In addition to crocodiles, snakes also have a significant position at Croc Bank for snakes were Director Romulus Whitaker's first love, and he is still known as the Snakeman, having founded Madras Snake Park several years ago. There is, in fact, a big snake pit at the Croc Bank, in which various kinds of snakes are kept. Here, snake venom is extracted from the snakes by the Irulas. There is a separate fee for visitors for entering the snake area. While the poisonous snakes are kept in pots in a snake room, the King Cobras, of course, have special separate rooms. Croc Bank also has enclosures and pits for various kinds of turtles and large aquariums with fish in them. At one end of the campus is the library, well stocked with books and magazines on all these creatures. Adjacent to it are the residential quarters of researchers and guests (there were mainly foreigners at the time I was there) who come to stay at Croc Bank from time to time. The residential quarters are quite simple but comfortable. Each room has a bed, desk and table, and an attached bath and toilet. I occupied one of these rooms during my stay here. The Irula families live in a separate area close to where the Snake pits are located. The permanent staff which includes the Director, Deputy Directory and others have their own individual houses located in various places within the Croc Bank. During my stay I became good friends with many of the people at the Croc Bank including the six foot tall Director, Romulus Whitaker, whom everyone calls Rom; his wife, Zai Whitaker; their sons Samir and Nikhil; Harry Andrews, the Deputy Director who hails from Kerala; Romaine, his wife and their son Tharak, Gerry the snake-catcher from Bangalore and many others. My stay at Croc bank was exciting throughout and I learnt a lot. For the first few days, I was given my first assignment i.e., treating a 2-foot long turtle with infected skin. I used to apply ointment to its feet and then put on some bandage. The next day, before repeating the treatment, I had to feed the turtle with cabbage in water. From turtles, I moved to big lizards i.e. monitor lizards and Green Iguanas. The Green Iguana I handled was quite big-about the size of an average dachshund. His tail measured two to three times the length of his body if not more. From head to tail, he must have been about two and a half metres long. But he had been in captivity for so long that he was very friendly, though he had sharp claws and a spiny back and head. Sometimes, when I used to guide special guests around, I would take him out so that they could have a feel of his sandpapery skin. I was surprised when Harry, the deputy director, told me the Iguana was as old as I was.