Hiii everybody! Today we have encountered one of Guam’s biggest problems, the snake invasion. About 60 years ago the first Brown Tree Snakes came to the island and they have disrupted the natural ecosystem since then. Because of the lack of natural enemies on the island the snakes could reproduce uncontrollably and by now they have exterminated many of the island’s bird- and lizard- species. The snakes also eat smaller mammals, eggs and frogs and they are known for eating cats and dogs as well! So terrible!
The Brown Tree Snake is slim and long, it can actually be over 3 meters long on Guam. That’s a great bit longer than it’s in its natural habitat and the scientists believe that’s because of the good access of food on Guam. The snakes normally live in the forests, surprising due to their name haha, but also in grasslands and savannahs but nearly as often they are found nearby caves or rocks. But in Guam the snakes have adapted to other habitats, for example human dwellings. The snake has fangs with venom, but for a adult human it’s mostly harmless. Children however should immediately come to a hospital when bitten by a Brown Tree Snake.
Yeah, as you understand the Brown Tree Snake is a really big problem in Guam and this’ a good example of what can happen with a ecosystem if an invasive specie remains uncontrolled. And today Emma and I have met those creatures, we believe it was such a snake anyway…
The Brown Tree Snake is slim and long, it can actually be over 3 meters long on Guam. That’s a great bit longer than it’s in its natural habitat and the scientists believe that’s because of the good access of food on Guam. The snakes normally live in the forests, surprising due to their name haha, but also in grasslands and savannahs but nearly as often they are found nearby caves or rocks. But in Guam the snakes have adapted to other habitats, for example human dwellings. The snake has fangs with venom, but for a adult human it’s mostly harmless. Children however should immediately come to a hospital when bitten by a Brown Tree Snake.
Yeah, as you understand the Brown Tree Snake is a really big problem in Guam and this’ a good example of what can happen with a ecosystem if an invasive specie remains uncontrolled. And today Emma and I have met those creatures, we believe it was such a snake anyway…
We had planned for another day in the city and an longer walk to the neighbor village, but our plans changed. We ate breakfast at a nearby restaurant, in a little greenpark in the city. I don’t saw exact what happened but as we went over a sunwarm rock I heard that Emma cried out behind me. I turned around and ran back to her, she had sat down and looked terrified at her leg. She said something like “it bit me!” and we could see two quite big holes in the skin on her leg. The whole lower half of her leg, up to her knee, had already began to swell and we looked anxiously at each other. What would you have done in such a situation? We had no idea how dangerous the snakebit was so I took my phone and called 911, the emergency number in Guam and described what had happened as good as I could.
It felt like a half eternity before we heard the sirens of an ambulance. Emma looked really pale, but maybe it was just the shock and not the poison from the snake. Then the ambulance was there and two men jumped out and looked at Emma’s leg, they talked with each other in some strange language and asked us some questions which we didn’t understood. Apparently they couldn’t speak english so they tried to communicate with gestures. They lifted Emma into the ambulance and gestured for me to follow. I did and then we drove through the city with an incredibly high speed.
It felt like a half eternity before we heard the sirens of an ambulance. Emma looked really pale, but maybe it was just the shock and not the poison from the snake. Then the ambulance was there and two men jumped out and looked at Emma’s leg, they talked with each other in some strange language and asked us some questions which we didn’t understood. Apparently they couldn’t speak english so they tried to communicate with gestures. They lifted Emma into the ambulance and gestured for me to follow. I did and then we drove through the city with an incredibly high speed.
As we got to the hospital a doctor was already waiting for us. He looked at Emma’s leg for a really long time and I began to get a bit nervous before he finally said “Brown Tree Snake” and something that sounded like “harmless”. But according to the size of Emma’s leg it wasn’t harmless and I tried to make the doctor understand that. He looked at Emma’s leg again, even longer this time and pushed here and there on her leg, which made Emma scream in pain, or in surprise haha… As he finally looked up he murmured something about really bad and very poisonous snake. I just looked stunned at him, just a minute ago he had said it was a bit from a harmless Brown Tree Snake and now he were talking about really bad? He’s a doctor he should now!
Anyway, after a looong discussion with two other doctors, he came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a dangerous bit after all and sent us home, without doing anything at all! Poor Emma could barely stand on her leg and I wasn’t sure that the doctor was right when he said it was okay. From one of the other doctors we got advice to wrap cold, wet towels around the leg and that it would help against the swelling and he also gave us some miracle salve to have on the leg. It was very interesting to see that so many doctors were involved in the same case, which apparently was harmless too, while a lot of other patients, looking really bad, were waiting for a doctor in the waiting room…
We spent the day at our hotel room, playing card games and eating a lot of unhealthy snacks and chocolate. And apparently the doctors were right, because after just a few hours Emma’s leg looked nearly normal again and she said that it didn’t hurt anymore. We were relieved but what a frightening experience! Right now we’re going to get some sleep and I really hope that Emma will be fine tomorrow. Hope you all had a better day than our’s, good night! //AK
Anyway, after a looong discussion with two other doctors, he came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a dangerous bit after all and sent us home, without doing anything at all! Poor Emma could barely stand on her leg and I wasn’t sure that the doctor was right when he said it was okay. From one of the other doctors we got advice to wrap cold, wet towels around the leg and that it would help against the swelling and he also gave us some miracle salve to have on the leg. It was very interesting to see that so many doctors were involved in the same case, which apparently was harmless too, while a lot of other patients, looking really bad, were waiting for a doctor in the waiting room…
We spent the day at our hotel room, playing card games and eating a lot of unhealthy snacks and chocolate. And apparently the doctors were right, because after just a few hours Emma’s leg looked nearly normal again and she said that it didn’t hurt anymore. We were relieved but what a frightening experience! Right now we’re going to get some sleep and I really hope that Emma will be fine tomorrow. Hope you all had a better day than our’s, good night! //AK