Cave Spider icon

Cave Spider Summon Command Generator

  • Category: hostile
  • Baby variant: no
  • Entity id: minecraft:cave_spider

The cave spider trades the regular spider's bulk for venom. Its bite applies Poison on Normal and Hard difficulty, and its tiny 0.7 by 0.5 block hitbox fits through crawl gaps that stop every other hostile mob, so a corridor players consider safe can still leak cave spiders through slab-height openings.

That size is the design lever. Summoned into a mineshaft-style build, cave spiders pour through one-block channels, ignore the cobwebs that trap players, and force fights in spaces too cramped for a shield-and-sword stance to matter.

With only 12 base health each one dies fast, so this generator leans on volume and multipliers: raise customHealth for a nest matriarch, stack passengers into a writhing column, or set silent and persistent for an ambusher that waits in the dark without a sound.

Example commands

Nest matriarch

/summon minecraft:cave_spider ~ ~ ~ {Glowing:1b,CustomName:"Nest Mother",CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:40f,attributes:[{id:"minecraft:max_health",base:40}]}

Health raised from 12 to 40 with a floating name and glow outline, turning a swarm filler into a trackable mini-boss for the mineshaft finale.

Writhing spider column

/summon minecraft:cave_spider ~ ~ ~ {Passengers:[{id:"minecraft:cave_spider",Passengers:[{id:"minecraft:cave_spider"}]}]}

Three stacked bodies move as one tower until damaged apart; players must land separate kills, stretching a cheap mob into a longer fight.

Silent tunnel ambusher

/summon minecraft:cave_spider ~ ~ ~ {Silent:1b,PersistenceRequired:1b}

No idle hisses to give it away and no despawn timer, so the trap still works when players reach the tunnel an hour into the map.

Terrarium specimen

/summon minecraft:cave_spider ~ ~ ~ {NoAI:1b,Invulnerable:1b}

A living display piece for lab or hub builds; it cannot move, bite, or be killed by curious visitors.

The same build across versions

Rows appear only where the output actually changes -- copy the one that matches your world.

Java 1.16

/summon minecraft:cave_spider ~ ~ ~ {Glowing:1b,CustomName:'{"text":"Nest Mother"}',CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:40f,Attributes:[{Name:"generic.max_health",Base:40}]}

Java 1.21.4

/summon minecraft:cave_spider ~ ~ ~ {Glowing:1b,CustomName:'{"text":"Nest Mother"}',CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:40f,attributes:[{id:"minecraft:max_health",base:40}]}

Java 26.2

/summon minecraft:cave_spider ~ ~ ~ {Glowing:1b,CustomName:"Nest Mother",CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:40f,attributes:[{id:"minecraft:max_health",base:40}]}

Bedrock 26.x

/summon minecraft:cave_spider "Nest Mother" ~ ~ ~
  • Bedrock /summon does not accept Java entity NBT; omitted Health/Attributes, traits (glowing, custom_name_visible).

Worth knowing

  • Cave spider venom applies Poison on Normal and Hard difficulty, and Poison stops ticking at half a heart, so the bite itself softens targets but never finishes them.
  • Cave spiders are immune to the Poison effect, which means their own swarm-mates' bites and Poison-tipped arrows do nothing to them.
  • The 0.7 by 0.5 hitbox squeezes through slab-height and one-block-wide openings that fully block zombies, skeletons, and regular spiders.
  • In survival play, cave spiders come exclusively from mineshaft spawners buried in cobwebs; they never spawn in the open world.
  • Like their larger cousins they climb walls freely and turn neutral in bright light, so tunnel lighting directly controls whether a nest attacks on sight.

FAQ

Does a summoned cave spider still poison on hit?

Yes, as long as the world runs on Normal or Hard difficulty. On Easy the bite deals plain damage with no Poison, which is worth checking before you blame the command.

What makes a cave spider more dangerous than a regular spider?

The venom and the size. It poisons on contact and slips through half-block gaps, though it carries less health, 12 versus 16.

Can cave spider poison kill a player?

No. Poison drains health down to half a heart and then stops, so the follow-up bite or another mob has to land the final hit.