The fault lies with the brown tree snake, an introduced creature to Guam. Its speculated that one snake was in the cargo hatch of a ship or airplane bringing supplies to Guam and escaped to the wild. Because it has no natural predators here, the snake took hold and its population began to grow rapidly. Since their main food supply is bird eggs, the bird population has suffered greatly due to this pest. 

The first reported sighting was in the southern village of Santa Rita in the 1950s. The Navy papers reported their fifth sighting in 1958. Then a snake was reportedly seen in the central part of the island for the first time in the 1960s. Because the snakes are nocturnal creatures and live in the trees, they are rarely seen. 

The snakes are about 18 inches long at birth and can grow to 8 or 10 feet long. They are mildly venomous. Between August 1989 and October 1990, there were 48 reported snake bites on Guam: 60% of the bites were to small children and 70% happened when the victims were asleep. 

The snake has been studied in depth and bounties are offered on the bodies. The Department of Agriculture and Wildlife Resources (DAWR) offers traps which can be placed on fences or in trees and baited. This is working to stop the spread of the pest, but more must be done. 

The tree snake is also blamed for many of the island's power outages. Every so often, one of the snakes crawls up a power pole and manages to electrocute itself. This is a great way to get rid of a few snakes, but the surge of power also knocks out protective circuits causing circuit breakers to shut down. These outages can be two to four hours long depending on how long it takes to find the culprit. 

I've only seen one live snake when I lived in the central village of Agana Heights. I've seen five or six dead on the road in the past five years. I cannot tell you what the truth of the snake problem is. It depends on who you talk to when you ask. A friend of mine recently found shed skins in a back closet in her home on Pago Bay. 

Many people have seen the National Geographic special about the snakes. I personally get very tired of defending my chosen home as people seem to think "the snakes are dripping off the trees" or "you can't walk without stepping on one every few feet." I've seen no more snakes here than I've seen riding fence on my friend's ranch in Montana. I cannot speak to the South because, though I like it best, I've not lived down there. 

Part of the miscommunication has to do with an airplane trip in which one of our island leaders sat next to a reporter writing for a national newspaper. Apparently, this leader regaled the reporter with horror stories heard as a child. The reporter, as reporter are apt to do, took it for Gospel and incorporated the stories into the article. (Heavy sigh!) 

Take the stories with a grain of salt. Dress appropriately when you go boonie walking, take care where you take a nap and you will be fine. By the way, in case you're wondering ÷ like rattlesnakes ÷ brown tree snakes are edible. DAWR will gladly give you recipes. 

One of the nicest things about Guam are the geckos, small lizards and skinks. There are dozens of the little creatures which have free run of everything. There's no way to keep them out of the house. They can get through the tiniest of cracks, hang upside down on the ceilings and move quicker than anything I've ever seen. They hold territorial wars on the walls, live behind anything that hangs and chatter all the time. Geckos make two distinct noises.
One sounds for all the world like your old granny tsk, tsking you when you do something wrong. Legend has it, when the gecko makes this noise, its unhappy with whatever you are doing. The other sound is similar but is more like a cheerful chirping. If you hear a gecko laughing at you first thing in the morning, you are in for a great day. I'll miss that sound a lot if I ever leave here. 

You'll also find toads. Huge brown things. I find them sitting under the porch light catching dinner when I forget to shut off the light. They love dog food. If you put a bowl out for your dog, Fido will be lucky to get his fair share. Nothing seems to frighten these ugly creatures much. 

Then there are the African snails. Someone who loved escargot must have transported these huge snails a few years ago. Many of them escaped to the wild and have bred well. 

So, there is a brief look at the place we call home.  We hope you enjoyed this start and keep watching for more.  For you teachers who are looking into coming here, in our Links Section, you will find the Department of Education home page.