Because of their resemblance to toads in body color and shape people often call these lizards "Horny Toads" or "Horned Toads" but they are far from being related to toads, they are a type of lizard.
In size an adult Texas horned lizard can reach up to 4 to 6 inches in length. Females tend to be slightly bigger than the males, but is not very noticeable on sight.
The horned lizards diet consists of red ants (or harvester ants) The red ants take up 90% of their diet! Thank goodness we have a ton of red ants. The other 10% is beetles, spiders, and a variety of other ground dwelling bugs. These relatively large ants live in prairies, woodland margins and shrublands with abundant grasses and forbs. The horned lizard will lay motionless by ant trails waiting for an ant to come by. When the ant comes the horned lizard moves forward and flicks out it's tongue, swallowing the ant whole. Some observations have shown that horned lizards may eat as many as 70 ants a day! Horned lizards usually attack solitary ants several yards away from the red ant colony, avoiding the colony's center where they would be mobbed by droves of biting ants. Horned lizards obtain most of the water they need from the ants they eat or from the dew of the vegetation. During light rains the horned lizard may arch it's back causing the water that had collected on it's back to move towards it's mouth.
The horned lizards go into hibernation in October burrowing under the ground. They emerge between March and mid-April. Courtship and mating take place in late May and June. Courtship consists of rapid head bopping by the male, which is followed by head nodding from the female.
When the female lays her eggs she digs a tunnel into the ground. She then lays a clutch of 8 to 30 eggs, the size and shape of jelly beans. After laying her eggs the female places dirt back into the tunnel and scratches around the entrance to hide it. The female provides no further care for the eggs or the young. The eggs incubate for about 2 months, then hatch in August or September. When they hatch they are miniature versions of the adult horned lizards. They are very small.
Check this website out for more information about Horned Lizards.
https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/wildlifemgmt/species/lizard.PDF
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post!
-Daughter of the High King of Kings