One pet crocodile has suddenly and unexpectedly turned orange. 'Snappy' lives in the city of Geelong, near the Australian city of Melbourne.
"I thought he was really sick. I thought he was dying," said Snappy's owner, Tracy Sandstrom. She runs a mobile reptile display, called Roaming Reptiles, which she takes to schools and children's birthday parties.
It turns out the 2.5 metre crocodile had bitten off more than he could chew. Snappy sleeps in a heated bath at night time. He had bitten the bath's water pipes, damaging the filter. This caused the water's pH level to rise.
"Which basically means he's living in Coca-Cola," explained Ms Sandstrom.
She believes this is what turned her crocodile orange. Experts say that Snappy is a healthy crocodile and that in time he should return to his natural green colour.
"There's no change in his behaviour, his aggression, his territorialism. He's still a really nasty crocodile," said Ms Sandstrom. "It's a collector's item now. Everyone will want one. I should have put him on eBay," she said.
3 News / Reuters