An arboreal enclosure is mostly empty space, and that is what makes it easy to get wrong. The spider will use the vertical surfaces, not the floor, so everything you put inside should serve the climb, the retreat or the airflow. Here is the order we set ours up in.
1. Substrate, deeper than you think
Even a species that never digs benefits from a proper base layer. Four to six centimetres of coco fibre, or a fibre and topsoil mix, holds enough water to keep the lower part of the enclosure humid for a week or two. A thin scatter over the bottom dries out in a day and does nothing except look tidy.
Press it down lightly, do not compact it. You want it damp at the base and dry on top, which is exactly what cross ventilation maintains once the enclosure is closed.
2. Cork first, decoration later
Stand the cork slab or tube before anything else goes in, and set it at a slight angle rather than flat against the back wall. The gap behind it is the retreat, and most arboreal species will web it closed within a week. Push the base a few centimetres into the substrate so it cannot slide, and lean tall pieces into a back corner where they cannot tip.
Leave a clear route from the cork to the upper corners. That is where they sit at night, and a spider that cannot reach the top of the enclosure will rearrange your layout until it can.
3. Leave the airflow path open
Do not push cork or plants flat against a vent panel. The bands only work if air can reach them from inside, so keep a couple of centimetres of clearance in front of every perforated area, top and bottom. This is the single most common setup mistake we see, and it quietly turns a cross-ventilated enclosure back into a box with holes.
4. Water dish, low and to the side
Put the dish at a front corner, on the opposite side from the retreat, and press it into the substrate so it sits flush. A dish placed under the cork gets webbed over within days. Refill it rather than misting the whole enclosure: a full dish plus a damp base is far more stable humidity than a spray bottle ever gives you.
5. Plants, moss and the honest truth
Live plants look wonderful and complicate everything. Fake plants are fine, easy to wash and need no light. If you want moss, keep it as a patch over the damp corner rather than a carpet, so the rest of the surface can still dry between waterings.
6. Close it and leave it alone
Give the spider a week before you decide anything is wrong. Most will web, move substrate around and rebuild the retreat in a way you did not plan. That is not a problem to fix. That is the enclosure being used.
A short checklist
- Substrate four to six centimetres, damp at the base
- Cork angled, anchored in the substrate, with a gap behind it
- Two centimetres of clearance in front of every vent band
- Water dish at the front, away from the retreat
- A clear climbing route to the top corners
- Doors closed, hands off for a week