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Hello again from Guam
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by Buzztail1 on January 25, 2006
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So here I am ... back at Guam.
In the immortal words from Clerks "I'm not supposed to be here!"
Anyway, Monday night, while all of my buddies were heading out for a well earned malt beverage and probably a little visual adult entertainment, I gathered up my flashlight and indispensable Midwest Collapsable Hook, digital camera and a nice cold Mountain Dew (how I miss those while I am at sea!) and headed out to the fencelines.
I found only one Brown Tree Snake, which, when approached, dropped off the fence on the far side and amazingly disappeared almost immediately in the short green and brown grass there.
Now, in my younger days I might have given pursuit of a snake that I had been looking for as long as I have been looking for a Brown Tree Snake. But, I am no longer young, the fences are topped with razor wire, and there are guards with guns at all the openings.
So I calmly walked around but the snake was long gone.
Tuesday night came and I was eager to get back "into the field."
It was a very lucky night for me.
I found five Brown Tree Snakes ranging in length from about 30" to 6'.
I photographed them all, hooked a couple out for closeups and had a blast. I did learn a major lesson about why you shouldn't hunt snakes alone at night. If you are alone...and you have your flashlight in one hand, your hook in the other hand, and your camera in your other hand, and ... Well, everyone gets that part. But, having a buddy along, with another flashlight, they could tell you,"Hey, did you realize that you are standing in a Fire Ant nest?" before they swarmed up to your knees and said hello in their own little venomous way. Luckily, the snake was willing to move along the top of the fence, after I did my little dance of pain to rid myself of the swarm, to get itself immortalized in digital pixels. The last one was absolutely the best. I spent about 40 minutes photographing a young Brown Tree Snake as it subdued and ingested a Gecko. The snake was well aware that I was there but seemed mostly unconcerned until it had finished its meal and then it zoomed up to the top of the fence to get away.
The giant Marine Toads from my previous Guam posts are still abundant as are the Geckos and Crabs. I am also seeing quite a few Praying Mantises on the fencelines.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to hook my computer up to the internet since we have gotten back to Guam so I am presently unable to share my pictures with you. That may wind up waiting until the May-June timeframe when I am due back in the States. I will keep trying until then.
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years celebration.
I was at sea.
Summary: Two days snake hunting in Guam - 6 Brown Tree Snakes - one happy snake hunter just wanting to share.
Karl
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RE: Hello again from Guam
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by Snake18 on January 26, 2006
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Sounds great Karl.
wow...a 6 foot brown tree snake...awesome...
same goes for the gecko eating small one.
Can`t wait to take a look at the pics.
Take care and have fun !
Best regards, Alex S.
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RE: Hello again from Guam
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by Phobos on January 26, 2006
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Great story Karl :-) You're not a field herper till you've stood in a fire ant nest or flipped a log to find hornets!
Glad to see you're getting some R & R and a different kind a "Visual stimulation" than your shipmates.
Safe journey..... I'm off on the 1 Feb. for three weeks in Australia.
Cheers!
Al
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