Perfect Pocilotheria Setup

[Arachnomaniak]

Just wondering what everyone uses for Pokey setups. Been reading a lot of books and they seem to have varrying views. Some say to not use any substrate at all and instead use a shallow water dish that covers the entire floor, others say to use mixed substrates etc. I plan on really getting into Pokeys because I love arboreals and have worked with fast aggressive spiders before.
So far I planned to use inverted critter keepers with about 3/4 of the open vent part covered with plastic to help keep humidity up. I would use a couple of inches of a peat/potting soil/vermiculite mixture for substrate, corkbark for hiding and fake plants secured to the walls. Read that a water dish is not necessary if the enclosure is regularly misted, is this true? Should I mist the enclosures each day and moisten the substrate every few days?

Are Critter Keepers the best setups to use or are modified aquariums better?
Any suggestions and pics would be very much appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
-Arachnomaniak-

 

[Bean]

Here's a modified 10 gallon setup that I'm trying:

Side shot:

Front:

Other side:

The fake plants littering the floor used to be arranged more to my liking. (Hanging off the bark and stading up in the corner) They are seen here in the preferred arrangement of the current tenant.

I don't mist at all, just the water dish you can see is kept full. I think it really is a bit too much space, I'll most likey put a divider down the middle and create similar setup on the other side. I used a sawzall to cut a cork bark tube in half length wise, then hot glued it in the position you see now. There are openings on both the top and bottom of the hide. A big disadvantage of this method is that it doesn't help with photo taking or exuvium collecting. I do have a pretty good view at all times though.

Plexiglass is covering the lower half of the opening. A few clamps hold the screen in place.

 

[David_F]

My set-up is similar to Beans but I use a 2.5 gallon aquarium instead of 10. Also, I hot-glued the water dish (4 oz. deli cup) to the corkbark and back of the aquarium off the ground. This seems to work better for me as I've never seen my P. regalis go to the ground to drink. The only thing I think I'll do different after he matures (and hopefully leaves to make some babies ) is cut the cork tube in half like Bean has done. Then, I'll just have to get another Pokie to put in there.