One of the cutest animals on the planet that you rarely see

[MineralMan]

Phrynosoma coronatum - The California Coast Horned Lizard was my childhood favorite critter. Back when I was closer to the ground, I used to encounter these charming little creatures frequently. When you picked one up, it would quickly sense the warmth of your hand and just sit quietly there and let you get a close look at it. If you put it on your shirt, it would happily go with you wherever you wished, and wouldn't try to escape. They never bite and seem just fine with small children handling them.

Once I became an adult human, I saw these friendly reptiles less and less often, and wondered if they were endangered or heading for extinction. I discovered that they're not. It's just that adults aren't close enough to the ground to notice them as often as when we were children. More's the pity. I did see one when I visited my parents' home last year, and found that they still behave much the same, even if an adult human picks them up. I was pleased to know that my little friends are still around and, ostensibly, still amusing California children as they have always done.

[get the red out]

1. That little creature is adorable

Very cute! I had no idea they existed. Sweet looking little thing. We had to be content with catching toads growing up in Kentucky.

[MineralMan]

6. There are varieties of horned lizards throughout the

western states. One species in Texas is classed as endangered, but they're around pretty much everywhere out there. Their camouflage makes them difficult to spot, and they choose places to be that match their color and patterns, so they're not immediately visible, unless you're looking for them

Often called "Horny Toads," they have distinct paleontological features and most somewhat resemble a triceratops from ancient times. I don't know if they're related, but horned lizards have a distinct ancient look about them. There are similar critters in other places, as well, and they're all over Mexico.

They mainly eat ants, flies, and other small things, and typically sit quietly and wait for such creatures to happen by, but they also stalk and hunt.

They're just cute. The one in the lower photo is a young one. They get to be about 4 or 5 inches long as adults.

[enlightenment]

28. I used to have a huge

collection of horny toads when I was a kid in TX. I look back at my incarceration of those little guys with not a small amount of horror (they lived out their enslavement in a cut down refrigerator crate my dad fixed up for me . . . I built them little houses and dressed them in tissue paper outfits . . . and buried them in a cemetery that had a picket fence of white-washed popsicle sticks . . .)

We always played with them in CO, too - and one year my younger brother demanded to take one back to Japan with us. My parents said no, we can't take it. He had a fit. Finally, my grandmother (who had zero soft feelings for critters) said, "we'll mail it to Honolulu" (we always stayed at Hickam for a couple of weeks before returning to Tokyo).

They packed that poor wee thing in a box (with air holes) and tied brown paper around the box (with discrete air holes) and MAILED it to Honolulu. We got there about 8 days later and my mom picked up the box. Unpacked the critter, which looked mummified. Flat as paper. Dead. DOA. A goner.

(This was, by the way, the point in which my nascent ethical sense kicked in and I gave up using animals as toys).

Brother was, of course, devastated. My mother looked at my grandmother as they stood over the tiny, dessicated corpse - then they quietly conferred for a moment. Gran got down a pie tin and put the lizard in it and propped up its head on a spoon. Mom poured warm water over it, submerging the body.

We waited. Gran took me aside and told me that they did not expect anything to happen - the effort was only being made to assuage my brother's grief.

A half hour later, the lizard was alive and well. My brother agreed to release him at that point, unwilling to risk another, longer, postal journey. *Note - releasing him probably broke half-a-dozen regulations about the importation of non-indigenous animals . . .

I still love horny toads, but now just enjoy watching them live their lives as nature intended.

[MineralMan]

33. Great story. I never did try to keep them.

They eat ants. I would just have one for a couple of hours and let it go on its way.

[roguevalley]

34. wlawsdfionrgturhtlkskdkworhgrit. I want one.

What a redonkulous little cutie pie.

[Arugula Latte]

2. Cuddly.

I shall love him and pet him and squeeze him and call him George.

[JNelson6563]

5. lolz Perfect!

[MineralMan]

7. Please don't squeeze too hard.

When they feel like they're in danger, they can squirt tiny jets of blood from around their eyes. Nobody wants that, so handle gently, please.

[nolabear]

37. Dude! I've found my superpower at last!

I'll be Freakyouthefuckout Woman! My bloody tears shall make you go "Ew! Ew! Ew!" until you lie helpless!

[warrior1]

3. Horny toad

[Blue Owl]

12. Looks a bit like grumpy toad

n/t

[dem in texas]

4. Gone from North Texas

I remember catching them when I was a kid in Dallas. You'd see them in gravely areas. I read in the local paper that their primary diet is ants and now people put out chemicals to kill the ants, so they have no food source.

I always used the old fashion, poor people way to kill ants and that is to flood water in their hill or hole, if they are red ants or fire ants, use boiling water. Might have to do it more than one time, but it always works. But if they are not in the way, just leave them alone.

[MineralMan]

8. Not completely, but they are endangered there.

There was a small variety that lived in the sand dunes near where my home was in California. Lots of them in Southern California and out in the desert.

[broiles]

16. They are TCU's mascot--Horned Frogs--Fear the Frog!

[Jefferson23]

9. Amazing little creature..and look, he is wearing Fall colors. n/t

[MineralMan]

10. Excellent Camouflage.

They tend to match the places where they live, and there are other color patterns, depending on where you find them. They can change color like a chameleon, but not as quickly.

[Jefferson23]

11. Cool. I find their size interesting, too. Fun thread, thanks. n/t

[Triana]

13. He is cute! I like frogs and lizards.

Always have. Used to have a pet tarantula. Of course I like all critters. One of my favorite memories was picking up an Iquana. The big ol thing was just a sweetheart. I held him and talked to him and he just sat there contentedly on my shoulder. Fascinating creatures, all.

[randome]

14. Yeah, right. 'Cute'. Where have we heard that before?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[Jefferson23]

15. lol. n/t

[warrior1]

17. We had a lot of these in Texas

[northoftheborder]

18. I'm glad to find some fellow horned-toad fans on DU!

I just love these little creatures, used to play with them when young; however, they are gone from this area of Texas now, have't seen one in decades. I collect replicas of them - I have some neat tin ones, iron, one made out of bronze, a little plaster one, and wooden; so am always on the lookout for those.

[MineralMan]

19. Cool. I should keep an eye out for such replicas.

I loved those little critters.

[MineralMan]

22. The Hopi and Zuni Indians made lots of fetishes

of them. Searching on eBay for horned lizard or horned toad shows lots and lots of stuff, some of it pretty expensive.

[northoftheborder]

26. Oh, I've never thought to look online for them. Good tip.

I live in an area that has lots of imported pottery from Mexico, and I keep looking for horned toads in those places, but they tend to do beautiful and elaborate other lizards, but not horned toads, and I don't know why, because I think they are still found down there.

[arthritisR_US]

20. Sorry, I'm just not into reptiles, they give me the willies. nt

[MineralMan]

23. I guess they bother some people.

[PasadenaTrudy]

21. I had one

when I was a kid. Along with other lizards and snakes

[petronius]

24. Love seeing those little critters - although I haven't managed to spot a

fingertip-sized one yet. The big ones are cute enough...

[MineralMan]

25. I once had a batch of about 12 of them hatch in my back yard.

I was outside, and the sand started moving. They dug themselves out, looked around, and scattered. Cuties. I didn't bother the little ones, but just watched them scramble for cover.

We also had tiny legless lizards we called "glass snakes" in our yard, along with tiny salamanders called "slender salamanders" that lived under an old log in the yard. Everything from adults about 2.5 inches long to eggs were under that log. The complete cycle. I checked them from time to time and they were there for at least 6 years.


Legless Lizard


Slender Salamander

[Paper Roses]

27. Cute? My idea of cute is a puppy or kitten.

Lizards give me the creeps.

[IrishAyes]

29. What a cute little critter. If my ex had been half as nice, I'd still be married.

Last edited Fri Nov 22, 2013, 11:07 PM - Edit history (1)

It's good for kids to grow up close to nature.

When I was little enough, my parents would let me search the vegetable garden for any creepy crawlies if I'd behaved well enough to earn that honor. Every bug went into the jar, and at night I'd set them on my bedside table. Somehow every morning they were gone and I'd have to start over. I'm not going to say what happened to them, since children might be present. But Mom and Dad never confessed.

The worst was when I once heard a trap snap shut and found a poor pregnant little mouse dead in its jaws. I ran to Mom's sewing machine and got out her best scissors for my first emergency C-Section. The tiny babies I liberated were cold, and my 3-yr-old brain decided the perfect place to keep them safe and warm was in one of the sewing machine drawers. Several times that day I sneaked bits of food to them. It was hours before Mom found them.

I can still hear her scream.

No, I didn't go to veterinarian school later in life, but I did preside at other animal births and, remembering my little mice, as an adult I performed successful surgery on a pregnant dead ewe. In 12 years of breeding horses, the only time I ever had to call a vet was when a new foal needed a blood transfusion. Those I never learned how to do. Anything short of that, however....

[MineralMan]

32. Thanks! Great story.

[kestrel91316]

30. Oh I've seen probably more horned lizards than any other kind in my life, lol.

They are just thick in the part of NV where my dad came from and where we frequently vacationed. My sister and I were always catching them and carrying them around.

ETA: The ones I am familiar with are about 10X that size, lol.

[MineralMan]

31. Frankly, I think their role in nature is

to give children something to catch and carry around for a while. Seriously.

[indepat]

35. The sheer number and variety of nature's creatures are surely an indication that we earthlings

are privileged to be living in a garden of eden.

[MineralMan]

36. Evolution is truly amazing I think.

[nolabear]

38. He's adorable! I grew up with skinks and geckoes.

I loved the geckoes, which hung under the porch lights and caught the bugs. We kept poor little skinks as pets for a short time, but I never had the heart to really keep one captive.

[Hekate]

39. Awww. We used to find them in the empty lot a few blocks from our house in San Fernando Valley...

... when we were very young. We called them Hornie Toads.