Texas Icon: A body covered with horns and the ability to shoot blood from their eyes

Texas Dept of Wildlife ^ | 2/2/14 | patriiot08

[patriot08]

With a body covered in horns, resembling some prehistoric creature- and the demon-like ability to squirt blood from his eyes, the mere sight of the Texas horned lizard is enough to send most screaming and running in the opposite direction should they encounter him.

But most older Texans know his fierce appearance is all for show just to scare off predators. As children they used to catch and play with the lizards, for he is a gentle little creature who never bites and will go to sleep in your hand if you roll him over and rub his tummy.

This docile little creature is the state reptile of Texas and, as the "horned frog", is the mascot of Texas Christian University.

The Texas horned lizard is the largest and most abundant of the approximately 14 species of horned lizards in the western United States and Mexico. They can reach a length of 4-6 inches.

The lizards colors camouflage it against predators, and it can also puff itself up and protrude its many small body thorns making it difficult to swallow.

The Texas horned lizard also has the ability to squirt a stream of blood from its eyes for up to 5 feet. This not only frightens and confuses predators, but has a bad taste when predators such as wolves and coyotes try to eat it.

There has been a serious decline in the number of the lizards in recent years and it is illegal to take, possess, transport or sell them without a special permit. The decline is thought to be the result of overuse of pesticides and invading fire ants which destroy the harvester ants the lizards feed on.

[patriot08]

Maybe instead of a Gadsten Flag we need one with with the horned lizard with the caption: Dare you to screw with us....
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Yeh. One with a picture of him squiring blood out his eyes.
LOL

[MeshugeMikey]

they are I guess far more...:REAL..than michelle has ever been

there is that Shooting Blood out of their eyes similarity though?

[patriot08]

“When I was a kid, I lived with my grandmother near Wylie, Texas. I’d catch horny toads and put them in my pillow case so I could play with them after my nap. They were always gone when I woke up. I am a horny toad fan and it’s sad to think of their numbers depleting.

We live in central AZ. Our min-pin had a stand-off with a horny toad. I videoed the encounter until the dog got too crazy. The horny toad was relocated to a safer corner of the yard. A couple of months later, there were a bunch of baby horny toads running around the yard.

We also have video of a couple of horny toads having sex, but I don’t want to embarrass anybody by posting it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlJjBn11o-g";
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Thanks for the vid! That’s SO cute!
I didn’t know they would stand up to an animal like that!
Ariz lizards must be tougher than our Tx lizards.

I’ve NEVER seen one do that. They usually high tail it out of there when something approaches them.

Your Lizard look different, too.
Does it have those big horns on its head?

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[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

A sign of the times to those of you reminiscing about keeping these critters as pets; it is now illegal to possess, transport, or disturb Texas Horned Lizards without a permit from the state.

How they quantify "disturbing" a small reptile, is anyone's guess.

[patriot08]

That’s nice of hubby to get the turtles (actually tortoises0 out of the road.
Most don’t care..just run over them.

We’re losing our Texas tortoises too.

I’ve seen the horny lizards shoot blood.
My mother always used to say if they spit in your eyes, it’ll put your eye out. (like bb guns LOL)
That’s no true, of course. She just didn’t want us fooling with them. LOL

[patriot08]

Wish I had a horny lizard plate like that.:)

Looks like that little fellow is burying himself in the sand. They can really go under the sand quick when frightened.

[patriotsoul]

Go check out the story of Ole Rip, the horned toad that lived 30 years in the cornerstone of the courthouse in Eastland, TX. During a remodel, they moved the cornerstone and there was Ole’ Rip. Mighty hungry. Truth!

[stansblugrassgrl]

I have a picture from when we caught two messing around. We apparently have Round-Tailed Horned Toads. The red one is the male. The funny thing, in watching the horny toads...um......do it, the female was the aggressor. She didn't care that we were filming their activities. The male is obviously blushing. ;-) They have an endless supply of food around here.

[Dallas59]

They are gone in DFW. Back in 60's they were all over the place. The only lizards left around here for the kids to catch are these guys...

[lefty-lie-spy]

When I was around 6 years old I and some friends found a horned lizard (we called them “horny toads”) in a suburb of Sacramento, CA of all crazy places. It is still the only one I have ever heard of in that area. We took care of the fellow for quite a while, but unfortunately he eventually died. I’d love to know if any other horned lizards had been found in Sacramento.

[zeugma]

DH has stopped for several turtles in his rural claims travels & gotten them out of the road.

Almost hit a big one last year on my motorcycle. It woulda wiped me out. I turned around and put him on the side he seemed to want to go to. I could see a pond a few hundred feet away. I figured it was heading out for lunch.

[jch10]

I can remember horned toads being seen and sometimes caught when I was little, in the 50’s, in NW Florida. My boys caught them in the 70’s, in Pensacola, so I guess they must have been prolific little creatures.

[skinkinthegrass]

thanks, for the post.
..back in the late 60's, we had the pleasure of being stationed @ Bryan/College Station, TX (aTm :).
We had many of those little guys running around, one of my friend's Dad was the Assoc. Dean of Herpetological studies @ the University.
He kept many species of reptiles; he had said, the Horned Lizards req'd. @ least 90°F, low humidity & a variety of small insects.
His sons were very adept jr. herps, it was a joy to go hunting w/ them, we practiced catch & release... those were the days.

[patriot08]

I read about ‘ol Rip. LOL

[Dallas59]

Still plenty of these guys around...

[patriot08]

LOL Thanks for the pic. That’s funny.

Your horned lizards look VERY different from ours.
Ours have two big horns on his head, yours have a whole crown of horns.
Females here are bigger than the males (which is something different in the animal world).
I don’t know if they are the aggressors or not though. :)

The babies are just so darn cute...tiny little perfect replicas of mom and dad.

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[thesearethetimes...]

Thank you for the link! I pray that the folks at the zoo are successful in their efforts to help these little guys. We kept Jose doing quite well mainly on live meal worms. Still can remember going to the pet store to buy them... He lived on our back patio, in a terrarium with a secure screen top, that also allowed him to keep whatever he caught ;) and he was a Very good catch! That being said, he was an incredibly sweet natured creature who loved being gently picked up and stroked. In my mind, I can still feel his horns. And no, KGeorge,I never saw Jose “spit” either, which I took great pride in even then, smiles, since I knew it was a defensive action. I did come out a few mornings though, and found that I needed to clean a spray from the glass of his terrarium. We figured he was visited upon occasion by the neighborhood kittehs, but having indoor cats ourselves, made sure his house was WELL secured against such visitors.

Thanks again all, and may God bless.
Tatt

Thanks again for a wonderful thread.
Tatt

[patriot08]

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Michelle had the ability to shoot blood out of her eyes, levitate and spin her head around like a top. (shades of The Exorcist)

[patriot08]

What kind of lizard is that?
I’d be afraid to pick it up.

We have tons of green chameleons around Corpus- and quite a few of those brown chubby little lizards that look similar to that one. I’ve caught a few of the chameleons..little buggers will try to bite you. :)

[Jeff Chandler]

I did something similar in German class. When I had no written report to read from, my teacher insisted I stand at the podium and give my report anyway. My report was on Goethe, and although I had never produced even a first draft, I did study the subject for the report, finding a fascinating analysis by a psychologist on the multi-leveled nature of his writing, as well as some interesting personal history of the man’s childhood and youth which had effects on the stories he wrote and the characters he placed in them. So I went ahead and shared what I had learned. It was the best report in the class.