How To: Build a Treefrog Tube

When they’re not gobbling up bugs, gray treefrogs love to rest in woodpecker holes, cracks in trees, and other nooks and crannies. You can coax these interesting amphibians to live in your yard by building them a bedroom out of plumbing pipe.

Here’s what you need

• PVC pipe, 1¼-inch diameter by 2 feet long
• PVC cap to fit the pipe
• PVC tee to fit the pipe
• Aquarium gravel or small pebbles
• Tape measure
• Hammer and nail
• Drill
• 1/16-inch drill bit
• ¼-inch drill bit
• Optional: Spray paint
• A grown-up to help

Here’s what you do

1. Measure 5 inches from the bottom of the pipe and have a grown-up help you drill a hole in the pipe using a 1/16-inch drill bit. The hole will let water drain out of the tube.
2. Push the cap firmly onto the drain hole end of the pipe. The pipe will need to hold water — treefrogs need a damp home — so make sure the cap fits tightly. Don’t glue it on, though. You may want to remove it later to clean out the tube.
3. Measure 2 inches from the uncapped end of the tube and have a grown-up help you drill a hole on the side of the pipe that’s opposite the drain hole. Use a drill bit that’s just a little wider than the head of a nail.
4. You can spray paint the tube to help it blend in with the scenery, but it isn’t necessary. If you paint it, just paint the outside. Don’t get paint inside the pipe.
5. Fill the pipe with aquarium gravel or small pebbles up to the level of the drain hole. This prevents mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water that pools inside the tube.
6. Push a tee fitting onto the top of the tube. This will give treefrogs a place to perch but also allow rain to fill the bottom of the tube.
7. To hang the tube, hammer a nail at a slight upward angle into a fence post or tree trunk about 5 feet off the ground. Pick a location that’s near vegetation. Slip the top hole on the pipe over the nail and let the pipe hang vertically.
8. Use a garden hose or watering can to fill the tube with water until it starts streaming out of the drain hole. Check your tube often to see if any frogs have moved in.