The Texas Horned Toad (for sale, live in, eat)

[lonestar2007]

I've been stung by red ants and while you know they got ya, it is nothing to being attacked by those sneaky fire ants! I have stepped in the middle of one of the red ant trails just to see if they would go around and they did make a detour around my foot, back onto their trail and kept on trucking. Not one sting or aggressive movement from them. Now the fire ants on the other hand are the most aggressive, downright mean little critters you can come across and they can be on you in an instant like stink on s**t! It hurts bad enough to make you peel out of your clothes in downtown Dallas to get them off of you! Horrible,horrible creatures!

I've heard the fire ants are the reason we don't see that many red ant beds anymore and since the red ant was a food source for the horney toad, they are becoming more and more rare. I also believe the pesticides we are using play a big factor also. We are using more and more pesicides to try and control these crazy fire ants. In general, I believe more chemicals are being used now and this includes fertilizers along with pesticides.

Now I'm just as guilty as anyone on using these chemicals, but I will say one thing. I have a big ol ant ant bed out in my pasture that I will not disturb. It's funny, because years ago, I would have been pouring the poison on it, now I seem to regard it as a part of the land with as much right to be there as I do.

The last horney toad I saw was a few years ago and it was a young one. I live just a little south of Fort Worth and it was here on my place, on top of a woodpile. I started to try and catch it and could not bring myself to touch it. Now, that's the funny part, because when we were kids, we played with them all the time. We would fix them a home (a little grass, some twigs, punch holes in the top) of a shoebox. We'd name them, tie a string around their necks, take them for walks. We'd catch ants and rolleypolleys and put in the box. After about a week or two, we'd let them go and catch a new one. Never thought one little bit about snatching one up. If you held them in the palm of your hand, and rubbed from their head down their back, they would go to sleep. You could make them mad though. We had a little neighbor boy who was as mean as all get out. He'd get one of the horney toads and aggravate it to death. Well, one day, he picked the wrong one and it split blood into his face, hitting him in the eye. Now, my sister and I started hollaring that he was going to go blind. We told him that's what happens when a horney toad splits blood in your eye. I never will forget, he took off running, hlding his hand over his eye, to his Grandma's house. We were right behind him, saying, you're gonna go blind, you're gonna go blind, over and over. He was crying and scared to death. He ran into the house and washed his eye out real good with water and he could see! He was so happy. We told him he just got lucky, next time he might not be so lucky. It was the last time he ever poked and prodded on a horney toad!

Now, while I might not be able to bring myself to grab one up like I used to, I certainly miss seeing them around, and if I could wave a magic wand and bring them back, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[TexasReb]

Great post and memories and facts, Lonestar!

I never really thought about it until some of y'all mentioned it, that yep, one doesn't see "red ant" (harvester) beds so commonly anymore either. The ones made out of "gravel", seemed like!

And like y'all say, really, they weren't truly aggresive for all their large size and all. If you got stuck you KNEW you had been STUCK, but they didn't swarm all over you unless you really disturbed them.

The true fire ant? Those little suckers will come out all over you at the slightest provocation! Alone they aren't much, but in the hundred they can make you feel it!

I remember one year I took my son, when he was maybe 6 years old or so to an event in Livingston, Texas, where some members of my historica/genealogical organization (Sons of Confederate Veterans) had a re-enactment camp set up. We ended up spending the night in one of the tents set up. Before everyone turned in for the evening, someone poured down some kind of white powder that supposedly repelled them. It didn't work.

Anyway, I stayed up late that night, so slept in a bit the next morning, but woke up to the sound of my little boy crying. I got off the cot and right away felt those little "b******s (pardon the french, ladies) all over my leg and stinging like crazy. I went over the my son's cot and they were on him as well. Poor little guy...he didn't know what was going on, just that he was hurting and it wouldn't stop! I wiped them off him as best I could, and went and got us some salve, then a motel room in town so we could each take a hot bath and alleviate it all somewhat. But we sure did both have little tiny blisters all over us for the next few days....

[wade_word]

Originally Posted by texscot

Horn Toads, Red Ants, Guess The Fire Ants Ate Them All. We Used To Have An Abundance Of Horned Toads On The Ranch. Also The Red Ants, Man Could They Put A Hurt On You. Although, I Would Rather Have Them Back Then Living With The Fire Ants.

Is this a long title? Must every word begin with a capital letter? Lose the shift key, homey. Shees-louise! I haven't seen too many horny toads and I believe the last time I saw one was way back at Possum Kingdom Lake. With regards to fire ant sensitivity, I've always thought toads were totally unaffected by anything. I really wonder if they are an endangered species these days.

[case44]

Originally Posted by usernameLOL

I have seen a lot of horny toads in the past few years. I saw one most recently in front of G.W. Bush's childhood home when visiting Midland, it was trying to get up the curb but couldn't so I helped it up but screamed the whole time, prolly scared the poor thing. They do eat the harvester ants so don't kill them, they will leave you alone if you stay out of their paths and don't mess with their colonies.

Horny toads eat ants? Hmmm...... What else do those things eat??

[catman]

I haven't seen a horny toad in many years here in Ft Worth. When I was a kid in the 1950s, horny toads and fireflies (lightning bugs) were all around; every evening, a natural light show took place. I miss them both.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

Last time I saw one was in 1981 in the Johnson county area (South of Fort Worth) where I grew up. We had just moved back to the state after having lived near Boston for 10 years. I thought I had dropped of the edge of known civilization when I ran up on this thing.

I was running around a buildling to get to my grandmothers house and we came face to face, scared me like I can't tell you.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Lindsey_Mcfarren

Last time I saw one was in 1981 in the Johnson county area (South of Fort Worth) where I grew up. We had just moved back to the state after having lived near Boston for 10 years. I thought I had dropped of the edge of known civilization when I ran up on this thing.

I was running around a buildling to get to my grandmothers house and we came face to face, scared me like I can't tell you.

LOL This reminds me of something else I once heard as concerns the decline of the horny toad.

Supposedly, back in the 60's a lot of Texans would capture them and sell them to yankees, claiming they were "baby dinosaurs" (which, given a lot of yankee perceptions of Texas, was probably believable!). Anybody ever heard that one?

[car957]

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has a very good webpage on this subject:

TPWD: Texas Horned Lizard Watch -- Welcome (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/texas_nature_trackers/horned_lizard/ - broken link)

TPWD also has a habitat monitoring program. It's pretty easy to participate in and will hopefully provided enough information so we can improve the number of toads.

[kpoeppel]

I saw a few of them that one year I lived in Big Spring (west Texas).

[TexasReb]

Any of y'all remember the "legend" of "Ol' Rip"?