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Texas Horned Lizard

44,085 Views | 196 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by philevans
CanyonAg77
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5:03p, 10/6/11
AG
Alive and well in the Texas Panhandle. Sorry for the lousy cell phone photo.



horned lizard by me, on Flickr

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 10/6/2011 4:04p).]
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Max06
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5:04p, 10/6/11
AG
THAT is awesome! I've never seen a baby one!
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rather be fishing
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5:07p, 10/6/11
AG
It'll be interesting to see how their numbers react to the fire ant decline due to the drought and the influx of the hair crazy ants.
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Phantom309
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5:14p, 10/6/11
AG
That's awesome. I've always wanted to catch one. never seen one.
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flomoAG
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5:22p, 10/6/11
AG
quote:
That's awesome. I've always wanted to catch one. never seen one.


+1
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CanyonAg77
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5:29p, 10/6/11
AG
Wow. I'm glad y'all liked it, but I'm surprised folks haven't seen them. They are still pretty common up here, perhaps that's because we don't have fire ants up on the caprock yet.

Was on the tractor and saw movement that was too small to be a mouse, so I jumped off and checked it out. Caught him and moved him behind the plow. I hate to kill any critters if I can avoid it.

Funny thing was that it jumped off my hand a time or two while I was trying to get a pic. It would then stick its head in the dirt and shake it from side to side rapidly, trying to burrow into the ground. I switched to video and set him down, and he quit doing it. Oh well.
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str8shot1000
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5:31p, 10/6/11
AG
When I was a kid growing up in Comanche Co. they were very commonplace. I loved setting one in the middle of a red ant bed and watching them go to town. We didn't have fire ants back then either.
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letterman72
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5:41p, 10/6/11
AG
Very common in Bryan/College Station when I was a kid(50's&60's) and probably up into the 70's. Not now, my kids have never seen one.
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Sean98
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5:41p, 10/6/11
AG
^
^
Same here in Hamilton County

(Edit: was supposed to point at Str8tshot)

[This message has been edited by Sean98 (edited 10/6/2011 4:41p).]
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Midland CT 05
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5:48p, 10/6/11
AG
quote:
Texas Horned Lizard


You mean Horny Toad? We used to see them all the time in Midland county, but I can honestly say we never called them a horned lizard.
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chilidogfood
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5:58p, 10/6/11
AG
You misspelled Aoudad...





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concac
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5:59p, 10/6/11
AG
nm

[This message has been edited by RealTalk (edited 10/6/2011 5:07p).]
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ursusguy
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6:01p, 10/6/11
AG
Cool picture.

One thing to keep in mind, the horned lizard population decline largely occurred BEFORE RIFA got here. Think more along the lines of changes in agricultural practices (ie improved/clean/monoculture pastures, certain pesticides).
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rather be fishing
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6:11p, 10/6/11
AG
I know that, but RIFA have been a factor in suppressing the red ant populations, so it could help.

The only horned lizard I've ever seen was on the #4 green at the Winters Country Club.
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The Fall Guy
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6:37p, 10/6/11
AG
Held many if them as a kid in San Angelo in the 70's and 80's. We used to paint them and they would come back every year.
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Sooner Born
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6:50p, 10/6/11
You should get a video of your horse stepping on it.

Oh wait, that's already been done.
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TxLawDawg
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7:30p, 10/6/11
AG
We used to catch them all the time when I was a kid in Bell County in the early 80s. We moved to Comal County in the early 90s, and I haven't seen one since.
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PLUM LOCO
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7:37p, 10/6/11
AG
Grew up in Corpus Christi playing with those critters...
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MasterAggie
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7:48p, 10/6/11
AG
Used to play with them all the time when I was a kid. They were all over B/CS. Been seeing them the last 4-5 years fairly regularly down in Dimmit county and have seen several this year in south CS. Cool little critters.
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Log
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8:26p, 10/6/11
AG
What do you call one that is caught in the mountains around Pecos, NM?
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Centerpole90
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8:58p, 10/6/11
AG
RGV - alive and well!



somewhere here I have a picture of one even smaller than the OP! I was 21 when I saw my first one - but they are on the increase here. We are seeing more of them every year.
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JR69
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9:07p, 10/6/11
AG
Used to catch them and play with them all the time growing up on the Ft Worth west side. Big ones, tiny ones and everything in between. We used to call the little ones 'dime size' because they were.

I took a dozen of the dime-sized ones to the 50th Anniversary Boy Scout National Jamboree in Colorado Springs in 1960 to trade with other scouts. Gave most of them away.
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rather be fishing
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9:10p, 10/6/11
AG
quote:
What do you call one that is caught in the mountains around Pecos, NM?


Short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi)
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Tex Aggie
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9:23p, 10/6/11
AG
sean 98... where are you from? you say hamilton county...thats where i am from also
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Van Buren Boy
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10:23p, 10/6/11
AG
Very common in Dimmit county when I was a kid
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Sean98
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10:47p, 10/6/11
AG
quote:
(ie improved/clean/monoculture pastures,


F*** coastal bermuda.


TexAg, lived a little here and a little there, but in Hamilton Co. I lived in Hico. Mid-late 80s in junior high.
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YellowPot_97
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11:04p, 10/6/11
AG
Couple Short-horned lizards I've seen at Guadalupe Mountains.



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txyaloo
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1:27a, 10/7/11
AG
I haven't seen any since the early 90's. Great to see the pics. Like others, I had a lot of fun as a kid catching and putting them in the massive red ant beds on our place.
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Curak73
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8:38a, 10/7/11
About 6 years ago, deer hunted north of Aspermont. This particular lease had plenty of red ants, and on any weekend in the spring/summer, it was nothing to go see 3-4 in a weekend. Never seen anything like it.
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AggieRob93
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8:43a, 10/7/11
AG
Seen a few on a hunting lease in Archer County the past few years.
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DirtDiver
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8:46a, 10/7/11
Texas Legend

Old Rip




[This message has been edited by DirtDiver (edited 10/7/2011 7:47a).]
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CanyonAg77
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9:19a, 10/7/11
AG
As mentioned in the "Old Rip" link above, the story of Rip lead to this cartoon. I was thinking about that cartoon when the little lizard quit doing his dirt-digging once I got the video camera mode turned on.


And yes, I never called them anything but "horny toads". I could never figure out why TCU were horned "frogs".
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BCS Realtor
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9:53a, 10/7/11
I saw them quite often growing up in the 90's when we went to visit my grandmother near Robert Lee in west Texas. Never saw any in East Texas where we actually lived.
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Midland CT 05
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10:10a, 10/7/11
AG
CanyonAg77-

Ok, I'm glad you posted that. I was starting to think I was the only weirdo...
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SWCBonfire
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10:26a, 10/7/11
AG
Coastal pastures leading to the decline of the horny toad is a load of crap IMO. The loss of rowcrop agriculture in a lot of the state had a lot more to do with it, not that they were converted to bermuda pastures.

I would believe that pesticides curtailed the reproductive rate before I believed the relatively small area of the state of Texas that is planted in improved bermuda pastures were the cause. I've been surrounded by red ants all my life and never seen one, so it is not lack of food around here. There are tons of klein pastures as well, and they are chock full of red ants.

I would imagine maybe disease, pesticide use (big maybe), or just cycles have contributed to their downfall. I've never seen one, and I'm surrounded by red ants. They are also up in the hills where no one can plant coastal, and there aren't any horny toads up there either.
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