# Exo Terra 36" x 18" Custom Lid



## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

Been meaning to post about 20 different items but keep getting sidetracked by life. Let's start with this today: I designed this with my home/frog room's parameters in mind -- foregoing rear vents which I would never use:










There's a small company in Texas called Focus Cubed Habitats, that in addition to a line of higher-end herp enclosures and accessories, has been fabricating replacement Exo Terra lids. Their focus (no pun intended) seems to be more on snakes etc. but since they already had the tooling for CNC cut Exo lids of a different design, I provided them with this plan for my frogs and got four of these made.

This is how they turned out:














































_Note that I've since upgraded my Fluval Plant LEDs to a mix of Skylight MID 30s and TINY RH units, and the enclosures themselves have been upgraded and re-scaped (photos coming when grown in more)._

The lids are professional and precision crafted, CNC milled and hand-assembled. The fit is perfect and they have a nice solid weight. The only minor quibble is that presumably the size and weight causes a slight bowing in the centre, but this doesn't lift the edges and you have to look for it to see it. I like that the mesh and window are bolted in, so could be replaced in the future if necessary.

Now they weren't exactly cheap, especially given that I'm in Canada and had to ship 'em up from Texas, and I understand this remains very much a DIY-oriented hobby -- but months since I got them and I'm still really happy with them. For what I got I think the price was _very_ reasonable. They've elevated the look and feel of my 36" x 18" x 36" Exo Terras and function as intended. I'm sure they still have the tool paths on file for this design if anyone's interested.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

They look great. I'm wondering, though, why you didn't go with the vents at the back of the tank rather than at the front?


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

fishingguy12345 said:


> They look great. I'm wondering, though, why you didn't go with the vents at the back of the tank rather than at the front?


At the time it was mostly a case of using what works for me. Even in my InSitu Altos I make use of the front vents but never the rear ... could be my home being very dry but rear venting always seems to dry out my vivaria too much.

It would be a simple enough matter to switch the design or even add some vents with baffles at the back, but I haven't felt the need for my purposes.


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## JasonE (Feb 7, 2011)

Damn. I wish I had known about them when I did mine. But yeah, I'd need vents on the front and back.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

I should add these are tooled precisely for the weird dimensions of the inner rim on Exos -- weird thanks to their hinge posts creating irregular weird curves in the rim. I'm a decent 3D modeller (it's part of my work skill-set) but replicating that must have been a total pain.


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## JasonE (Feb 7, 2011)

That hinge set up is the only thing that gets in the way of exo's being the easiest to convert. I put a front vent in and siliconed that entire section up. There's not much else you can do unless you have a 3D printer and know how to use it. I don't and I wouldn't.

Edit: They're still the easiest to convert but that is the only spot that's difficult.


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## Lincoln B (Jan 29, 2021)

Not including shipping how much did they cost you? I have a bunch of glass puzzle pieces on top of my 36x18x36 mesh top but could be interested in upgrading if it's a reasonable price


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

Lincoln B said:


> Not including shipping how much did they cost you? I have a bunch of glass puzzle pieces on top of my 36x18x36 mesh top but could be interested in upgrading if it's a reasonable price


'Reasonable' being in the eye of the beholder 😆 ... they were $104.99 USD each.


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## Lincoln B (Jan 29, 2021)

@Fahad considering the final price of making a frog ready 36x36 Viv, that's not bad


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

Lincoln B said:


> @Fahad considering the final price of making a frog ready 36x36 Viv, that's not bad


I didn't blink, given the quality. My attitude towards this hobby is: build something excellent, and you can have my money.


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

The quality of the Focus products is top notch.


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

Fahad said:


> At the time it was mostly a case of using what works for me. Even in my InSitu Altos I make use of the front vents but never the rear ... could be my home being very dry but rear venting always seems to dry out my vivaria too much.
> 
> It would be a simple enough matter to switch the design or even add some vents with baffles at the back, but I haven't felt the need for my purposes.


The front vents also help keep the front glass clear, another plus to that set up.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

JPP said:


> The front vents also help keep the front glass clear, another plus to that set up.


Yes, if I designed a second iteration of these someday, I'd keep the front vent and add baffled vents on the back. But unless I move any time soon to a place with very different humidity, it's likely these are one and done. 

In terms of customization, future funds and design time will be focused on a couple of large (4 - 6 foot range) vivaria. 

Of course if @InSitu comes out with a larger sized vivarium product (say a doubled-up Alto) all bets are off!


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Fahad said:


> a doubled-up Alto


"Altwo"? Or "Altoo"?

Those tops look excellent, and especially for a custom design the price is crazy low.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

JPP said:


> The quality of the Focus products is top notch.


Absolutely, and they're a pleasure to work with, too. I only wish they'd been around back when I kept arboreals, although at the time Mark Pepper's brother built me a very sweet pair of Basin cages -- this was back when Understory Enterprises still offered acrylic vivaria.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

Socratic Monologue said:


> "Altwo"? Or "Altoo"?
> 
> Those tops look excellent, and especially for a custom design the price is crazy low.


Yeah, we've had this discussion about cost-of-production and bringing good products to market -- I think people have unrealistic expectations on cost due to massive mass production and the cheap goods it unleashes on the world, and I also think a lot of hobbyists still balk at prices because they're too focused on quantity vs. quality.

I have nothing against DIY if it's done well, but personally I only have so much time and there are certain products I would rather buy pre-fabricated anyway.


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## bssknox (Apr 24, 2017)

Thanks for sharing this! Definitely going to look into them for a custom top for one or more of mine viv's. My "custom" tops aren't very pretty and some are still on from when I first got into the hobby.


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