Quick and easy frog hotel

[Remarka6le]

An inexpensive frog hotel using PVC pipes and a solar light in a timber barrel lined with pebbles that was built in just half an hour. 

• The project
• Tools and materials
• Steps
• More inspiration for your frog shelter project

The project

Recent rain in South East Queensland showed us just how healthy our garden was, with many native animals taking shelter around our home. To our surprise, we had a huge among of green tree frogs visit us, counting nineteen on one night. We decided to build an initial frog hotel to see what the costs were, and the degree of difficulty in building and time. 

Tools and materials

Tools used in the project:

• Measuring tape and marker
  
  
• Ryobi 18V ONE+ Multitool kit with blade and sander attachment
  
  
• Scissors. 

Materials used in the project:

• 37cm half barrel timber barrel Tuscan Path 
  
  
• Landscape stones Ki Carma 16kg black scoria 
  
  
• Bollard Gardenglo solar light 
  
  
• Waterproof garden liner 
  
  
• 90mm PVC Pipe – 1m length 
  
  
• 2 x 90mm 90º PVC elbow 
  
  
• 40mm PVC Pipe – 1m length 
  
  
• 25mm PVC Pipe – 1m length 
  
  
• 1 x 25mm 45º PVC elbow.

(We already had several pieces of 90mm PVC Pipe and the 90º elbows). 

The solar light I am using needs eight hours of charge in the sun before use, thus I did this project at 9am to ensure it was charged by night. 

Steps

Step 1

I cut the waterproof lining roughly and placed it into the barrel. I spent a good portion of time discussing with my wife between using a ceramic, similar sized pot or this style, and while this one has drawbacks, we're only keeping the minimal moisture in so we went with that. 

The barrel has a hole at the bottom of it, which is fine for where it'll be going. The lining will be enough to hold some moisture in, but not all of it. I also ensure that the lining doesn't go all the way to the top of the barrel just so it isn't showing. 

Step 2 

I cut the PVC piping to size. Using the measuring tape and multitool, I cut the 90mm pipes to 60cm and 40cm and the 40/25mm to 40cm and 2 x 30cm. Once this was done, I switched out the multitool saw attachment to the sander attachment and ensured there were no sharp areas. Once I was satisfied, I placed the elbows onto the pieces. 

Step 3

I placed the pipes and the solar light roughly where I wanted them to be and slowly filled up the barrel with the black scoria landscape stones, moving around the pipes as needed. I ensured that not all the pipes were straight, to mimic what green tree frogs would find in the wild. I would recommend two people here, as it was a little tricky doing this by myself.

Once I was up to about three quarters of the way up the barrel, I stopped. I then placed a small amount of the same landscape stones into the pipes and solar light to further weigh them down.   

 

Step 4

Open up the bag of larger, decorative pebbles and fill the remaining barrel space to be level (or levellish). I placed one or two stones into each pipe and the solar light as well to be consistent. 

   

Step 5

Give everything a little wash and place in a well-lit area to ensure the solar light gets a charge before placing it in its final area. 

 

And there we have it. I timed myself creating this and it took me 27 minutes. I'm sure someone can do it faster. I was super thrilled with how this one turned out. We have enough stones to make two more of these frog hotels, so we only need to purchase the PVC pipes and elbows, bucket, and solar light again. You could certainly do this for cheaper in several areas, but this is the aesthetic we were going for.

The bucket itself holds a decent amount of moisture. Every two to three days I'll sprinkle it with some water to keep it damp for guests. The solar light creates a nice night feature for the hotel itself, but it also attracts bugs and insects to the light, which is great food for our frog friends. 

More inspiration for your frog shelter project

Workshop member Mitchell built his frog shelter using terracotta pots, which he inverted to protect the frogs from predators.

Experienced Community member Adam created this Pond with built-in seating, which frogs would revel in.

[Dave-1]

Good afternoon @Remarka6le 

Love it! And can imagine the frogs happily croaking away! hahahah Something about frogs in your garden just makes it nicer to relax in. You know its healthy when you can hear the nighttime sounds (or after rain!)

I use to have a fence post that a family of frogs loved living in and cant believe I hadnt thought of doing what you have! A nice idea and very doable.

Dave

[Remarka6le]

Cheers @Dave-1 ! The froggy serenade is like nature's own relaxation playlist, right? There's just something about those nighttime sounds that make everything feel alive, especially after a good rain.

[Herrenovacation]

Such a great idea. 

Quick question if @Remarka6le , @Dave-1 or @MitchellM might be able to advise.  I want to create a frog hotel but id like to cover the PVC pipe with something a little more appealing to the eye, do you know if the whole surface must be smooth? I would assume in the wild frogs would climb trees & logs but unsure if they stick to smooth surfaces or something with a rough bark etc. 

[EricL]

Hello @Herrenovacation 

In my observations frogs can stick to almost anything. So, if you are covering the surface of the pipe with timber or some other rough material I would not worry as I'm sure the frogs webbed appendages will be able to grasp onto its surface. 

I recently had a frog climb onto my fence and it's a tall fence with very slim bars, I had no idea how it got up there, but it terrified my wife when she saw it at the top.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @Herrenovacation 

Id have to agree with @EricL frogs have an amazing ability to walk? climb slick surfaces Anything rougher then a PVC pipe and it will be all the easier for them. Id like to have a water feature in my garden, yet to do it of course. When I see these type of projects it bumps the projects idea up the ladder a few more notches

Dave

[Remarka6le]

Hey @Herrenovacation, 

Surfaces don't have to be smooth. Green tree frogs possess a remarkable ability to attach to surfaces using their toe pads, they work by producing higher friction than adhesive forces, which allow them to adhere to smooth, rough, dry, and wet surfaces. Outside of extremely slippery or oily surfaces, they'll be able to climb pretty much any natural / manmade environment. Little cool fact for ya.

I wanted to keep the project simple, which is why all my frog hotels surrounding my house are just simple PVC pipes, its also a colour that attracts more bugs, flies and insects, so when paired with the solar lights at night, the frogs won't go hungry 😅. If you wanted to change the look, you could always wrap them in sisal twisted rope or a faux bark wrap. 

Regards

[Herrenovacation]

Thank you @EricL, @Dave-1 & @Remarka6le 

I thought that was the case, just wanted to double check to be sure. I will share my project with you all once I am done. 

[Dave-1]

@Herrenovacation 

Looking forward to seeing it!

Dave