At a business lunch about a year ago, Joe D’Anniballe met Paul Bodnar, a crocodile expert. At the time Joe did not know much about Bodnar, like the fact he travels around the world to see and sell reptiles. Later at lunch Joe and Bodnar got on the topic of Joe owning an alligator in college. Bodnar then discussed his multiple crocodile farms around the United States, and how he sometimes allows people to "adopt" crocodiles. Bodnar proposed that the D’Anniballes should adopt one. They decided Bodnar would call Joe when a crocodile was ready.

The D’Anniballe family, Joe, Dawn, Ali and Tom, welcomed crocodile Chompy into their home about one month ago. They received her from Bodnar. Chompy sits in a glass cage that is about six feet long. To keep her small, she is only allowed to eat five fish food tablets every three days, and her cage is a certain size. Chompy is about a year and two months old, a little over a foot long and weighs about four pounds.

Bodnar does not normally give a crocodile to someone who has not worked with these animals before, but since Joe had experience with alligators he made an exception.

"The D’Anniballe family was an exception. Normally people who take care of my crocodiles have taken classes on it and owned one before. Joe had the basic idea of what to do and I explained everything to him before they got her," Bodnar said

Chompy, however, is not the only pet in their household; they have three dogs, four cats and now one crocodile. Joe loves all those animals, but he was the family member who was most excited about Chompy.

The family does not own Chompy, but instead they have "adopted" her. Since it is illegal to own a crocodile in Ohio, when she reaches a larger size they will return it to Bodnar for the farm with many other crocodiles.

"We are probably going to give her back to Paul in about a year or two. Right now she is not dangerous at all; half of her body is her tail and her bite does not hurt. Her bite can make you bleed, but a cat bite is a little worse," Joe said.

The day they got Chompy the D’Anniballe’s drove to pick her up from Bodnar’s house. They purchased the food and a large glass cage from him. Bodnar had Chompy in a styrofoam container. When they first brought Chompy, home Ali was a little scared of the six inch crocodile.

"We opened the container and I saw these large styrofoam pieces sticking out of her mouth and stuck in her teeth, so I got a little scared and worried," Ali said.

Tom, the youngest of the D’Anniballe household, did not really have an opinion on Chompy. He was a bit shocked when his father reavled he was interested in getting a crocodile for a family pet since they already have seven pets. Tom has found that it does not affect his life as much as he thought it would.

"I was shocked and confused at the same time; I never would have expected this. She does not require much work; she barley eats and just sits there," Tom said.

One thing many may not know about crocodiles is that they can jump. The Cuban Crocodile is well known for its jumping, but any crocodile can.

"Chompy sits almost all day, but she sometimes jumps, and tries to jump out of her container," Ali said.

Chompy is still determined to escape her cage, and tries very often.

"Chompy tries to climb on the wall. There is no chance of her getting out, but she jumps pretty high," Joe said.

Even though a crocodile is a dangerous pet, Chompy can not hurt anyone since she is so young. The D’Anniballe’s took on this responsibility to help protect these animals from being eaten as babies. The family hopes to continue adopting crocodiles in the future, but do not know if they will yet.