Where have all the horny toads gone

   / Where have all the horny toads gone #1  

txdon

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Joined
Jul 23, 2003
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Location
Central Texas
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JD 3032E
I thought I would have run across a horny toad by now but I have not seen any for a long time. They were in Texas at one time. When I was a kid I would catch them, put them on their back, rub their belly and they would fall asleep. The quail are gone too. They use to scare me when they flew up suddenly while I was running through my Grandpa's fields. When we bought our land one of our concerns was the wildlife. We certified our land as a TEXAS WILDSCAPE. We are organic and plant native grasses, provide water and shelter. We are noticing some of the different Texas wildlife is coming back. Has anyone seen a horny toad any where close to Texas?
 

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   / Where have all the horny toads gone #2  
Would my ex-wife qualify? She may be close to Texas. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #3  
Someone shipped them overhere, try walking around without stepping on one is a real trick. But thats at our home up in northern AZ. Used to have them around the city (Phoenix) but alot of people spray there places with pesticides and kill off there food (ants) so I guess they die out or move.
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #4  
He had them around here in North Texas when I was a kid and I haven't seen one in 20 years. They were all over the place way back when.
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #5  
As a kid growing up in the Dallas area, it seems that when we wanted to find one we would just go look in the flowerbed. We used to carry them around in a large matchbox. I've heard that the fire ant invasion might have had something to do with their disappearance, since the fire ants kill out the red (harvester) ants that the horny toads eat. But at my place in Athens, there are no fire ants and lots of red ants. And no horny toads. But tons of lizards, some of which resemble them but with long tails.

Steve
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #6  
Don,

You can join this group, and see if you can help bring them back.
In the meantime, how about a license plate? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #7  
Grumpa, do you have fireants in Arizona? I agree with Steve (8NTX) that fireants and our use of pesticides is probably the reason for the demise of horned toads in our area.

When I was growing up in Denton, TX, I used to ride my bike up and down our gravel road and horny toads would scurry out of my way constantly. They also used to hide in the shade of our blackeyed pea vines and scare my mother to death because she would hear them and think they were snakes. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

In the old days, we used to see a lot less use of herbicides for "landscaping" purposes along our highways. Now they mow, use insecticides and herbicides everywhere in North Texas. When it rains, this stuff runs into our lakes, ponds, and fields. I'm concerned that horned toads are just the first of many native animals who will suffer. Like TXDon, I want to try to move to organics and concentrate on wildlife conservation in my area. I don't know if I can make an impact, but I'll try. I don't want TCU to be the only place where horned frogs still exist. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #8  
I used to live in the country north of Austin, Tx. In the mid 80's when we moved there, we had toad, quail, and lots of killdeer birds. As the fireants moved north across our property we slowly watch the ground-nesting wildlife disappear.

Rod
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #9  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Would my ex-wife qualify? She may be close to Texas. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )</font>

ex-wife????? Is that because you couldn't keep up with her????? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif They now have medication that will help!!! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Go see Alice..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Where have all the horny toads gone #10  
They must have moved to my place. I've never seen so many as this year. I have seen a lot of babies this year too. We did have a fairly wet monsoon season this year and have had a good bit of mosquitoes for them to eat.

Stonefox
 
 
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