The Bean Shop
Here you will find information about everything we create. We have suggested sizes for enclosures, however we can build enclosures of any dimensions and most shapes. From room size to small enough for a single jumping spider we can build what you need including the decor inside.
Custom Enclosures
We can build what you need. From jumping spiders to flocks of ducks and everything in between. We can build indoor or outdoor enclosures to fit any need and any critter, or many critters.
Our indoor enclosure are all built with a white wood core and hardened vinyl interior for scratch and moisture resistance, as well as easy cleaning. The exteriors can be stained with a critter safe wood stain and finished with shellac, the same stuff the medicine or vitamin capsules you take are made of, or wrapped in a veneer of your choice, including exotic woods.
Our exterior enclosures are all made of severe weather treated, marine grade timbers and plywood. They can be stained with the same critter safe wood stain or painted in your choice of colors. At this time we do not install ponds but we can recommend a pond size for your critter and provide a list of materials. We are planning on offering this as an add-on in the future.
Both our indoor and outdoor enclosures can be upgraded to be insulated and for the interior and small exterior enclosures stackable is an option. We can also build racks or multi-critter enclosure setups. The possibilities are endless with your imagination and our skillset.
Driftwood Hides and Food/Water Bowls
Having the perfect enclosure is only half the battle. Now you need to make your critter feel at home. With natural driftwood hides and basking spots your critter can feel safe and have a sturdy place to bask. We also provide food and water bowls made from driftwood and sealed with shellac to provide a water tight and critter safe, natural looking and feeling place to feed and water your critter.
All of our driftwood is fully treated for bugs and bacteria with a critter safe method that removes tannins as well as bacteria while perserving the wood and not adding any chemicals to the wood that will seep out as the wood draws in moisture in your critters enclosure.
After treating the wood we kiln dry to remove all moisture. Any bacteria or harmful (or unwanted) bugs that make it through the treating process are removed during the drying process. We dry our wood to less than 3% moisture content to make sure any bacteria left is completely killed off. We then all the wood to return to somewhere between 5% and 15% moisture content before it is ready to live in your critters home.
Rodent Hides
While driftwood hides are great for every critter some may prefer something a little more tailored to their playful nature. Our rodent hides and playgrounds are great for the smaller critters. We say they are fro rodents but many things can enjoy them from smaller snakes and lizards to most rodents, these hides are great for smaller critters.
Our rodent hides are made of a white wood plywood and assembled using critter safe wood glue. We finish each one with the same critter safe wood stain used on all of our products and of course we add a few coats of shellac to provide moisture resistance in a critter safe way.
We are happy to take custom orders for any size hide or suggest a size and shape based on your critter and setup. We are constantly looking for new designs and new ways to challenge our critters to learn new things and more ways to play. Enrichment is important to all critters and these hides provide the enrichment some critters need.
Custom Enclosures by Frog Beans
Enclosures by Frog Beans can be completely customized from each dimension to colors to veneer wood type. Say goodbye to the standard square box with the same old designs and “standard” look and hello to an enclosure to not only help you better cre for your critter but also looks goos in your space. Your critters’ homes can now be a center piece not relegated to some room in your house or for some of us a separate building all together.
We’ve all walked into a herpetarium or something similar at a zoo or local wild life park and thought, “Man, I would love to have something like that in my house.” Now you can.
We begin the process by choosing the best white wood for the core of the enclosure. We generally work with eight foot pieces, or sticks, but we can and will use longer pieces if needed.
From there we cut, plane, sand, index, cut rabbits, and sand some more. Test fitting to assure a clean, solid fit ensures a strong enclosure. We use white wood because it allows us to keep cost and weight down. Even our largest enclosures can be handled fairly easily by a single person when empty. No more needing a moving buddy to clean behind your enclosures.
Before final assembly we install the hardened vinyl on the floor of the enclosure and trim it to size. If the build requires the walls to be covered as well this is when that happens. The vinyl is glued directly to the wood to ensure a strong bond.
We then do a final fit and assembly before doing a final sanding and trimming any edges that may be just a little too proud. Once everything is assembled and tirimed the final sanding include putting a slight chamfer on every sharp edge to make the exterior as beautiful as the interior.
We at Frog Beans are partial to dark walnut for our enclosures, but nearly any color can be applied including some paints if a stain is not your thing. No matter the color the entire enclosure is shellaced with 5-8 layers of shellac. The number of layers depend on the final exterior. Veneers get the extra layers to ensure there is no peeling.
Now the enclosure is done. To save you money, and because we love to meet the people and critters we build for, we like to deliver every enclosure. Shipping is expensive, we just want to meet you. Okay we really just want to meet your critters. The average delivery is less than $250 compared to $500-$600 to ship the same enclosure.
How do we determine delivery? Simple we have a base delivery charge of $50 for most enclosures and then we charge a small mileage fee to cover the gas to get to you.
Why do we deliver? To save you money. We don’t want our customers to pay nearly the same cost as the enclosure to get it delivered. We do understand that not all enclosures are going to double in price if we ship them and for those more reasonably sized and therefore priced (shipping that is) enclosures we will ship them.
Why charge mileage? We could do a flat rate for delivery or do a radius charge, but we want to keep cost as low as we can. We are not out to get every dime out of everyone. We want you to have the best enclosure for your critter and not have to take out a loan to get it.
