Nonbreeding habitat generally is in pine-oak areas adjacent to breeding habitat. Activity is terrestrial and arboreal. Important egg-laying and larval habitats include open cedar swamps and sphagnaceous, shrubby, acidic, seepage bogs on hillsides below pine-oak ridges. Intolerant of closed-canopy conditions.

In the Southeast, typical habitat is characterized by the topography, soils, and vegetation of the Carolina Sandhills, with pocosin or evergreen shrub swamps established along seeps and small streams within the surrounding longleaf pine-oak forest (Noble and Noble 1923, Wright and Wright 1949, Gosner and Black 1957, Bullard 1965, Means and Moler 1978, Tardell et al. 1981). Means and Moler (1978) suggested that adults tend to be found more often in drier shrub bogs, while larvae were more often found in wetter herb bogs. The best habitat appears to occur where these two types of communities are juxtaposed.

In North Carolina, occurrences are almost exclusively in or near pocosins or shrub bogs with dense growth of pines, bays, and various ericaceous shrubs (Palmer 1977). Bullard (1965) captured HYLA ANDERSONII in Carolina bays and pocosins dominated by PINUS SEROTINA, QUERCUS LAEVIS, MAGNOLIA VIRGINIANA, GORDONIA LASIANTHUS, CLETHRA ALNIFOLIA, and ACER RUBRUM. Frogs were taken either in the bays themselves or in the adjacent transition zone between wetland and adjacent upland. Most frogs were collected in MAGNOLIA and GORDONIA and none were in pines.

Garton and Sill (1979) described breeding habitat in South Carolina as low vegetation with dense growth of SPHAGNUM mosses, similar to those described by Means and Longden (1976) in Florida. The largest population (some 50 calling males) in the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge was found in a sphagnaceous seepage slope comprising about 5 acres. The area was characterized by scattered pines and sweet bay (MAGNOLIA VIRGINIANA), with dense growths of pitcher plants (SARRACENIA FLAVA) and cinnamon fern (OSMUNDA CINNAMOMEA). Calling males were also heard in areas of grass and shrubs along the borders of pools and seeps and in dense stands of evergreen shrubs (LYONIA LUCIDA, PERSEA BORBONIA, ILEX GLABRA, and others) located along small stream courses in sphagnaceous areas. Common associates in South Carolina include pinewoods treefrog (HYLA FEMORALIS), gray treefrog (HYLA VERSICOLOR and/or HYLA CHRYSOCELIS), and the southern cricket frog (ACRIS GRYLLUS).

Cely and Sorrow (1986) found that occurrences in South Carolina appearred to be restricted to the Fall Line Sandhills at elevations ranging between 61 and 122 m. Characteristic vegetation was longleaf pine (PINUS PALUSTRIS) and various scrub oaks (QUERCUS LAEVIS, QUERCUS MARILANDICA, QUERCUS INCANA) on the ridges and upper slopes and hardwoods, primarily ACER RUBRUM, LIRIODENDRON TULIPIFERA, and NYSSA SYLVATICA var. BIFLORA) in the stream bottoms. The general aspect of 18 inhabited localities was evergreen shrub- herb bog found along small black water tributaries, sometimes upstream from extensive hardwood bottomland forest. The overstory was typically sparse (basal area ranging from 0 to 13.5 sq m/ha; mean = 3.0 sq m/ha). Canopy height ranged from 0 to 28 m (mean = 12 m) with overstory tree density ranging from 0 to 575 trees/ha (mean = 118/ha). Red maple occurred at the greatest densities, but yellow poplar had the greatest frequency of occurrence (44%), followed by red maple (39%) and dead trees (mostly pine) (39%). The understory (stems 2.5 to 7.5 cm dbh) averaged 3 m tall with an average density of 2290 stems/ha. Red maple and sweet bay (MAGNOLIA VIRGINIANA) were the understory dominants. The shrub layer (stems < 2.5 cm dbh) averaged 1.4 m tall and between 50 to 75% total coverage. CLETHRA ALNIFOLIA, SMILAX spp.), and ACER RUBRUM were the dominant shrub layer species. OSMUNDA CINNAMOMEA was prevalent throughout the woody areas. The herb bog was dominated by sedges and grasses, notably beakrush (RHYNCHOSPORA spp.), broomsedge (ANDROPOGON spp.), and needlerush (JUNCUS spp.). SPHAGNUM mosses occurred at roughly half the sites. Cely and Sorrow (1986) concluded that HYLA ANDERSONII occurred across a broad spectrum of shrub-herb bog community types with great variability in measured habitat parameters.

HYLA ANDERSONII is often encountered in disturbed sites associated with utility rights-of-way and recent clearcuts (Tardell et al. 1981, Cely and Sorrow 1986). Seven (39%) of the sites described by Cely and Sorrow (1986) were in gas, powerline, or railroad rights-of-way which crossed evergreen wetlands and in which periodic maintenance had created a herb bog community. Eight of 18 surveyed sites (44%) were associated with recent clearcuts or heavily logged areas. Two sites were found on the edges of beaver ponds. One site was actively managed for HYLA ANDERSONII using prescribed burning.

During a four-year survey in the South Carolina Sandhills, Cely and Sorrow (1986) found calling males in atypical habitats, including temporary habitats created by exceptionally heavy rainfall, but persistent populations (i.e., sites occupied for at least two years) were generally associated with permanent open water of large stream drainages.

Breeding has been reported in small pools, streams, and ditches (Gerhardt 1974). Eggs sink individually to the bottom (Noble and Noble 1923). Breeding habitats are typically characterized by seepage areas, or small streams, with dense SPHAGNUM cover. Herbaceous or shrubby areas are preferred, but densely forested areas do not support the species (Means and Longden 1976, Garton and Sill 1979). Palmer (1977) reported that adults kept for several years in a large outdoor pen failed to deposit eggs.

Freda and Gonzalez (1986) described breeding season habitat in their New Jersey Pine Barrens study site as a small seepage stream, dammed by a sand road, and choked with vegetation (SPHAGNUM spp. and UTRICULARIA spp.). Water in the seep was 0.01 to 0.5 m deep. Vegetation within 20 m of the seep consisted of dense blueberry (VACCINIUM spp.) and a ground cover of sundews (DROSERA spp.). Adjacent uplands supported dwarf pitch pine (PINUS RIGIDA) and scrub oaks (QUERCUS spp.).

Breeding habitat in the panhandle of Florida is characterized by acid hillside seepage bogs with copious SPHAGNUM mosses and dense woody vegetation (dominantly CLIFTONIA MONOPHYLLA and CYRILLA RACEMIFLORA) (Means and Longden 1976).

Montanucci and Wilson (1980) and Freda and Morin (1984) summarized the large amount of information available about the vegetation surrounding breeding colonies. The 40 sites described in New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida typically had an open canopy with a shrub understory averaging 1.6 m high and a stem density of 32 stems/sq m (approximately 50% foliage coverage). The overstory density ranged from 0 to 112 stems/sq m (mean = 26 stems/100 sq m). The herbaceous zone contained as many as 22 species of plants (mean = 18.8 species). Breeding sites can best be characterized by the presence of a shrub or herbaceous zone, and it appears that the structure of the vegetation rather than species composition best determines site suitability (see also Means and Mohler 1979, Cely and Sorrow 1982).

Breeding ponds within the wetland matrix described by Freda and Morin (1984) were typically small (5 to 10 m diameter), sphagnum-filled depressions. Ponds that significantly deviated from this pattern supported few or no calling males and males were never heard calling from lakes and only infrequently from streams, although large numbers were heard in associated back water areas. Zampella (1994) pointed out that treefrogs were typically found in small, ephemeral ponds, rather than in larger water bodies.