# Boiga irregularis



## jesusrodriguez (Oct 13, 2007)

I saw it advertised on RDU... are these are illegal?? i have heard that they are one the most invasive and destructive exotic reptiles. 
Cheers...


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## Hetty (Oct 13, 2007)

Yeah, they're legal, Australian colubrid species


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## Jonno from ERD (Oct 13, 2007)

Brown Tree Snakes are native to Australia. They have caused tremendous amounts of damage on an island called Guam, after they were accidently released during World War 2.


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## beardy_boy99 (Oct 13, 2007)

so not venomous, how did they cause tremendous amoounts of damage?


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## jesusrodriguez (Oct 13, 2007)

oh ok cool...cheers for that ,i got a bit confused


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## Hetty (Oct 13, 2007)

beardy_boy99 said:


> so not venomous, how did they cause tremendous amoounts of damage?



they are mildly venomous


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## Australis (Oct 13, 2007)

beardy_boy99 said:


> so not venomous, how did they cause tremendous amoounts of damage?




They are, venomous.

They wiped out a lot of bird species.


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## Jonno from ERD (Oct 13, 2007)

beardy_boy99 said:


> so not venomous, how did they cause tremendous amoounts of damage?


 

They preyed upon the local birdlife, which wasn't used to dealing with such predators. This resulted in several extinct species from memory. It's very similar to native mammals and cats here in Australia.


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## Hetty (Oct 13, 2007)

They have unbalanced the ecosystem over there, that happens when exotic animals are released where they shouldn't be.


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## beardy_boy99 (Oct 13, 2007)

o i understand


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## jesusrodriguez (Oct 13, 2007)

yeah i heard that the US put it on its top 100 list of invasive species... the list was mostly filled with plants and fungus and stuff


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## Hickson (Oct 13, 2007)

jesusrodriguez said:


> yeah i heard that the US put it on its top 100 list of invasive species... the list was mostly filled with plants and fungus and stuff



The INternational Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has an Invasive Species Group - and the Brown Tree Snake is listed in their top 100 too, along with Cane Toads and Red-eared Sliders.

As Jonno said, the birds were adapted to that kind of predator - essentially, there was never an arboreal predator, and certainly no snakes on the island. Furthermore, the snakes had no predators there either. They estimate there are more than a million snakes on the island, and at densities as high as 1 every 20 square feet.

Every plane leaving Guam has it's undercarriage and wheel assembly checked for snakes before leaving and again when it arrives at it's destination, and about once a year one is found on the wheels of a plane landing in Hawaii or Midway.

The variety found on Guam isn't from Australia though, it came in from Malaysia (where it's often described as Boiga fuscus) and some individuals get enormously thick - the Guam Zoo had one about six feet long and as thick as my thigh.



Hix


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## moosenoose (Oct 14, 2007)

Guam was another man-made disaster and through no fault of the animal they introduced. Obviously they, like Cane Toads, are a highly adaptive animal that will thrive given the right conditions - you can't blame them for that.

I keep one and I think they are beautiful!


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## $NaKe PiMp (Oct 14, 2007)

ive got a brown tree snake hes about 6ft long,but they are a thin species.

ive seen pics of huge thick ones from islands up guam way though

there venom is very mild

they are actually a lovely snake,mine has amused me for many hours
and he hangs out with me sometimes when im on the computer
he curls up on my lap


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## BlindSnake (Oct 14, 2007)

Have a look on Reedys website, he's got one called a Super Tiger....I WANT. I WANT. I WANT!!!


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## Wrasse (Oct 14, 2007)

Damage caused.



> Snakes caused the extirpation of most of the native forest vertebrate species; thousands of power outages affecting private, commercial, and military activities; widespread loss of domestic birds and pets; and considerable emotional trauma to residents and visitors alike when snakes invaded human habitats with the potential for severe envenomation of small children.


 
http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Resources/Education/BTS/


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