Spider Jockey

Spider Jockeys are a combination of two different mobs: Spiders and Skeletons which were introduced in the Seecret Friday Update 8. When a spider is spawned it has a 1% chance of having a skeleton spawn with it, riding on its back. They are considered separate enemies and have separate health bars. This "Spider jockey" has both the ranged arrow attack of a skeleton and the mobility of a spider as well as a somewhat larger combined health. This makes a deadly combination. The spider's pounce will be substantially less powerful when mounted, however. When the sun comes up the skeleton bursts into flames while the spider survives.

It was thought previously that when fighting this mob it is advisable to kill the spider first because once dismounted, the skeleton will get stuck in the riding animation, and will be unable to move. This has been found to be untrue since the Beta update. Once the spider is killed, the Skeleton will continue to attack and move around, as shown here.This mob is easier to kill with a bow, as then it is easier to dodge the arrows and not get pounced.

It is possible for this mob to actually kill itself. Sometimes, the arrows might land on the spider, and other times, the spider might pounce and run the skeleton into his own arrow, making this quite a glitchy mob.

As of Beta 1.2 Spiders are able to climb every block except sand and sandstone. Spider Jockeys are also capable of climbing. If the Spider climbs to the ceiling, the Skeleton will start suffocating.

In the future, Notch may add controllable mounts for players, probably using the saddle. These controllable mounts may be new creatures not yet in the game, such as horses.

Drops
Beta:
 * 0-2 units of string (from Spider)
 * 0-2 arrows (from Skeleton)
 * 0-3 bones (from Skeleton)