Twice in the last month in the Bay Area, alligators were found in homes and kept as pets.

Fish and Game wardens say it's a bigger problem than people realize and said the Bay Area is a hotspot for the illegal trade of exotic animals and neither sellers nor buyers seem to show any sign of stopping.

At two years old and just 2 feet long, an American alligator at the Oakland Zoo already has problems. She's anemic, too skinny and has signs of metabolic bone disease.

"She's a feisty little girl," said Margaret Rausser, Oakland Zoo Zoological Manager. "If you get close up her mouth if you look at her jaw, her teeth are sticking out rather than sticking up."

That's because she did not grow up in the wild or in a zoo, but in someone's Solano County home.

"This alligator, from what I understand, was running around a bathroom," said Rausser.

The alligator's job was the same as Mr. Teeth, a 4-foot Camain found last month in Castro Valley guarding a stash of drugs.

"Probably in the Bay Area in the last two years we've probably had 10 or 12 but there's a lot we don't know about," said Lt. Sheree Christensen from Fish and Wildlife.

But it's not just alligators.

Fish and Wildlife Wardens said the illegal trade of exotic animals is a booming business.

"It's pretty constant the demand for these kinds of animals just keeps going," said Fish and Wildlife Warden Ryan McCoy. "People are intrigued by the illegality of them by the dangerousness of them the uniqueness of them."

Fish and Wildlife have pictures of exotic illegal animals found in Bay Area homes. Hedgehogs, turtles, a cooler of baby alligators even a bobcat found living in a San Ramon apartment. Most were bought online and shipped to the Bay Area.

"You come up with all sorts of listings here. Pretty easy," said McCoy.

A KTVU news intern called dealers in states where the animals are legal.

She told them she was from California. Only one dealer refused to sell us an illegal pet. Most offered a way around the law.

One Oregon dealer told KTVU, "We will not ship to California. It's illegal to have them there." But when we asked him if it would be OK to go up and get it outside of California and bring it back, his response was, "Yeah, people do it all the time."

It's against the law, but the law seems to lack a bite.

Fish and Wildlife officials say they tracked down a North Carolina big cat breeder who shipped a mountain lion to a home Hayward.

"Nothing really happened to the breeder," said Lt. Sheree Christensen.

Legally, sellers and buyers can face jail time but authorities say that's rare and often they are simply given a fine. Fish and Wildlife says that is not enough.

"They are making some pretty decent money, so it's worth a chance for them," said Lt. Christensen.

But sale and distribution is just part of the problem because most people have no idea what they are getting into.

The Oakland Zoo says it gets calls almost every single day from people who can no longer care for their animals.

In some cases, zoos do rescue them.

Zoo officials say the animals are suffering. Mr. Teeth died shortly after deputies found him.

Wardens say if the legal penalties don't scare you, and welfare of animals doesn't sway you, think of your own.

All animals grow up and it won't be long before a 2-foot, 2-pound alligator you think you can handle becomes this 9-foot, 450-pound reptile you most certainly cannot.