Australian family wake to crocodile left in bathroom by home intruder

The 1.7 metre saltwater crocodile found in Coralie Myers' bathroom at her family home in Darwin, Australia. Photo / Supplied

A home intruder left a snappy surprise for a Bees Creek family - a crocodile.

Coralie Myers, 16, woke to a photo from her housemate of the croc in her bathroom and didn't believe it was real.

"I woke up like 'what the hell? Am I dreaming? This can't be real'," she said.

"I went into bathroom and there's a croc sitting there on my floor. I didn't know if it was alive or not - its eyes were open but it wasn't moving.

"I didn't want to go to close it but I really needed to go to the bathroom - lucky we had another one in the house. Only in Darwin."

The 1.7m saltwater crocodile would have required two people to catch and tie it and was left in the home with its mouth tied, but limbs and eyes unrestrained.

Myers' housemate stumbled upon the beast about 6am and assumed it had been left there by the family as a prank before sending a photo to them making light of the situation.

"He thought my mum put it there because she went fishing the other day," she said.

"But we don't know who it was.

"The croc didn't creep me out, the fact someone came in to our house freaked me out."

Crocodile ranger Tom Nichols said the female croc was in bad shape.

"I don't know if wild or escapee but it's in pretty poor condition," he said.

Nichols said it was the first time he had seen an incident of this kind.

The crocodile was captured and taken to a farm.

Nichols warned prankers that interfering with a crocodile is an offence.