Two crocs found in two Palmerston pools

Two crocs were pulled from separate suburban Top End pools across two days. See the photos.

Two juvenile crocodiles have been pulled from Palmerston pools in the past two days.

On Sunday, a Zuccoli homeowner spotted what he thought was a lizard cooling off in his pool.

He told this masthead he was surprised when he realised it was in fact a baby croc.

“I have no idea where it came from,” he said.

“We’re literally in the middle of our street, quite far away from nature.”

Territory croc expert Professor Grahame Webb said the photo looked like it was a saltwater crocodile.

“It’s a baby saltie — probably about one to two months old,” he told this masthead.

The baby croc was small enough to fit in the skimmer box. Picture: Facebook

Despite its youthfulness, Professor Webb said baby crocs were resilient little creatures.

“They are pretty robust, but they do need food and water — they’ll dehydrate if they don’t get water,” he said.

“It looks pretty thin, it’s probably been wandering around for a while.

Professor Webb estimated the croc was only a few months old. Picture: Facebook

“Once they start wandering they keep going — he was probably glad to have found the pool.”

Although Professor Webb could not explain how the croc arrived at the suburban Zuccoli pool, he had his own hypothesis.

“It is hatching season right now,” he said.

“I imagine someone has brought home an egg and it’s escaped.

“Otherwise it could be a pet that’s escaped.”

A second crocodile was found in a pool in Durack Heights on May 12. Picture: Facebook

Bizarrely, in a separate pool on the other side of Palmerston in Durack Heights, a second croc was pulled from the pool on Monday morning.

“It’s not every morning you wake up to kids screaming ‘there’s a croc in our pool’,” mother Sophie Louise told this masthead.

This second crocodile appeared much larger than the one found in Zuccoli.

Professor Webb was unable to verify the species from the picture, but guessed it could be a freshie based off the “long thin snout”.

“With the end of the Wet season, perhaps their small temporary water bodies have dried up, so the crocs are on the move,” Professor Webb said.

Originally published as Two crocs found in two Palmerston pools