Did a desert run today to boost my obsidian supply (closet flint knapper here). Ran into this guy ravaging an ant hill, and Cookie managed to close in for an image capture. Looks like something left over from the Pleistocene. Panic set in with our presence, so we got no pics of ants buying the farm. Kid kept one for a summer years back, and they will actually eat near any insect that will fit in the mouth. Really fond of termites if one can find an infested piece of wood and shake them off.



Pygmy short horned lizard or more commonly labeled a horny toad. Found in Oregon's high desert and into our forest fringes. These bare live young about the size of ones little finger nail in July or August. Extreme SE Oregon has another species carrying more substantial horns and they are egg layers.

Anyway, woe be life to any ant that crosses paths with this guy. This one was about 2 inches nose to tail whereas a 3 incher would be Boone and Crockett status.

Have a good one,

Too cool 1minute.

tell Cookie thanks for the pic.

Haven't seen any horned lizards down this way yet. Might have to venture into more desert like areas. Miss the different varieties we had in AZ

He looks mad that you busted up his dinner party,
Yes sir the the boss we are thankful...

Cool little critter.

How do you feel when someone walks in and gabs at you until your fries get cold?


Good photo though...

If they eat ants, they're okay with me.

great picture thanks for sharing it and the details on the little dude

Very cool (as always).

Have not seen one in 60 years.Used to keep them all day then turn them loose.

Last one I saw here in the San Joaquin county of California was maybe 25 years ago. A semi tame one will let you rub their backs, if you go from head to tail on one side they would " jack up" the opposite side like a hydraulic car, then do the "high side" and you could get them to tilt side to side . Pretty fun, lol

Haven't seen one since my Nevada Test site days,along with the fall migration of Tarantulas. Tons of Horned toads north of Las Vegas.My recollection is the nose of your version is more blunt than I recall ours are.

Cool critters - love seeing them (generally out at the ranch)

The horned toad says we should go to Mexico.

Saw one of those out West on an elk mountain, old guy back at camp told me the locals call 'em Mountain Boomers, cool little critter, i picked it up and gave it a good looking over.

Funniest line from the Chief! 😄


I wish they had those up north. Id put one in every wood pile.

I used to want one as a kid , but held off buying them because the pet store didn't sell ants. Winter feed is tough to come by.
Don't they squirt blood from their eyes when you pick them up?

Isn't that the truth!!

They're pretty common here in so. central ID. I see them all the time, especially in the 5 to 6k range on sagebrush hills.

We have them down here too. Never realized they changed color also till I started messing with them. Cool little guys...

Also I just noticed the difference between the one in your pics and mine. look at the horns on the one from NM. Unless it’s a male/female thing. IDK...

Is that a Jim Morrison quote?

Certainly could be...

dryfly,

yours appears to be a roundtail horned lizard from what I can see in your pics.

Anyone interested, there's a decent book or two by Wade C. Sherbrooke.

2003 version



1981 version that I have:



loads of info on the critters.

Pretty cool, thanks. 👍🏻

Don’t know much about them except I had one bought at a pet shop for a time when I was kid. Always thought they were cool. I think I used to feed him meal worms and crickets but I was maybe seven or eight at the time so don’t recall much about it. Could be misremembering it’s for the turtle and toad I also had. Always been fascinated by critters. I’ll check it out.

Mountain Boomer... That's interesting. Ozark Mountain hillbillies nickname the Eastern Collared Lizard "Mountain Boomer" or "Glade Bitch." The Collared Lizard will stand on its hind legs and run away if surprised. Sometimes they get confused and might run directly at you . That shakes some folks when a 12" lizard charges them unexpectedly! I think Arkansas and Oklahoma have these dudes also. Ever seen one?

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/eastern-collared-lizard

Some folks get shaken when a 6" snake "charges" them too.

people are funny about reptiles and such. Might be Biblical?

horned toads are protected here in texas.

I used to take my boa constrictor to study outside on the big benches of the university student union while in high School. She would curl up next to me while I studied. You'd be surprised.
Which students do you think were the scared most?

We had horned toad lizards here at one time, fire ants killed them out

We always called collared lizards Mountain Boomers too. Last on I saw was out on Cedar Mtn. in Llano Co. We used to catch horny toads on the playground at school. Turn em loose in class.

Have seen one at 8018' in Lake County.

The lighter colored thinner ones a bit further se are desert horned lizards, no relation me.

The horny toads used to be all over the place in West Texas. Ive seen only a few the last several years after 25 years of none.

I once saw a huge red one at about 8000 feet on a pine ridge in NM while deer hunting.

When I was a kid, we’d carry the babies around in a match box in our pocket.

Here’s a story about a “famous” local horned toad :

The ones who would take a huge detour around me, 50-100 yards, were the big girly boys who played college football. A couple of the players didn't see her until they were just passing by. They did a left right fake and run quicker than on the field.😁
The pretty girly girls would approach me without hesitation. You'd think I took a tiny puppy on campus😄

That was one of the best stories on a reptile I think I have ever heard. Out of all the bug's bunny cartoons,
That's probably my favorite...i mean when I used to watch them of course. They definitely ripped the idea from Rip when they used the frog.

Happycamper: Yes, they do have the ability squirt some nocuous fluid from somewhere around their eyes. A distasteful repellent of some kind and I think a last resort deal if they're really getting thrashed. Never had one cut loose on us during chase and capture endeavors.

Locally some of our larger lizards will make a grab if they think they can swallow a horny toad. When seized the toad will inflate its body in an attempt to become too large to handle. If they escape or feel threatened, they'll also tip toward one side or the other displaying their greatest dimension and the camo patterns on their back.

They are neat little critters, but fading to things like cheatgrass or medusahead invasions that put a dense carpet of stems on the ground. With their wide bodies they can't run through dense stands of grass. In this region they're mostly in sagebrush/bunchgrass stands that have a lot barren interspaces between tussocks and shrubs.

Dryfly24: Yes, your version is a different cat, and we have those east of Oregon's Steens Mts in the Alvord basin. Not seen any east of there, but I'd guess there should be some in the Owyhee drainage. As to diet, I think they'll do anything that will fit in their mouth. I remember watching one my kid kept shoving down amazingly large grass hoppers For a brief span he kept one indoors in a tank with a screened lid on top. It would nail hoppers, spiders, and even catch house flies. They have a sticky tongue like frogs they can flip out help nail quick moving bugs. Fun to watch when the vision locks on to a bug. They'd crawl in close and then its tail would start twitching as it prepped for a forward leap. The tongue would flip out and even the flies rarely escaped.

I too believe they are a protected species and difficult to feed year round if kept indoors. Our kid once summered one in a screened in outdoor pen where insects had ready access. He then put in a bucket of sand and it overwintered (hibernated) in our root cellar. Got it going again next spring and released it back in its original haunts.

I think it was Murphy, Idaho that used to have an annual toad race as a reason to come to town and help fund the local fire guys. Put the toads under cover in the center of a circle and lift the lid. First to the perimeter was the winner. In our feel good era though, I suspect it's a lost event.

Have a good one,

That's cool. Thanks for the info on the eye defense.

They have some of the spiniest scales in the reptile kingdom....very unique....and good camo. The spines really break up that outline. Maybe I'll buy a captive bred one sometime...now that I know that they'll eat other insects. There's bound to be plenty of breeding programs for these in the pet trade.

The horny toad race reminds me of the box tortoise races that we used to have. Lots of fun for parents and kids.

This one visited me at the range about two weeks ago. They were common here when I was a kid but rarely seen anymore.

Taken on my elk hunt last year in N AZ.

Can YOU find the horned lizard?



I didn't take a close up as I was striving to show how well camouflaged they are, from my predatory perspective of my 5'8" or so frame.

fire ants killed displaced the red harvester ant which is the horny toad's main food souse.

Good one.

Did you have to zoom on it?

While walking it just caught my eye as "abnormal".

Just had the right shape and sharp tail. They do indeed blend in, and motion is what tips me to their presence most often.

Well done Geno. Might look for elk next time..... Zing.