in an interview Steve actually revealed why he'd 'tease' his crocs. reptiles in captivity have a reputation for becoming lethargic and lazy which leads to them getting super fat, you can't train a reptile like how you can train a bird or a mammal, he'd use himself as bait to get the crocs active and get their blood pumping and stay good and healthy, it was literally enrichment getting them to launch themselves up to the grab platform; you give birds some jingly bells, get ten people to play tug of war with a large cat, you give otters plastic stack cups and you get giant bitey lizards to chase you.