Are there any efficient spider traps on minecraft?

This Link from Minecraft wiki shall guide you through a huge number of simple traps. These are designed to trap or trick other players or mobs automatically. Some traps even kill...

However, I shall briefly sum up the most popular designs for trapping spiders.

Land Mine For a simple land mine a 1 by 1 hole two blocks deep. Next put one piece of TNT at the bottom and cover it with a block that looks natural to the area(a stone block in a cave ect.). After that just put a pressure plate on top and it's done. If a mob or player steps on it, It will go off. Note: When using a wooden pressure plates dropped items will trigger the TNT and the delay and noise of the TNT may alert the victim.

More Advanced I pay attention to Kiershar's youtube channel, and based my mob trap off of his videos. The biggest problem with his grinder as well as many other traps is that it does not kill spiders very efficiently, and sometimes, not at all. I've seen videos of elaborate fixes to this problem, but I can't believe someone hasn't seemed to have done what I've done.

grinder Here is my grinder. Just like Kiershar's, I have a 3X2 lava pool running over a couple of ladders with a 1X2 space below where items but not mobs can fall through. The sand block at the bottom left is where a cactus would sit if this were Kiershar's trap. As you can see, I have omitted this as well as a block below the ladders for keeping spiders from falling through because this is not where they will be dying (note the string floating by).

This is how they die: How they die

Here is the start of that same channel that has the lava at the end. The beginning of the channel should have another channel one block higher flowing into it and a cactus sitting on top of that sand block. The length of the channel after that doesn't matter, but this part is crucial. This creates a 2 block high, one block wide space that all other mobs can go through, but not spiders. Taking advantage of the fact that spiders are the only 2 block wide mob is what makes this work.

channel start Here is another view of the beginning of this channel with the cactus placed and the other channel filled in. A water block should be placed to the right of the cactus.

channel 2 Placing that water block leads to a water current that looks like this. 1 block wide mobs will fall in and most likely float behind the cactus, but soon after will float to the lava and die. Spiders however, will sit here unless there is another mob behind them. They will block the entire 2 block wide entrance to this channel, so they must die first, which they will because the mob behind them will push them directly into the cactus at the 2 block high level. This always works, and no other mobs will flow through until the spider dies.

spider killer in action Here's the spider killer in action. As you can see, the spider floats to the block at the level of the cactus and dies there. This doesn't depend on whether the spider is jumping; it's just somehow levitating above thin air. The ceiling should be filled in at the block above the cactus, though, to make sure the spider stops here.

spider kill spider Spiders will also kill each other this way. No more spiders clogging your trap! Taken from here.


If you're fighting spiders that are out in the open in the day, try setting fires near them so that they take damage without getting angry.

At night, try to arrange things so there's a one-meter gap they can't get through.

If you find a spider spawner, light the room completely, arrange the room so it's only got one exit, and plant one or two cacti on either side of the exit so that any spider that tries to get to you will press itself to death on the cactus. Set up water flow so that any string dropped by the spider will flow toward you.

Note: spiders that kill themselves this way will not drop any XP or spider eyes. You can make a bunch of stone swords, though, and whack the spiders while they try to get at you; they can't squeeze through a one-meter gap.

(Of course, if you find the tiny blue POISON spiders, they'll jump right through. I suggest avoiding those; they don't drop anything different.)


IMO Spiders are the easiest mob to predict. A "fighting retreat" as other folks have posited works...

But the best way I have found is simply click with a sword like a madman - the old spam-the-sword routine, wall of blades, etc. The idea is that the short knockback you get from a sword hit keeps the mob from hitting you. If it's not working as well, try using a sword with knockback enchantment. You'll get more time to juggle.

  • Spiders will jump right into your sword. I barely take damage.
  • Cave spiders are a little tougher to hit. Assume you're going to get poisoned.
  • Quite effective on zombies
  • So-so on skeletons (melee vs. skeletons is always risky)
  • Not great on creepers. The problem is you only get about two hits before they explode. Hit and run tactics work better. You can soften them up with arrows, though.
  • Doesn't work well on zombie pigmen, unless you're one block above or below them, in which case it works gangbusters and you can take on a steady stream of piggies without taking a hit (aim at feet when you are below them; aim at their head when you're above them). However, you won't be able to fend off more than two in open combat without a knockback sword or willingness to take a lot of hits. If you have a really narrow tunnel, you can do groups of 4-5 with only a cramp in your mouse hand.
  • Not useful on spider jockeys (you get the spider, but the skeleton shoots you a few times)
  • Not useful on ghasts - if you can actually get close enough to hit them
  • Terrible on ghast fireballs. One well-timed strike is better.
  • Works well on slimes
  • Not so hot on magma cubes. The timing just seems different...
  • Great on blazes - if you're drinking fire resist. An experienced player can kill blazes without getting set on fire... but don't take that chance.
  • A waste of clicks on endermen - you only get one hit in and they teleport away. No need to spam the sword strikes.