Wichita Falls Reptile Rescue

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Horned Lizards are one reptile that we at Wichita Falls Reptile Rescue know well. WFRR participates with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. - Texas Horned Lizard Watch Program, for reporting of data on sightings of Horned Lizards. This data includes location, time of day, temperature, sex of specimen, size, and notes about the terrain.

WFRR actively talks to landowners in the area about the protection of Horned Lizard habitat and their food sources, such as the Red Harvester Ant. A careful scan of your driveway before pulling in, or taking a few minutes and going over the lawn before mowing, can save the life of a "Horny Toad". Think carefully about alternatives to insecticide also, before deciding to lay out poison for those fire ants, or on harvester ant colonies. These poisons may be ingested by Horned Lizards eating the poisoned ants, or you may kill the food source of the Horned Lizards living on your property.

Horned Lizards are growing more and more rare in these areas, and do not make good pets for many reasons, contrary to what your grandpappy might have told you about keeping them when he was young. They used to kill a lot of them too by keeping them, and far sooner than their time...but nobody recounts that aspect in their story telling. 

The Horned Lizards native to the Wichita Falls area are state protected as a threatened species in both Texas and Oklahoma. WFRR discourages the collection and keeping of Horned Lizards by unpermitted and inexperienced reptile keepers. We have previously provided an extensive caresheet on Horned Lizards to the Montreal Zoo by their request, during their SW themed exhibit, which included Desert Horned Lizards. Since that time the caresheet has evolved into a husbandry handbook encompasing 26 pages, representing the most that has ever been written, to our knowledge, on the captive care of these animals.  

If you have spotted Horned Lizards in the Wichita Falls area, or other areas of Texas, please contact us with information about your sighting. If you have known populations of Horned Lizards living on your property in the Wichita Falls/Texoma area, and do not mind us arranging with you to come out and have a look and a few pictures sometime, please contact us. Thank You.    

[9/29/07] We just received two new Regal Horned Lizard rescues from Washington. They were collected from Arizona by a hunter during one of his trips. After about 5 months, their food demands became a bit much for him to keep up with, and he wanted them to go somewhere where they could be cared for better. They are both female, and both a little underweight but not too bad. One is a bit dehydrated, but both are eating well and drinking. We will have more on them soon.

[Update: 3/06/08] These two girls continue to do well and have been in hibernation since late Nov. For Horned Lizards which had only been here a couple of months, in order for us to prepare them; they have hibernated excellently. Weight loss has been minimal. They will be awakened very soon, as Spring temperatures take better hold and we are able to find more ants for everyone to eat.

Above: These four male Desert Horned Lizards came to us sick from someone in Idaho who realized he was in over his head and wanted them to survive. After a great deal of TLC, and antibiotic treatment for eye and respiratory infections, they are now healthy and happy critters who will be staying with us; unless their native habitat in Nevada can be determined from the person who sent them. Horned Lizards, like some species of turtle and many other reptiles, are home range specific and cannot be released just anywhere. From the time they hatch, they imprint on the terrain features of their home range and use these terrain features to orient themselves to the local food resources, water, and shelter. If set loose outside this home range, research and previous release studies show that they will recognize that this is not their home range, and will migrate away, possibly into trouble as they cross roads and such.  We have been asked this many times by the public, but no, these DHLs cannot be released locally. Their species is not even native to Texas.

[ 8/7/07 ] This is "Rhino [Horn]". He most likely originated as a wild lizard in the Nevada desert, and then was captured and sold through the pet trade at a Florida reptile show to an unsuspecting buyer. Of course the seller of this Horned Lizard lied to the buyer, as many dealers of Horned Lizards do, telling her that he was captive bred, and, that he would be fine eating only crickets. The sale price of only $20 gives away the fact that this is a wild caught Horned Lizard, and not captive bred, as captive bred stock of these appealing but rare lizards would go for much more than $20. This also shows the seller of the animal was not versed at all in Horned Lizards, or did not care what was best for them in the way of diet...only what was easy to represent for a quick sale. A breeder would have more concern for his animals, and know that almost all species of Horned Lizard are obligate eaters of specific genus of ants. Upwards of 90% of wild Horned Lizards caught as pets will die within days, to a few months, in the hands of inexperienced people. There is a reason even the legal species have not been widely propagated and sold in the pet trade; and that is because they have a reputation for quick death without specific dietary and habitat requirements being properly met.  

Rhino was intended as a pet for a young boy. After doing some research on Horned Lizards and their issues in captivity, and requiring a pretty strict diet of up to 1000 ants a week ( ants which are expensive to mail order ), the buyer wanted what was best for Rhino, and knew that right now he required more that they could provide. Now he will be given sanctuary here, in a soon to be constructed outdoor artificial desert habitat. After some quarantine time to be certified disease and parasite free, he will be released to live with the other Desert Horned Lizard rescues.  

We applaud the actions of this responsible Horned Lizard lover, who chose to give Rhino the best life she could by passing him on to more experienced hands, rather than shelfishly keeping him as an object of entertainment for a young child ( which usually ends up being a death sentence for Horned Lizards and other reptiles ). This, along with proper research beforehand, is the first step in being a responsible reptile keeper.       

[ Update 8/27/07 ]: Rhino is settling in quite well and is getting aquainted with his new neighbors, and soon to be room-mates. He has gotten his last dose of dewormer and only has about 2 more weeks to go for observation, then he can go live with others of his kind. He spends a lot of time basking on his big rock or watching the other DHLs, if he's not eating everything in sight that is...( he may only be looking in there because the other DHLs frequently have uneaten ants! ). The tank they will live together will be a little cramped for the 5 of them, but they will reside together a short time until the new outdoor habitat is built, or it's time for hibernation, whichever comes first. I usually don't hibernate new arrivals on such short notice, but he's doing well enough so far that he should have no trouble. It will be less stress on him too, since he hibernated in the wild last winter.

[Update 9/11/07]: Rhino has now been moved in with his fellow Desert Horned Lizards. There were some initial concerning looks between him and the other residents, perhaps because the others are a subspecies commonly from more northerly Nevada, and Rhino appears to be from S. Nev. or N. Az. This cautiousness appears to have passed however, and they all are getting along fine. He frequents the same basking and sleeping spots with them, and really cleans up what they don't eat.

In the following pictures: the boys all appeared exactly this way without being moved, together in the middle of the tank, when I went in to turn on their lights one morning. DHLs are very social. In the wild there are many observations which seem to indicate they may co-habitate in a den type fashion. This has been observed in captivity also, and they do love to dig dens. Rhino is the one in the far back left in the first photo.    

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