Aquarium Screens and
Aquarium Lids

Aquarium Screens are screens built specifically for aquariums and terrariums. If you keep lizards, frogs or snakes as a pet, you need a screen lid to keep them safely in the tank or enclosure.

Aquarium Screens have a deep frame that fits completely over the top of the aquarium tank. They can be made to fit any aquarium tank but they work best on 10 to 50 gallon aquarium sizes.

Black aluminum wire is used for toughness and to prevent any problem with reptiles escaping. Here are some examples of commercially made aquarium tank screens.

Screens can also be manufactured to fit inside the the rim of most aquariums. This is the style used by most aquarium manufacturers. The aquarium lid is usually held in place with turn and lock fasteners on each of the four sides of the aquarium lid.

Bow front tanks are tough to make screens for when I dont have the tank to use as a template. You just dont know what the bow radius is to make an accurate fit. So heres some tips and techniques you can use to build your own bowfront enclosure lid for your reptile enclosure.

Measuring Aquarium Screens

Start by taking a sheet of cardboard large enough to cover the top of the tank. Have someone hold it down while you trace the outside profile of the whole tank on the cardboard with a pencil. Then remove the cardboard and cut around the pencil line with a utility knife so you have a template that fits the top of your tank exactly.

Now you can lay the template on a piece of 3/4" plywood and sketch the profile of the template onto the plywood. Try to make the plywood profile slightly larger than than the dimensions of the top of the tank.

Cut the curved profile out using a jigsaw. Test fit the wooden piece to see that it is just larger all around than the top of your tank. 

Then purchase a 1.5" to 2" wide piece of this aluminum strip and wrap it around the the perimeter of the plywood, screwing it in to the wood as you go. This creates a lip to allow the top to fit over the top of the tank. 

Cut a rectangular hole in the plywood so you can cover it with a conventional window screen frame. Cut a round hole for your heat lamp to poke through.

The weight of the plywood plus the heat lamp would likely be too much for most reptiles to push off themselves.