He (for the sake of semantic simplicity) is very cute! I've never seen one of those little guys around here, but we sure had a bumper crop of his cousins. Maybe it's because of all the rain we had earlier in the year, but every time I mowed the lawn I saw at least a dozen of quarter- to half-dollar-sized toads. And there I'd come, walking behind that big green Briggs & Strattony roaring thing, yelling “Run, Fawwrist! Ruuun!” at the top of my lungs (to the not-inconsiderable consternation of the neighbors).

The words "crashed hard drive" are enough to give me a heart attack.

Horny Toads! I love 'em. In the back yard of the house where I grew up .... you couldn't walk five feet in any direction without spooking up a horny toad. Of course we kept the buffet going: red ant beds. Those big fat red ants too, not (ahem) fire ants.

Remember how you could put one to sleep?

Foo, we also had a big hatching of toads after the summer rains. There were places (mostly out in the country) where it looked like the ground was moving, so plentiful were the little critters. Didn't see any of them in town, however, and I managed to refrain from yelling at them out of town. (It took two readings to properly interpret "Fawwrist," by the way.)

Deborah, surely you didn't administer the occasional horny toad belly rub!

I suspect that there weren't any fire ants back in the days you describe. I surely don't remember anything but big red ants and teensy "sugar ants."

I DID put my fair share of horny toads to sleep with the belly rub. One summer we had cousins visit from South Carolina and I took great delight in teaching them the delicate procedure.

One cousin was so taken with the little critters that he packed up a shoe box full and took them back to SC. Sold them for $5 each. We also caught red ants and put them in a fruit jar so he would have something to feed them.

By the way ... regarding fire ants: a neighbor told us not to kill scorpions if at all possible because they were a natural predator to the fire ants. Don't know if that is true or not but I thought it was interesting.

Why is the horny toad that color? All I've ever seen were grey or brownish. We don't see them here anymore either.

...a neighbor told us not to kill scorpions...

Sorry; I wouldn't care if they recycled fire ants into gold bullion...the only good scorpion in my span of control is a dead one!

Why is the horny toad that color?

There are a number of varieties, and they have a wide color range. Also, this one's a baby and will likely get darker as it gets older. And, finally, the habitat for this one is primarily among caliche rock, so this coloring camouflages it.

I have always had a facination for horned toads.They are curious looking animals. I live on 6 acres on the greenwood & midland district. I see them every summer, tho not as often as I used to as a kid. I would love to learn how to raise them. I have pics of a baby or two. They are so cute! BTW anyone out there from the class of "72" drop me a line.

We loved, loved, loved horned toads when we were growing up. I kept them in shoeboxes with holes punched in the boxes for air. I always let them go ... after I teased my brother unmercifully with them. He H A T E D them.

I had never seen one in my life until Eric's photo. What strange cute creatures! He doesn't look real...

I was pretty sure the horny toad habitat didn't extend to Singapore. ;-)

Many factors are listed as possible/probable causes of Horned Toad declines including more urban development, agriculture practices and the arrival of fire ants in some areas. The fireants drive out or destroy the harvester ant populations; harvester ants being a main food source of horny toads. Therefore this website is partially to blame, the name driving many horned toads away.
Read more at The National Horned Toad Assn. website.