Horned Toads - Who knew?

Down at the ranch Kerry, Kadee and I drove the 4-wheelers down around Losty Loop. On the way back I almost ran over a Horned Toad that made the dicision to freeze in the middle of the trail and rely on his stellar cammo. Luckily, I happened to see him and swerved at the last second to miss squishing him. I, of course, captured him and let Kadee hold him for a couple of snap shots. He was a fat little guy!

The next week, Kadee and I saw another Horned Toad on the side of the road and stopped to see if we could catch him. Unfortunately, this toad was dead and all that remained was the exo-skeleton. When I picked it up, a couple of crickets fell out. I put the shell on the side of the 4-wheeler and took it up to the playground to show Kerry. Kadee was sitting on the 4-wheeler in front of me, learning to drive and she was wearing a loose fitting flared skirt. When Kerry saw it, he picked it up and tossed it into Kadee's lap. Kadee's whole body tensed in seizure-like fashion when she screamed. I tried to brush the thing off but it had died with it's claws retracted and they caught on the skirt fabric, so when my hand brushed by, the skirt fabric stretched tight and it pulled back into place, giving the appearance of the toad jumping at Kadee. So, she screamed again, and seized again. My response was less than helpful at this point because I was silently laughing so hard that tears were streaming and I could not see to unhook the claws. All I could do was hold my hands over her eyes and turn her head away from the grizzly sight. We now refer to it as the Horny Toad Incident.

Two weeks later I found a baby Horned Toad. Here is a pic with him in my hands with a dime to show how small he was - so cute. By the way, Kadee was not afraid of this guy. Apparently, they have to be hollow to be scary.