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
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:
Materials used in the project:
(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.
