[Ryan7]

Well I caught it!! my heart is still beating a mile a minute..

Here's how it happened..

Same as most nights, I get the red flashlight out to look for the beast, most nights I see nothing, and when I did, I would only get a glimpse of it for a few seconds and it would always be in a different spot that there was no way I could get at it or the rocks.

But tonight was different, I saw 4 inches of it in the corner of my tank where there is only two rocks, and those 2 rocks where on the sand on top of each other and surrounded by sand. I kept the light on the area for a few minutes to see if it moved, it didn't, so I decided to go for it. I turned on all the lights in the tank, no way I was going in with just a red flash light.. no movement from the rocks. I went from above and with a set of eheim tongs moved the first rock out of the way while checking to see if it was in there, it wasn't. One large rock left on the sand... I could see that it was under the rock, not in it.. I didn't have much room to work with.. I put a net in and had the tongs ready. I fiddled around trying to lift the rock for 15 minutes with no success.. then it escaped.. I could see it moving from underneath the rock down the side of the tank towards the front pane, but couldn't get at it... I jumped down from the back of the tank where I have access and ran around to the front of the tank.. I thought I lost it..

When I got to the front of the tank I could see it in the front corner and making its way across the tank.. I watched it to see if it would go to a spot where I could try to catch it again.. It must have been startled from the lights going on and my previous attempt to get it under the rock, because it travelled mostly in the open across the sand under my cave setup..

My tank is 6 feet long...

Its tail was in the front corner, it was stretched out 5 feet to where the head was!! I almost sh*t myself...

I watched it go to the other side of the tank and curl itself up within some small rocks in the other corner. This was the easiest area for me to get at and be able to move some rocks.

As I started moving the rocks it would curl itself through all the rocks.. I figured a this point im going to grab a piece of it with the tongs... I did, I squeezed the tongs as hard as I could, and it release a 1-1/2 foot piece.. I put the piece in a bucket and went in for more. I got another 2 foot long piece, into the bucket.

Now I was worried it was going to get away, so I decided to try for the front head section... I waited until I got a good shot and squeezed the tong trigger about 4 inches down from the head.. but this this time it wasn't releasing a segment of itself.. I squeezed as tight as I could and pulled at for about 15 minutes... it was literally a tug of war..

Finally, it gave up, and I pulled the rest of it out of the rock and put it in the bucket..

The palm of my hand is red and bruised from squeezing the trigger soo tight... but I got it, all of it!! 4 pieces in total in a bucket..

knock on wood, the nightmare is over..

Sorry for the long read...

I will post some pics tomorrow afternoon.