Sometimes, I also handled monitor lizards. They were very strong, had sharp claws and a very bad bite. Every time I jumped into the pit to handle them they would rush into the water. I soon learned to be quick enough, and would get them before they could reach the water. Once they were cornered they would whip their tails about and inflate their necks, hissing dangerously. Of course, you had a few of them running up trees and then you couldn't do anything about it. I soon discovered that though it looked scarier, it was easier to catch them in the water. The croc bank is filled with pits. Each of these pits is an enclosure varying in size, depending on the size and type of reptile, and the number of them in it. Every pit has a pond of sorts filled with water for the reptiles to swim in or to drink. Most of the crocodile pits were bare, but the monitor lizard pits were usually filled with trees which they could climb to the highest branches. The branch ends were kept within the range of the pits so that the monitor lizards did not get out by trying to climb other trees or jumping out from the high branches. The ponds of the monitor lizards were almost waist deep with dark murky water and you had to feel around until you touched the head, leg or body of the monitor (they are less likely to bite in water). Then I would feel around till I got the tail, slowly lift it to the surface and grab the neck under the water. Their necks were so huge that I could hardly get my fingers round them. On land, catching them by grabbing the tail was much faster, but one had to avoid the biting head by quickly grabbing the neck. Once, when the Croc Bank staff wanted to get some monitors down from the trees, they just took a long stick and pushed them over from the height of almost a two storey building. They fell on the ground but suffered no damage and just continued running around. I recall the day Gerry challenged Nikhil "the bodybuilder" to pull a monitor lizard that was half out of a burrow. At first he thought the monitor's tail would break but though he tugged with all his might his rippling muscles couldn't move an inch of the monitor.