Death From Above

[ReconRat]

psych... It's not what you think.

Too many Brown Tree Snakes?

Drop dead mice on them laced with toxic acetaminophen.

US gov't to air-drop toxic mice on Guam snakes

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17053971-toxic-mice-airdrop-aims-to-wipe-out-guams-venomous-snakes?lite

Hawaii has a serious worry that somehow they will get from Guam to Hawaii.

Hawaii wildlife has no defense and no predators against them.

They would over run the islands.

Even the US West coast is worried...

[cOoTeR]

This seems dumb.

[4DAIVI PAI2K5]

So much for natural selection and evolution. Then again US ship did take them there.

*Edit I fucking hate snakes.

[ReconRat]

It is dumb. And desperate. They already tried this before. It didn't work the way they expected. They are trying again. It really is bad when snakes kill off all the other animals on an island.

[cOoTeR]

It's one of those things future generations will hear about and say WTF? How many invasive species have been brought in to kill off another just to become a worse problem. I do like the thought of dropping them from a plane. Are they going to be equipped with Stewart little style parachutes? I think a more effective plan of action would be a bounty program.

Edit. I didn't realize the snakes would eat dead mice. If only the recruiter told me about this opportunity when I was looking into the AF. "what did you do in the military?" " I dropped dead poison mice with streamers onto snakes from a helicopter." Lol. I wonder what rotting mouse plague will develop from this.

Edited February 23, 2013 by cOoTeR

[Gump]

I like the bounty idea and/or start eating them. Paying a bounty would have to cost less than dropping mice one by one from a plane.

[Gixxus Christ!]

Introduce a bunch of all-male california king snakes. They eat other snakes. No females = no breeding.

[TSB67]

They already tried this before.

I was gonna say, I've heard this all before. A quick Google shows it going back to at least 2007. Lots of stories about what they're gonna do, none easily found reporting actual results. All I wanna know is: do the snakes actually go for dead mice?

EDIT: I guess so: "Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn't kill themselves"

Edited February 23, 2013 by brn6604

[Gump]

Lets just go there and start shooting them.

[Gixxus Christ!]

My old red tail boa (7 feet, 60 lbs) would eat rats and bunnies alive or dead.

[RSparky]

Captive, they'll eat dead mice. They sell them frozen. In the wild, it's be a preference thing. I like the bounty. Or incentive restaurants to cook them.

[HeavyDuty]

I lived in Hawaii for 3 years they have no snakes at all there except for in zoos many years ago mongoose were let loose on the islands and they eat snakes And the mongoose are still all over the Islands so I can’t understand why they say there no predators. Mongoose love snakes

Edited February 23, 2013 by HeavyDuty

[ReconRat]

Not sure. Mongoose work well, but won't get all the snakes. A balance sort of results.

Okinawa had mongoose, and didn't lack for local pit vipers.

This Guam snake is a tree snake, which I bet would make it a lot harder for the mongoose.

Mongoose don't hunt and fight in trees, that I know of.

edit: found this on the Guam USGS Q&A:

Introducing the mongoose has been attempted for controlling snakes and rats on islands (e.g., in Japan and the Caribbean), but mongoose were found to commonly feed on nontarget species as well as snakes and, while the snake and rat populations continued to proliferate, the more vulnerable nontarget species suffered greatly.

edit: lol... "13,000 brown tree snakes per square mile"

Edited February 23, 2013 by ReconRat

[Pokey]

Introduce a bunch of all-male california king snakes. They eat other snakes. No females = no breeding.

That is a great idea IMHO, probably much better than King Cobras. I like the bounty idea, put some loot on the line and the hunters will go hunting.

[Brownsfan1]

I like the bounty idea I'd move to Hiwaii to hunt snakes.