This captive crocodile is feeling a little off colour after a chemical imbalance in his water tank turned him – ORANGE.
Snappy, a fiercely aggressive saltwater croc, bit through a water pipe in his enclosure at Roaming Reptiles in Melbourne.
The attack caused a filter to stop working and pH levels in the water soared – gradually turning the eight-year-old croc orange from head-to-tail.
Experts say iron and tannins from outside vegetation caused the bizarre colour change and giving Snappy celebrity status in Australia.
His owner Tracey Sandstrom said: ”He’s a saltwater crocodile so he has to be on his own because he’s so territorial – he’ll go for anything.
”He bit through the water pipe so the filter stopped working. A few weeks later he was orange.
”It doesn’t seem to have affected him at all. He’s still got a healthy appetite, is normally aggro and doing everything he always does.
”It’s slowly going back to normal now though but it has been quite amusing.”
The eight-year-old crocodile is the main attraction at the reptile centre, measuring 2.5-metres and weighing ”a lot”.
The fearless reptiles can live to more than 100 years old and DON’T stop growing – with Snappy living off a diet of meat and fish.
Tracey had to stop feeding him red meat recently after he grew 30cm in less than a month.
And despite knowing who Tracey is, and regularly taking food from her at meal time, Snappy is too dangerous to take any risks with.
Tracey added: ”I had to spend three days in hospital recently after he bit me on my arm, he’s that aggressive.”
