TEXAS HORNED TOAD

I recently moved back to my beloved Lone Star State, after 35 years of absence, I have not seen a horned toad. When I was a child here and we got bored we would go into the back yard and catch a "Horney Toad" and let it go after playing with it. No one I have talked to has seen one since they were children.
What has happened?

i was told the same thing when we moved to new mexico, although we still have some species in the north. i heard it was because the fire ants are moving north because it is warm enough for them now, and their venom is able to overpower the lizards because they usually eat ants so they don't know to stay away from those nests. they are some of my favorite critters and it sounded like such an awful thing to have so many of them die out.

Thanks cerrid--that makes sense--there decline does seem to parallel the spread of the fire ant

www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/texas_nature_trackers
I'm not sure if this will make a link. I googled and found this information.

This message was edited Oct 10, 2010 7:32 AM

Thanks Lou

cerrid, you're right about the fire ants causing the demise of the horned lizard but it's not due to their venom. Since the introduction of the fire ants to the U.S. the horned lizard's main food source, harvester ants, has been almost totally wiped out. For some reason fire ants have an extreme dislike of harvester ants. They will attack any harvester mound until the entire colony is totally destroyed. This has essentially starved out the horned lizard in many areas. Even here in SE Texas, 25 miles east of Houston, they were a common sight 40 years ago. As a kid we couldn't roam the fields here without encountering large numbers of them. It's sad now that most children today won't encounter one of our fascinating resources due to human error.

I teach classes to 5th graders at Baytown's Wetlands Center where I use the horned lizard as an example of what can happen when part of the food web is destroyed. The class mainly revolves around the role of mosquitos in the wetlands and, as much as they're hated, the resource that it is for other animals. I'll ask the kids if they would like mosquitos to be totally wiped out. The reply is usually a resounding yes. Then I show a picture of the lizard and ask if any had found one. None have and I go on to explain why. As a fond recollection of my childhood it saddens me when I think of what has happened to our beloved horny toads. :(

This message was edited Oct 10, 2010 11:15 PM

Thanks for the info Steve--but it is really sad to think there is essentially nothing we can do to reverse this.

I too used to catch these by the bucketfuls when I was a kid. We would have contests to see who could catch the most in a day. At the end of the day the 5 gal buckets would get emptied and all the horny toads would go running like mad!!! Sadly my boys have yet to see one for real.

I grew up in Big Spring in West Texas and I remember we used to catch them and lay them on their backs and rub their bellies. I haven't seen one in ages either. It is sad that they are almost gone.

Wow! I also remember horny toads when I was very young and living in Orange. Very sad to hear about their demise. And my biggest and happiest toad memory was living in Houston (3rd through 6th grade) in the 60's and we'd all get our mom's mop buckets and go out at night and collect zillions of toads under the street lights! Then we'd let them go and watch them hop away. Another memory was collecting handfuls of wildflowers in the empty lots and giving them to my mom (who was probably allergic to them!). Fun days...Wish my kids could have roamed free like we did back then.

I had one on my land living in my wisteria when I moved there. When I found out how rare they are I make/made sure that I kill all the fireants but don't put anything out that will kill the harvester ants. I've not seen a horny toad in a few years but we have 3 different places on our land that has harvester ants. At least if one comes around it will have food.

Whats a Harvester Ant look like? I didn't even horned toads were native here. In Ca I had them as pets.

They are BIG ants

If I thought I could find some Horned Toads I would eradicate the fire ants around here and introduce Carpenter ants. You can buy carpenter ants online.

You can HAVE my Carpenter ants. They can be very destructive. Why would anybody buy Carpenter Ants? They are like termites but they don't eat the wood of your house but they nest in it.
Lisa

I may be wrong but I don't think harvester and carpenter ants are the same.

rena you are correct and I meant harvester ants not carpenter ants.

1lisac, what you had in California was not the Texas Horned Lizard. There are thirteen different members of the species Phrynosoma. The Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) is one of three that live in Texas. There are four that are native to California. You can see those native to CA at
http://www.californiaherps.com/identification/lizardsid/phrynosoma.id.html

OK No Carpenter ants.
Steve-Thank you for the link they are so cute and they bring back good memories.

We had no fire ants this summer as we had a very long cold winter but in years past I would find toads VERY close to the fire ant mounds seemingly feeding on the fire ants but this past summer didn't see as many toads or fire ants either ..Is there some connection ?? HELP

Those that are interested in the Horned Toad will love this website -

http://www.hornedlizards.org/hornedlizards/hornedlizards_frame.html

I appears that the ants are not the only issue for them. I too recall playing with them as a child and my son has never seen one. :(

Thanks kdownes, that was a very interesting article.

Thanks for the article but I find it difficult to accept their statement that the primary cause for the toads decline is agricultural expansion and urban conversion. They were most plentiful in my very urban yard (50 ft house lots) in South Dallas and on my uncle's farm in Powderly Texas--a very agricultural area.

i recently moved back to tx. after 38 yr.s in farmington n.m.....never saw any toads or fireants there. now very disappointed not to have horned frogs here....also so far no fireants but know they are around close.

Harvester ants were everywhere when I was a kid. I used to have an ant farm with them. Horny Toads were everywhere too. I havent seen either of them in over 15 years.

I haven't either. A friend of mine came to work yesterday all excited. LOL She told me that her cousin now has a horny toad family living under their front porch. They are keeping a watchful eye on them :)

wonderful.

Were there's toads there's hope----:)

my sister has one in her back yard in New Braunfels and shes VERY protective of it!.. its been there about 3 yrs now..