What is the best way to deal with cave spiders?

The cave spider spawner isn't too hard to destroy, it can be done in a few seconds using a pickaxe. But it is fairly difficult when cave spiders are still spawning. And it seems that placing torches by/on the spawner doesn't stop them spawning.

Does anyone have any strategies for dealing with this?

Solution 1:

Lava. It will kill the spiders, destroy the webs and spawners too, and potentially make it bright enough to stop them being hostile.

Solution 2:

Usually, whenever I encounter a mob spawner, I note where the block is, put several blocks around it (to make sure mobs can't come out), tunnel my way underground to where the mob spawner is, and whack at it until the spawner is destroyed.

That way, I'm directly underneath the mob spawner, I'm in little danger, and I can just hack away at it until it's destroyed.

Solution 3:

TNT

Now that you can't click-to-ignite, I find a quick 1-2 with TNT/redstone torch works well as an alternative. This will kill the spiders, and destroy the spawners. It'll also make a cool noise!

Solution 4:

My strategy is to block off the spawn area, so that the spiders can't reach you. Make a one block hole through which you can see, and mine the spawner, but the spiders can't get through so easily (cave spiders are smaller than normal spiders, can can fit through a 1x1 hole, but you can easily knock them back if they try to come through).

Solution 5:

Surround the entire thing in a 5x5x5 dimension cut-out room with the spawner smack in the middle, freestanding in the air. Then, make a water current towards the end of one side of the box, light the other 3 sides up, place metal bars, dig a hole underneath, and there's your mob farm.