Crocula, My Pet Crocodile

It was like spotting the Loch Ness monster. Near our farm in Bangalore there is a lake inhabited by crocodiles, but it's not easy to find and most people don't know of its existence. We were guided to it by a tribal from the Hakki Pikki village who led us up into the hills. I had my four dogs with me at the time and as we stood around the shore warily, hearts beating, two pairs of knobby things suddenly stuck out of the water.

"Hey!" I cried, pointing,"Crocodile!"

And I was right. Soon the baleful dead looking eyes came into sight followed by the nostrils and the long snouts! I just couldn't believe we were seeing it. The snouts made straight for the dogs who were excited too and were sniffing about in the shallows. I shrieked at them to come away, but they only changed direction and went the other way. So did the crocodiles.

The tribal had told us stories about how the crocodiles had chomped off the leg of some villager who had come there to wash his you know what. I finally had to throw stones at the dogs to chase them away from the shore and we took off as soon as possible ourselves. Crocodiles are known to come after you as you stand there and drag you in.

Months later someone found a baby crocodile on our farm which was too far from the lake for any croc to travel. It was a mystery how the creature had landed up there. We surmised that it must have been a bird of prey who'd picked it up and dropped it on our farm when the croc had whacked him with his tail or sunk his needle sharp teeth into him.

Anyway, we stopped the farm hands from killing him and took him home to our bath. Here he stayed for a month or so till we got an aquarium for him and here hubby force fed him (for he wasn't eating in the beginning), wearing thick gloves to avoid his teeth. I was terrified and refused to touch the croc who I named Crocula. He was about the size of my palm, but he looked evil enough and hissed at everyone, inflating himself like a balloon.

Crocula lived with us for a year or so in which time he grew maybe a centimetre (crocodiles grow very, very slowly). After much argument with hubby who insisted on keeping Crocula indoors in his aquarium away from the sun, I took his aquarium out where he could bask in the sun every day as crocodiles are wont to do.

By this time he had bonded with me because I was the only one who didn't tease him in order to watch him hiss and throw himself against the glass. He never hissed at me and if he was hissing at someone, only I could make him deflate and calm down.

Eventually, we gave Crocula away to someone from CUPA - Compassion Unlimited Plus Action who put him into another bath and then let it into a river, his true home.