A crocodile that roars and a screaming Tasmanian devil could be coming soon to a child's room near you, thanks to a new line of toys based on The Crocodile Hunter cable TV show.

Steve Irwin, host of The Crocodile Hunter loves to wrestle with crocodiles. But the Australian zoo director isn't trying to capture the crocs -- at least not for long.

Ron Hayes, president of N2Toys, the master licensee for The Crocodile Hunter toys, said the show appeals to young and old alike because Irwin and his wife treat the animals ``with respect.'' The show, on the Animal Planet network, is seen in 57 million of an estimated 70 million U.S. cable TV households.

Hayes, who watches the show with his 20-year-old son, pointed out that when Irwin is ``hunting a crocodile or a snake, it's because it's endangered and he's relocating it'' so it can go back to the wild. ``He refuses to sedate an animal. He uses a large net.''

And then there are Irwin's saucy Aussie sayings, like, ``She's a ripper,'' when he holds up a giant croc for his TV audience. His American-born wife, Terri, also a wildlife expert, often says, ``Steve, be careful!'' The talking Steve and Terri dolls will use the Irwins' voices, courtesy of a digitized chip inside. That technology also enables the Crocodile Hunter toy animals to make authentic sounds, which Irwin records at his zoo in Australia.

Hayes, who showed The Crocodile Hunter toy line during the recent Toy Fair in New York, said he's still ``knocked out'' that Discovery Communications Inc., the Bethesda, Md.-based media company that owns the Animal Planet cable TV network, took a chance on his brand new, tiny company.

``In a week's time, we started a toy company, made a presentation and got a license,'' Hayes said.

That was last November, after Hayes, the former head of WB Toys, a division of Warner Brothers Consumer Products, left to start N2Toys, a privately held company of 23 people in Cincinnati. Hayes and most of his design team have been together for years since their days at Kenner Toys.

Robin Sayetta, vice president of merchandise and promotion licensing at Discovery Communications, recalled that ``we had been in discussions with every major toy company. We felt very strongly that ''The Crocodile Hunter" was going to be a successful toy property. We thought we had a home run."

``Rick Watkins'' of N2Toys ``started making this presentation and it really knocked our socks off. He kept pulling out all these mockups of toys.'' What's more, the Discovery execs had a good time, she said, adding, ``a lot of times at a business meeting about toys, what goes out the window is that it's supposed to be fun.''

Now budding young naturalists can pretend to be crocodile hunters or Tasmanian devil tamers in the comfort of their own rooms, with the khaki-clad Steve and Terri Irwin talking dolls, action figures or The Crocodile Hunter wild menagerie. The toys are expected to appeal to boys and girls ages 4 to 12.

Imagine the surprise of a mom pulling back the bunk-bed covers, only to find the 24-inch soft-bodied crocodile. His jaws snap open. Squeeze his belly and he roars.

Most of The Crocodile Hunter toys will be in stores by August or September, and others in time for Christmas, Hayes said. Suggested prices will range from about $10 for an action figure up to $30 for the big crocodile.

[Updated 3/01/2000]