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A cheap, great looking Frog Hotel that you can build within 30 minutes.
The project
The recent rain event in SEQ 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 19 on one night. We decided to build an initial Frog Hotel to see costs, difficulty in building and time.
The Tools
These are the tools I used, feel free to substitute where needed:
- Measuring Tape + Marker
- Ryobi 18V ONE+ Multi Tool with Blade & Sander Attachment
- Scissors
The materials
We already had several pieces of 90mm PVC Pipe and the 90º elbows to go with them as well as some waterproof sheeting that my wife uses for her planter boxes. So it was a trip to Bunnings where I purchased the following:
- 37cm Half Barrel Timber Barrel Tuscan Path ($33.98)
- Decorative pebel Tuscan Path 10kg White Quartz ($19.98)
- Landscape Stones Ki Carma 16kg Black Scoria ($10.98)
- Bollard Gardenglo Solar Light ($5)
- Waterproof Garden Liner (Already Purchased)
- 90mm PVC Pipe – 1m Length (Already Purchased)
- 90mm 90º PVC Elbow x 2 (Already Purchased)
- 40mm PVC Pipe – 1m Length ($13.05)
- 25mm PVC Pipe – 1m Length ($6.05)
- 25mm 45º PVC Elbow x 1 ($2.80)
The Build
(The Solar Light I am using needs 8 hours of charge in the sun before use, thus I did this project at 9am to ensure it was charged by night).
Step 1: I cut the waterproof lining roughly and place it into the barrel (This 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 multi-tool, I cut the 90mm pipes to 60cm & 40cm and the 40/25mm to 40cm & 2x 30cm. Once this was done, I switched out the multi-tool 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 3 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, decretive pebbles and fill the remaining barrel space to be level (or level-ish). I placed one or two stones into each pipe and 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.
Final Thoughts
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 2 more of these Frog Hotels, so we only need to purchase the PVC pipes & 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, so every 2 - 3 days I'll sprinkle it with some water to keep it damp for guests.
Why a Solar Light? - It 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.
Now I can get back into the eternal struggle of de-weeding a pathway post major flood event
Fantastic result, @Remarka6le and many thanks for taking the time to put together such an easy-to-follow guide. I trust that any of our members who wish to recreate this project will have no trouble following along. I really like how you've not only created an inviting location for frogs but also an attractive garden feature.
I wonder if your lining retains enough moisture to host some aquatic plants? Perhaps a marginal variety would work well.
Visitors to this discussion might also like to check out these other outstanding frog-related projects: How to make a frog pond in your garden, Pond with built-in seating and How to create a pond in a pot.
Mitchell
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