I used to keep one as a "pet". Went out cutting firewood one day with Dad years ago, he fell a couple of dead ironbarks, one was propping the other like a widowmaker.
When the tree fell it busted up and out came a small Lace Monitor, it was hurt, its belly was torn open so dad grabbed it and bundled it up in a jumper. We took it home and Dad gave it a local anesthetic and cleaned the wound, stitched it up and gave it a shot of antibiotics while I held it down with a pair of welding gloves lol. We had a small surgery in our house so it was not that unusual for us.
It was winter so we figured we would keep it through the colder months to make sure it healed. We had some dog kennels and runs that we did not use, they were well made for sure and secure enough to keep it in for a while. Five separate runs with concrete floors of about 12'x5' with wood kennel attached.
I ran ply along the chainlink as goannas can easily climb chain, plus its also a rubbing hazard. Put a red heat lamp inside the kennel part on a timer. Covered the floor of it in leaf litter on top of newspaper and put a hollow log in there for it.
Later I went crazy and laid gravel down in the run part, made a pond out of concrete and arranged bush rocks etc.
I used to feed it a variety of things, quails, chicken eggs, sometimes young chickens, rats and mice, ground up roo meat. I discovered it was female and although I never trusted her fully but was able to handle her. I always feared getting bitten, they have such filthy mouths but got to the point of being able to comfortably scratch her on the head and throat and behind her ears without any issues. She would hiss and flare her throat if she got cranky and you knew then it was time to put her down and leave her be, but I never did get bitten. Back then everyone assumed that it was the bacteria in their mouth that made you crook but in 2005 scientists discovered they actually have a mild venom.
Winter passed and the warmer months came, I had grown attached and chose to keep her, not something I would do now. Back then I didn't really know to not take animals from the wild etc.
I ended up keeping her for 5 years, she outgrew her enclosure and ended up in a 30' above ground pool. It was all decked out nice with rocks and logs etc.
I had to give her up when we moved house and because she had been somewhat tamed she ended up at the reptile park. They live about 10-15 years in the wild but up to 40 in captivity.
