You're Just a Horny Toad, Boy!

[DarthRider]

Please allow me to introduce my friend Larry...
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-009/948313727_EnRej-M.jpg

Larry is a Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum), commonly called a Horny Toad, Horned Toad or Horned Frog, but he is neither a toad nor a frog, rather a true lizard, or "Lizario" as my demented brother calls them.

Larry's kin are rather famous and very popular in Texas and are actually our Official State reptile of Texas...bet you didn't know we even had one! I didn't either...

I caught Larry recently, kept him in a bucket for a couple of days for play and photography. The pics aren't great but they might be interesting to some. He is a handsome fellow after all!

Here is where the Texas Horned Lizard lives, although other flavors of Horned Lizards are found in many places.
http://www.wildcatbluff.org/images/horned_lizard_map.gif

Larry is the largest Horny Toad I have ever seen, although I learned he is not a record-breaker.
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-014/948315141_Luajd-L.jpg

http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-011/948314232_HnZNd-L.jpg

They are gentle, harmless creatures with a lot of appeal. But they do pack effective protection from their predators.
Their head-spikes are not "horns" but are skull-bone extensions. Strong & very sharp!
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-010/948313992_7ufMM-L.jpg

They can flatten their bodies to hide or make themselves difficult for a predator to "get a-hold of" and pick up. Or they can puff up very large so they won't fit in a predator's mouth, and be very hard to swallow. They can also change colors for camouflage.
Something else they can do as a last resort is squirt blood from the corners of their eyes! The blood is mingled with a foul tasting chemical and they can squirt up to 5 feet. Tricky little guys! West Texas grade school legend had it that the blood was poisonous and you would die if it got in your mouth. But we knew we were immortal and played with them anyway. I never saw one squirt blood.
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-020/948316840_PKFPg-L.jpg

All puffed up, showing off his impressive belly. Mother Nature has certainly created some beautiful things wrapped in ugly packages! If you stroke their bellies they will deflate and sort of zone-out. Or become hypnotized as we used to claim.
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-013/948314883_PNCTv-XL.jpg

Horny Toads are very desirable yard-dwellers as their primary diet is the large Harvester Ant, often called the Red Ant. They have both a painful bite and sting, so Larry earns his keep!
Here's our boy, cooling that fine belly in his (temporary) water dish.
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-002/948312133_2GgsK-XL.jpg

For you scat fans...imagine how many Harvester Ants it takes to make one of these!
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-005/948312779_987KS-M.jpg

One of my Naturalist friends asked how I knew his name is "Larry" and not "Larryette". Well I don't have a clue. I see no evidence of either a Pee-Pee or a Hoo-Haa (technical terms) and I thought it improper to explore any further!
Only Larry (or Larryette) knows for sure...
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-012/948314510_59wXm-M.jpg

We relocated Larry to what seemed a finer abode...the man-made "dry creek-bed" we built for drainage & erosion control. It's on a major Harvester Ant "fly-way", has nearby water, shade and plenty of hiding places.
Here is Betty saying goodbye to Ol' Larry before his release.
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-019/948316577_Gr2gP-L.jpg

Larry's new digs.
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-021/948317197_wR4Xr-L.jpg

I'm the King of the World!
http://mrcycle1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Naturalist/Larry-022/948317468_UY32g-XL.jpg

The Larrys of Texas, while not technically "endangered" are considered a "threatened species" and are protected. Their numbers have greatly diminished over the years, primarily due to increased agricultural land-use and the urbanization of Texas.
I can remember when the term "urbanization of Texas" was an oxymoron, alas.
I recently caught another Horny Toad, about half the size of Larry. I believe "she" is the missing Larryette so I transplanted her to the same dry creek-bed, hoping for a little colony to develop. I don't think we're really supposed to do that, tampering with Mother Nature, but it seems a small transgression...and the damned Red Ants are taking over!

If you just can't get enough, here's more on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_horned_lizard

Larry says "Hey!"

[jamming]

Cool!!! I remember Horny Toads growing up, they were everywhere! We have lizards here, bunches of them. I had one last year living in my garage. I named him Fred.

http://jamming.smugmug.com/photos/560340403_WQK4i-M.jpg

He got pretty tame. He would sit on my toolbox and watch me. He would come out when I pulled in to the garage. I kept a little water dish for him full.

[panthercity]

Not all Horn Frogs are harmless....

http://www.sportsapparelsuperstore.com/images/TCU%20Horned%20Frogs.gif

[kocook]

Used to catch them and make temporary pets of them during the summers spent in Norman, OK & OKC, OK.

[Bill]

We had lots here on the Mexican Border - very seldom see them any more - also had snails out the kazoo - and doodle bugs - most are gone with DDT. We don't have any song birds - nor targets "White Winged dove"

[Wild Will]

Dangerous Dave, you and Miss Betty are National Treasures! It can't be a male, Dave, because he has no Wedding Tackle...

[Arby]

Careful there, Dangerous. I heard folks and their pets start looking alike after a while. (I'm pretty sure it takes longer than 3 or 4 days though.):045:

RB

[DarthRider]

Careful there, Dangerous. I heard folks and their pets start looking alike after a while. (I'm pretty sure it takes longer than 3 or 4 days though.):045:

RB

You mean good ol' Larry will be young, skinny & handsome!?
What a lucky guy...

[vintagemxr]

We've got an Arizona version (http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Lizards-Subpages/h-p-solare.html) of Larry over here. They range from southeastern AZ up through the central part of the State. Some overlap of territories with their Texas kin from what I see. I think the AZ version are a bit different, more colors. I've seen a couple in the wild but they are scarce. Fascinating creatures and protected here, I think. There's also a BBQ place called the Horny Toad. (http://www.thehornytoad.com/)

the other Doug (who is now hungry for BBQ)

[Griffon]

While in Texas, Lori and I weren't lucky to meet Larry or any of his kin. We did, however, see one of his Arizona cousins while visiting the Phoenix zoo. Oddly, the lizard in question was not penned up, but running around in the undergrowth near one of the paths through the zoo.

Thank you for playing Marlin Perkins for us!

[JCsman]

I had a Kansas Kousin of Larry for a while as a pet. Dad caught him and brought him home. He may not have had that squirt blood thing going for him. Our family dog caught him one day and lowered the horned toad population by one in just a second.