(Rigging) Character with Spikes on Back: What do I Parent the Spikes to? I’ve had a long week and I’m exhausted. Been watching hours and hours of tutorials. Probably not enough on rigging. I’m struggling with this.

Even once the spikes were joined with the rest of the mesh they wouldn't move in Pose Mode. I added bones for the spikes (tried with them separate from the rest of the armature. Didn't work, so I tried connecting them to the spine). I select the mesh spikes and then select the Meta-Rig: Parent -&gt; With Automatic Weights. I also tried joining the spikes to the body mesh.
When I move the Meta-Rig around in Pose Mode, the spikes don’t move with everything—the armature bones move, but the mesh spikes stretch and deform. I don't want to animate the spikes, just need them to move with the body; they protrude from the character's back.  What am I doing wrong here?
Don't add bones to the spikes, but instead, just have the weight the spikes to the max with the corresponding &quot;spine&quot; bone. So for example, take the top two spikes, and weight paint them so they only move with the top back bone before the neck. You'd only need to add bones to the spikes if you intend to move them with the bones that you placed inside them. If they're static, just weight them to whatever back-bone makes sense for the position.
The same goes for other things that protrude/hang off a character. For example, if your character had a backpack, you'd set the weight for the backpack to move with the back bone. If your character had a watch, you'd weight the entire watch to move with the forearm's bone.