Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I keep reading about how horny toads are threatened, and no one sees them any more. So how come I can't even mow my yard without doing a horned lizard removal first? Today I mowed along my pine trees this morning, an area about 400 ft long and 10 ft wide, and I had to move three babies, two adults, and one that I'd swear was a preggo as fat as it was. I went to put the water hose on my peach tree, and nearly stepped on another baby. Had to retrieve an adult from the cat who thought he was fun to toss in the air, saw another one sunning itself on a rock in my flowerbed. Don't get me wrong, I like the little guys... they're why I don't dump a gallon of Amdro on all these stinkin harvester ant colonies, but geeze. I'm starting to think they invited all their cousins and kin to come live here. Going to have to start chargin 'em rent pretty soon.

Jade

Sounds like you need to contact Texas Parks and Wildlife and have a site survey done on your property. Your sightings are an aid to identify areas where the horned lizards are abundent.

Like many folks, your conclusions of the horned lizard's "high" density is anecdotal. There are areas where horned lizards are plentiful, but the entire range of the horned lizards has declined. The area you are in may not have fire ant problems, habitat loss issues, non native species issues, or other biological/ecological factors relating to horned lizard declines. There are places in Texas where the horned lizards "enjoy" positive biological/ecological "stability." But the question is "For how long?"

Lester G. Milroy III

I'm aware they've declined, the post was tongue in cheek.

We have native fire ants here, but they're not anywhere near as invasive as the imports, which haven't made it this far north (I'm in the base of the panhandle). I probably have 3-4 harvester ant colonies per acre, multiply that by 20. The lizards are the ONLY reason I've not brought home a 55 gallon drum of Amdro.

I never saw them here when I first bought the place, guy that had it sprayed for everything from boll weevils to weeds, nothing lived here. No pesticides or herbicides for 4 years now, and last year I started seeing them on a daily basis. This year they're all over the place.

Imported fire ants are 90 miles southeast of me though. Just a matter of time before they make it up here.

Jade

Just count yourself lucky, and my respect to you for being environmentally conscious. That is unfortunately pretty rare in Texas where most still have the notion of trying to "improve" the native land into a sterile park (if not a parking lot). I even heard about one guy who found Texas Horned Lizards on his property, and finding out they were protected, went out of his way to run them over every chance he got, so the "damned environmentalists" with the federal govt would't try to "confiscate" his land. What a paranoid fool, huh? I have harvester ants too, which don't bother me at all. But never seen a horney toad around here. But we got lots of fireant mounds too...I HATE FIREANTS!!! They swarm over and try to kill any hatchlings of reptiles, groundbirds, even rabbits they come across. Bastards. I pour boiling water on them with pleasure. Doesn't always work though.

Hehe, do any of you guys want to sell me some of those Harvester ants? My pigs, Quadzilla and Gerty, are eating me out of house and home. I live no where near any form of fire ants. I bought my Horned Lizards from a captive breeder, so he says. I found one seller of Harvester ants, I bought 500 but I only received 308,I could understand shipping a few short, but almost 200 short? I know how much was in there, because I count how many ants my babies eat, I want to make sure that I will notice if they are not eating the usual amount, for they were not in the best of shape when I got them, the man fed crickets only, and he still claimed success. So if any of you know of a place to get ants, please let me know. Thank you, Kim

you can order ants online and in bulk. though, depending on your state, it might not be legal to ship them in.

It is legal as long as you do not ship a queen.
-----
Cables Home
2 Kings 6:15-17