PACIFIC DAILY NEWS (Guam) 05 December 08 Snake comes in by Christmas tree (Brett Kelman)
Workers at Cost-U-Less in Tamuning found a present under one of their Christmas trees a little early this year -- a snake.
And it wasn't a brown tree snake.
While unloading Christmas trees brought in from the mainland for local customers on Wednesday, employees uncovered small garter snake packed in with one of the trees, said Dededo Store Manager John Smith yesterday.
They did what local scientists have urged all residents to do if they find an invasive species -- called it in.
"When they discovered the snake in the tree over at Tamuning, they thought, 'The first thing we'd better do is call the USDA and let them know about this,'" Smith said.
The Department of Agriculture Plant Inspection Station actually receives most reports of invasive species, but Smith said Cost-U-Less had a long relationship with experts from the USDA, who used to trap brown tree snakes behind Cost-U-Less stores.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services biologist Dan Vice said a garter snake was harmless where it belonged, but unpredictable on Guam. Garter snakes are common throughout the mainland and this snake is suspected to be a variety from the West Coast.
In their own ecosystem, species like the garter snake fit into a natural balance of eating and being eaten, Dan Vice said. But when a species get introduced to an isolated ecosystem, like Guam, they can "exploit" gaps in environment and tip the balance.
"It's completely innocuous in its native range, ... but it clearly points at a risk that we are vulnerable from all sorts of things," he said. "Who knows what the next animal that comes out to Guam, what it's going to be? Where it's going to be from? And what kind of effects it will have?'
The snake that rode into Guam on the Christmas tree is about a foot long with grey skin and thin yellow stripes, Dan Vice said. They aren't dangerous, but will emit a foul stink if threatened.
Dan Vice said garter snakes make good pets once they stop reeking. Vice had one as a child, he said.
Garter snakes have been brought to Guam and Hawaii on Christmas trees before, Dan Vice said. About four years ago, wildlife authorities found a dead one in a parking lot at the airport, he said.
Guam Department of Agriculture biologist Diane Vice commended Cost-U-Less for finding and reporting the snake.
Although all Christmas trees brought into Guam are mechanically shaken before they leave the mainland and inspected upon arrival, Diane Vice said animals will inevitably get through.
Snake comes in by Christmas tree