Eyes of a Toad

I have fond memories of the horny toad. I captured and played with many as a child. The horny toad, rather Texas Horned Lizard still exist but in very few numbers. Fire ants have killed off most of the lizards along with most of the harvester ants that were the main diet of the horny toad. As a child I was never scared of the toads and missed with them ever chance I got. I remember rubbing their backs with long sticks, they seem to like it I thought. If you could get close to them they would freeze, rarely would they ever run away. When I saw their eyes getting blood red I knew it was time to leave them alone. I was always delighted to come across a horny toad. They were easy to catch and interesting to watch. I even tried to charm my Mom with a few of them. Of all the things I brought home in jars or boxes and turned lose in the hallways, it was the horny toad that got the loudest response from Mom. I miss the horny toad and have often wondered what made them so charming to so many people. They weren't all that pretty, were definitely not cuddly and never came when you called them, but they had a charm all their own. They would let me catch them, let me scratch them and were pretty good for freaking out my sisters and brother.