page_title: Brown tree snake
section_title: Venom
hierarchical_section_title: Brown tree snake / Venom
context_page_description: The brown tree snake, also known as the brown catsnake, is an arboreal rear-fanged colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and many islands in northwestern Melanesia. This snake is infamous for being an invasive species responsible for extirpating the majority of the native bird population in Guam. It is also one of the very few colubrids found in Australia, where elapids are more common.
context_section_description: The brown tree snake is a nocturnal, rear-fanged colubrid, possessing two small, grooved fangs at the rear of the mouth. Due to the placement of the fangs and their grooved rather than hollow architecture, the venom is difficult to convey into a bite on a human, and thus is only delivered in small doses. The venom appears to be weakly neurotoxic and possibly cytotoxic with localized effects that are trivial for adult humans; serious medical consequences have been limited to children, who are more susceptible because of their low body mass.  The snake has been reported as aggressive, but is not considered dangerous to an adult human. The venom seems to be primarily used to subdue lizards, which can be more easily positioned in the rear of the mouth for venom delivery.
caption: Brown tree snake on a fence post on Guam
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