10-21-2008, 08:23 AM
The thing about brown tree snakes is that they are such survivors. Females can mate once and remain fertile for a long time, so you don't even need a matched pair to get things started. They are mildly venemous, not really dangerous to adults but in the large numbers that exist in Guam, really hungry because they have killed off all the small prey items, they have actually been found trying to swallow infants finger first. Naturally they don't get far but unless you hear the baby crying the snake can be chewing on the baby's finger long enough to deliver a substantial amount of poison. I would freak if I found a snake chewing on my baby.
Several live brown tree snakes have been found over the years on Wheeler Army Airfield and Hickam for example, where they had gotten by stowing away in military cargo. I recall one account where someone walking along the fence line spotted the snake crawling through and killed it. I can only imagine that for every snake found there must have been several that got through unnoticed. Still, at the moment there are no known populations of brown tree snakes in Hawaii. Maybe the mongooses are killing them. Mongooses are diurnal while rats and brown tree snakes are nocturnal. Mongooses do still exert pressure on rats by catching them in their nests so I would expect the same for snakes.
Several live brown tree snakes have been found over the years on Wheeler Army Airfield and Hickam for example, where they had gotten by stowing away in military cargo. I recall one account where someone walking along the fence line spotted the snake crawling through and killed it. I can only imagine that for every snake found there must have been several that got through unnoticed. Still, at the moment there are no known populations of brown tree snakes in Hawaii. Maybe the mongooses are killing them. Mongooses are diurnal while rats and brown tree snakes are nocturnal. Mongooses do still exert pressure on rats by catching them in their nests so I would expect the same for snakes.