>Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 20:49:03 +0000
>From: "John H. Lawrence" <jhl at kuentos.guam.net>
>To: "William H. Lawrence" <whl at Localaccess.com>
>Subject: Re: brown tree snakes & children
>References: <2.2.32.19980301074830.00687a3c at Mail.LocalAccess.com>
>
>> >A couple of comments (true, I hope!!):--what is truth?
>> >
>> >1. The Brown Tree Snake became a scapegoats for good old Guam Power
>> >Authority (GPA) because of its tendency to climb power poles and shinny
>> >along wires and sometimes touching two at a time. Poof!! No snake and no
>> >power. GPA would then claim power outage due to snake and that became a
>> >running excuse and joke.
>
>I don't know of any reports for snakes climbing the poles and touching
>wires, more often the case was at one of the oil power plants in a panel
>box or at substation. the fact that GPA blamed the BTS for this is
>absolutely true.
>> >
>> >2. The Chamorros (Chamorrans) are very good people and love animals to an
>> >excess. This can easily be seen by a night cruise around Dededo, Agana,
>> >Tumon, etc and looking at the dog packs and the amazing number of cats on
>> >the prowl. Did they 9canines and felines) play a role in the demise of
>> >some avian species.
>
>Chamorro or Chamorros some here say Chamoru or Guamanians, includes all
>of us here on Guam. I am not sure that just allowing animals to run
>loose can be considered a love for animals but perhaps that was just an
>illusion; what ever, I know of no studies that attributes any
>significant decline in native bird populations to feral dogs or cats
>(boonie dogs are what we call them, I recently "adopted" four and one
>older dog recently "adopted" my family in a move to our new house).
>Feral cats have been a problem with the release of koko's (guam rail) on
>Rota. The BTS has been trapped in the CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern
>Marianas - Saipan, Tinian, Rota main three islands).
>
>> >3. I seem to recall that much of the research on BTS's was done at Oregon
>> >State University and one of the things they learned early on was that the
>> >metal bands fastened around power poles (an expensive project) didn't deter
>> >the snakes in their route to the hot wires (one of the routes into homes
>> >was by house electrical feeds to your meter!) because the BTS had more
>> >success climbing the guy wires than the stout poles!!
>
>BTS don't like chain link fence, they don't crawl? slither! through the
>links they do move over the fences however or just cling to the side.
>most of the snakes I have seen (4 live in the wild in nearly 7 years of
>stomping around) were in urban sites; along the roof rain gutter to my
>car (12 in.), across my porch with its head poked in a bag I was drying
>some seed in (50 in.), coiled on the ground in a boonie area in a
>residental area (90 in), sliding across a pitch road in the north (70
>in). The last snake I ran over with my toyota pickup several times
>evening stopping on top of the snake but I still was not able to kill
>it. There is a great deal of road kill BTS however these must be with a
>heavier than my own. Back to the chain link fence: around the airport
>the local dept of AG is setting up traps and catching a bunch of snakes.
>they are climbing in the wheel wells of jets and finding their way to
>Hawaii and the CNMI. BTS has been trapped in Hawaii I believe. One was
>found dead in the drum of a washing machine that arrived in Texas from
>one of the many military people who rotate out.
>> >
>> >I believe that Grant (a Tweeters fella) just returned from Guam -- it
>> >would be interesting to hear what he saw and learned about the current
>> >status. A major typhoon has recently devastated Guam and one of the
>> >successes had been the Marianas Crow situation on Andersen AFB. Winds were
>> >initially reported to 246 MPH but that was challenged by Mt Washington
>> >weather observatory and it was determined that the windspeed indicator
>> >failed at something around 180 and no conclusion supports the higher
>> >number.
>> >
>Grant should give you Gary Wiles e-mail for THE ACCURATE ACCOU NTING AND
>FACTUAL TRUTH about the BTS. Gary is a birder, an excellent human being
>and very knowledge about the entire island ecosystem (birds, bats, trees
>and geckos).
>
>Supertyphoon Paka was just that, SUPER. Windspeeds in gusts are reported
>at 236mph, a world record, but one that has yet to be confirmed or
>denied but the folks that do this sort of thing. but living through 20
>or so hours of 180mph winds with gusts to 220-230 mph leaves one, me
>anyway, with an attitude of indifference as regards to a world record. I
>was without power for the better part of two months; not a record on
>guam but a personal best for me. The storm was very damaging to forests
>here. Destroyed the crow tree but they have found another; Gary could
>fill you in on all this information much better than I.
>
>> >We're going to be on Okinawa next week and I am curious as to whether the
>> >BTS has invaded that area. We already know about the Habu that are present
>> >but they have been there for forever(?).
>> >
>I don't remember hearing about the BTS having made it to Okinawa. Not
>much traffic between here and there so the opportunity is limited.
>>
>> > A response to a comment about a child being killed by a brown tree snake
>> > (BTS). I'm sure this rather slender snake couldn't kill a human of any
>> >size by constriction, and I doubt if it's even a constrictor. Most
>> >constrictors are heavier-bodied. In fact, I'm fairly sure it is
venomous, with rear
>> > fangs, like our own night snake, Hypsiglena torquata, of interior Cascadia.
>
>I know of no reported deaths by constriction or biting, maybe one a long
>time ago? Some bites for sure. They crawl over mom and dad and latch
>onto baby sleeping between. They have a sense of the heat generated and
>know that it might be of a size that they can eat. Regarding their
>slender nature, I have seen a least one fat and sassy BTS and know from
>capture reports that large BTS do exist. You are correct regarding rear
>fangs. But it takes a real long bite.
>
>> >> The BTS's scientific name is Boiga irregularis, and the related mangrove
>> >> snake, Boiga dendrophila, is quite venomous. People have become quite
>> >sick from the bite of that species (I don't know of any fatalities) and
others
>> >in the genus. Several people have mentioned that the BTS eats eggs, but they
>> >> are very effective predators on the adults birds, too. The density of
>> >BTSs on Guam apparently became extremely high, a classical population
>> >explosion of an introduced species.
>
>I suggest you get a copy of journal article from ???? I forget the
>journal, I have a copy at the office (perhaps my father can fill you in
>on title and date). Best information to date that I have read.
>Population is high in north, so the capture reports indicate. But I have
>been on a 7 acre farm for last two months with two baby ducks, four
>small puppies, a goat, louver windows, a rats. NOT ONE BTS! In fact, I
>have several rats so I wish I could get a few BTS to come around. So, in
>spite of living in one zone that is reported to have 1,000 of snakes per
>hectare, I have not seen a one. They are here I am sure but I don't lose
>sleep at night worrying about them.
>
>Anyway, I hope this helps clear up a few facts. Check out the Guam web
>page as well. From that you should be able to get Gary Wiles' email
>address. He really is the best authority and has published a great
>number of articles on various species of birds here in the Marianas. A
>great source of information.
>
>regards,
>
>bart lawrence
>soil conservationist (plant materials)
>usda-nrcs pacific basin
>
>jhl at kuentos.guam.net home
>guamfo at ite.net office
>