]​subtitles.entity.spider.hurt​​[sound 1]​1.00.8–1.216
​FootstepsHostile MobsWhile a cave spider is walkingentity.spider.step​[sound 1]​subtitles.generic.block.footsteps​0.151.016
  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j The cave spider reuses all of the spider's sound events instead of having its own, resulting in these somewhat unintuitive subtitles - see MC-98316

Bedrock Edition:

Sounds
SoundClosed captionsSourceDescriptionIdentifierTranslation keyVolumePitch
​​Spider hissesHostile MobsRandomlymob.spider.saysubtitles.entity.spider.ambient​1.00.8–1.2
​Spider diesHostile MobsWhen a cave spider diesmob.spider.deathsubtitles.entity.spider.death​1.00.8–1.2
​​Spider hissesHostile MobsWhen a cave spider is damagedmob.spider.saysubtitles.entity.spider.ambient​1.00.8–1.2
​FootstepsHostile MobsWhile a cave spider is walkingmob.spider.stepsubtitles.generic.block.footsteps​0.350.9–1.1

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierEntity tags Translation key
EntitySprite cave-spider.png: Sprite image for cave-spider in Minecraft Cave Spidercave_spiderarthropod
no_anger_from_wind_charge
sensitive_to_bane_of_arthropods
entity.minecraft.cave_spider

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID FamilyTranslation key
EntitySprite cave-spider.png: Sprite image for cave-spider in Minecraft Cave Spidercave_spider40 arthropod
cavespider
mob
monster
entity.cave_spider.name

Entity data

Cave spiders have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

IconAchievementIn-game descriptionActual requirements (if different)Gamerscore earnedTrophy type (PS)
PS4Other
Monster HunterAttack and destroy a monster. Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this achievement.15Bronze
It SpreadsKill a mob next to a catalystKill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this achievement.10Bronze

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Advancements

IconAdvancementIn-game descriptionActual requirements (if different)
Monster HunterKill any hostile monster Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
It SpreadsKill a mob near a Sculk CatalystKill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.
Monsters HuntedKill one of every hostile monster Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.

Advancements that apply to all mobs:

History

Java Edition

This section would benefit from the addition of more images.
 
Please remove this notice once you have added suitable images to the article.
The specific instructions are: replace the image in the announcement with a recreated render
Java Edition Beta
1.8Pre-release Added cave spiders.
Pre-release 2 ;)Cave spiders now apply Poison for a shorter duration on Normal and no longer apply Poison at all on Easy.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2Cave spiders now drop 0-1 spider eye when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
The cave spider's health points have been reduced from 20HP❤️ × 10 to 12HP❤️ × 6.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4Cave spiders are now immune to the Poison status effect.
Cave spiders are now considered arthropods.
1.2.112w06aCave spiders now swim extremely fast with the water stream toward the player, but seem to be almost not moving against the water stream.
Cave spiders can now climb ice blocks.
1.7.21.7Cave spiders no longer attack after being provoked by players in Creative mode.
1.814w06aCave spiders no longer draw a line of sight through opaque blocks.
Cave spiders have been given the new AI that regular spiders have received.
14w11aCave spiders now run away from creepers that are about to explode.
1.8.1pre1Cave spiders no longer run away from creepers that are about to explode.
1.1116w32aThe cave spider's entity ID has been changed from CaveSpider to cave_spider.
October 16, 2017 Jasper Boerstra tweets an image of an updated cave spider texture.
1.1418w43a The texture of cave spiders has been changed.
1.1620w10aFirework damage now provokes cave spiders.[6]
1.1922w11a Fixed texture mapping of cave spiders.[7]
1.20.3
Experiment
Update 1.21
23w45aCave spiders now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental data pack.
1.20.524w03aCave spiders are now scared of armadillos when not in a rolled up state.
1.20.5
Experiment
Update 1.21
24w04aCave spiders no longer retaliate against attacks from the breeze.
26.2snap1Added the sulfur caves, which can naturally spawn cave spiders.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.11.0build 1 Added cave spiders with their jockey variant.
v0.12.1build 1Cave spiders now have a walking sound.
Cave spiders can now spawn with wither skeletons riding them when spawning as a spider jockey in the Nether.
Cave spiders now drop spider eyes.
v0.14.0build 1Cave spiders can now be ridden by baby zombies and baby zombie villagers.
v0.15.0build 1Cave spiders can now spawn with strays riding them when spawning as a spider jockey in snowy biomes with a view of the sky.
Cave spiders can now be ridden by baby husks.
Pocket Edition
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0The cave spider's Poison time from attack has been changed to be based on difficulty.
The cave spider's entity ID has been changed from cavespider to cave_spider.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3 The texture of cave spiders has been changed.
1.19.0Preview 1.19.0.21 Fixed texture mapping of cave spiders.[8]
1.20.60
Experiment
Update 1.21
Preview 1.20.60.20Cave spiders now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental toggle.
1.20.70
Experiment
Armadillo and Wolf Armor
Preview 1.20.70.20Cave spiders now flee from armadillos that are not rolled up.
1.20.70
Experiment
Update 1.21
Preview 1.20.70.21Cave spiders no longer retaliate against attacks from breezes.
1.21.130Preview 1.21.130.26Baby zombie villagers can no longer mount cave spiders.
26.0Preview 26.0.27Baby drowned can now search for cave spiders to mount.
Due to a bug, baby husks can no longer mount cave spiders.[9]
26.10Preview 26.10.24Baby husks can once again mount cave spiders.
26.30Preview 26.30.29Cave spiders can now spawn in sulfur caves.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360Xbox OnePS3PS4PS VitaWii USwitch
TU5CU11.001.001.00Patch 11.0.1 Added cave spiders. They are as large as regular spiders.
TU9The size of cave spiders has been corrected.
TU12Cave spiders now swim extremely fast with the water stream toward the player, but seem to be almost motionless against the water stream.
Cave spiders can now climb ice blocks.
1.90 The texture of cave spiders has been changed.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0 Added cave spiders.

Issues

Issues relating to "Cave Spider" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

  • While a cave spider's hitbox is only 13.9% the volume of a normal spider's, its model's volume is 34.3% as large. The shadow is even larger: compared to the normal spider's shadow it has an area of 49%.

Screenshots

Textures

In other media

References

  1. ↑ MCPE-41417 – resolved as "Won't Fix".
  2. ↑ MC-256289 – AngryAt tag is not used by certain neutral mobs, causing them to forget their target upon reloading game
  3. ↑ MC-195278 – If the "universalAnger" is set to true, certain neutral mobs don't fight back when you attack them
  4. ↑ MC-187857 – New neutral mob behavior improvements were not implemented for llamas, dolphins, and spiders in the daylight
  5. ↑ "Your health hearts turn yellowish" – @jeb_ (Jens Bergensten) on X (formerly Twitter), September 2, 2011
  6. ↑ MC-111498 – Fireworks and water bottles damage don't make neutral mobs angry or hostile – resolved as "Fixed".
  7. ↑ MC-127885 – resolved as "Fixed".
  8. ↑ MCPE-152927 – resolved as "Fixed".
  9. ↑ MCPE-234690

Sources