Down by the canal....

[Bubbles]

Up by Buona Vista station, the canal behind......I was on my bike and one day a huge, and I mean HUGE monitor lizardy thing crossed my path.

Was I right, was it a monitor lizard? Big blackish coloured thing, just ambled in front of me, looked at me, then walked on. I didn't know they lived there, only thought they lived in Malaysia on the beach. (I was freaking out, trying to turn the bike around to scarper, but it was not aggressive.)

And am I imagining the fact that I saw a cockroach once that must have been two inches long? (British Council Cafe)......do they grow that big or did my eyes dilate with fear and make it bigger than it was? Do they grow that size, or, God Forbid, bigger?

And do they fly?

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

[Plavt]

According to a one time international business man friend of mine a cockroach in Vietnam can grow to the size of a telephone - have no idea just how true that is but wouldn't be surprised.


Plavt.

[Spunky]

yes, there r monitor lizards around, esp in areas around canal where there's dense overgrowth.

as for cockroaches, the typical local ones r usually up to about 1.5 inch...and they fly!!

[tiki]

Apparently there is a breed of roach that grow pretty big, in sum forest/jungle. I think they're called the hissing roach becos of the sound they make when they rub their wings together. Yea Bubbs I have meself had a few 'up and too close personal encounters' with the flying kind as well..nasty buggers, they seem to fly at you!

Roaches seem to thrive in different environments, damn genes.

As for the monitor lizard..if u take a video cam with you and you shoot yourself with the lizard way in the background, I reckon you could do a return to the planet of the apes kinda movie or even journey to the centre of the earth..!

Bubbs you're so eloquent, even in describing your encounter with these creatures...

[Baron Greenback]

cockroach in Vietnam can grow to the size of a telephone

ahh but the size of phones these days it could have been quite small or are we talking the size of a payphone?!?

I was once sitting on a loo in a public toilet & there was a crack in the tile work near the door on the inside, these 2 antennae poked out & they were a good 7 inches long (regardless of male exaggeration ) I never saw the actual roach & didn't really want to. I can still vividly picture these two feelers waving around in the air - needless to say I finished up pretty quick & bolted

[Inspector Vaucloseau]

BG

[Baron Greenback]

Nice Mr V. and as always good to see a frog enjoying fine cuisine

[Spunky]

cockroach in Vietnam can grow to the size of a telephone

ahh but the size of phones these days it could have been quite small or are we talking the size of a payphone?!?

I was once sitting on a loo in a public toilet & there was a crack in the tile work near the door on the inside, these 2 antennae poked out & they were a good 7 inches long (regardless of male exaggeration ) I never saw the actual roach & didn't really want to. I can still vividly picture these two feelers waving around in the air - needless to say I finished up pretty quick & bolted

so I guess u doidn't flush their dinner away!

[Bremen]

Up by Buona Vista station, the canal behind......I was on my bike and one day a huge, and I mean HUGE monitor lizardy thing crossed my path.

Was I right, was it a monitor lizard? Big blackish coloured thing, just ambled in front of me, looked at me, then walked on. I didn't know they lived there, only thought they lived in Malaysia on the beach. (I was freaking out, trying to turn the bike around to scarper, but it was not aggressive.)

Yup!! I used to live in Buona Vista too, I saw that sucker as well! About 3-4 feet long, right? Biggest monitor lizard i've seen, crawls from the greenery near the landed estates to the canal. HUGE!!!

And am I imagining the fact that I saw a cockroach once that must have been two inches long? (British Council Cafe)......do they grow that big or did my eyes dilate with fear and make it bigger than it was? Do they grow that size, or, God Forbid, bigger?

And do they fly?

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Yes, they grow that size. Yes, they fly. At face level.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Bremen,

I lived in Seletar Airbase for 15 years. I actually had a couple of monitors living in the monsoon drain in front of my house. Eventually I caught them using full length heavy leather welders gauntlets and a net. One was 4.5 feet long and the bigger was just shy of 6 feet. One is resident at the Zoo today and the other is still in the Camp only been transported to the pond at the golf course.

And yes, them darn cockroaches have a knack for flying in banzai dives directly at face level.

One of my Indian neighbours wanted the monitor lizards to eat! I did think about a new pair of cowboy boots though...... Figured a pair of cobra skin ones was enough.

[Bremen]

One of my Indian neighbours wanted the monitor lizards to eat! I did think about a new pair of cowboy boots though...... Figured a pair of cobra skin ones was enough.

I used to frequently see large monitor lizards in the philippines... They're an afternoon snack, taste a lot like chicken, only greasier.

[Bremen]

One was 4.5 feet long and the bigger was just shy of 6 feet.

Hmm... That's about 150-180cm...


Guess my earlier estimate of 3-4 feet may be on the conservative side, that Buona Vista lizard is about 150cm (5 feet). I always wondered what the heck it eats. There's nothing there except NUH people and biopolis workers.

Still quite a big gecko.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Monitors are carrion eaters. Anything that has died, putrid or even alive if it can catch it. By the way, monitors are also extremely adept at climbing trees as well as swimming. Their talons look like eagle talons!

[Bubbles]

The first year I was in Singapore we lived on Holland Road, backing onto a lovely bit of jungly type wood. One day a maid was heard screaming then all of us, maids, kids, etc went to see what was wrong. There she was, trapped in one of the upstairs rooms...upstairs honest...and a lizard, must have been a monitor I guess, though not as big as the one I saw at the canal, was walking up and down in the room, stopping her from getting out. This lizard was about three feet long. In the end the SPCA came, caught it, bound it legs and 'paws' and took it to the zoo, ..... but it's true, the Philippino girls wanted to keep it to eat. What can I say, it may have tasted nice, I've never had it. But was put off when I read what they ate on a post here. Mind you, who knows what chickens, or cows or those eat all animals, pigs, eat? All I know is they taste nice in a bacon sandwich.

[Plavt]

Oh you and your bacon sandwiches should start a pig breeding farm.
I don't think I have ever heard of Welsh bacon (just winding you up of course) incidentally I did watch a documentary on a guy who did such cost £100,000 just to set up. As for the monitor lizard I don't know what I would have done but on the other hand it was probably a good deal less dangerous than some of the animals have living around me - the two legged ones!


Plavt.