CAIRO (UPI) — An English woman who bought a package of strawberries from her local store discovered a tiny gecko had taken a 3,000-mile ride from Egypt in the fruit.
Nikata Moran said in an RSPCA news release that she bought the package of strawberries from her local Lidl store and brought them back to her home in Fallowfield, a suburb of Manchester.
She said the fruits had been in her refrigerator for about two hours before she spotted the stowaway.
“I got the strawberries out of the fridge and saw something move out of the corner of my eye and thought it was a spider or something,” Moran told the RSPCA. “When I looked again, I saw this tiny gecko. I couldn’t believe it. It seemed very alert, so I managed to get it onto a spoon and pop it into a plastic container, where it moved very, very fast.”
RSPCA inspector Rachel Henderson was summoned to Moran’s home to collect the well-traveled lizard, which had apparently traveled all the way from Egypt with the strawberries.
Henderson said she was surprised to see the gecko was only a baby, measuring just one-inch long.
“When I was told I would be collecting a stowaway gecko I must admit I was expecting to be greeted with something slightly larger! When I opened the box I had to look twice to see where the lizard was,” Henderson said. “This little one was absolutely minute and I have no idea how something so tiny survived for such a long time in transit in a sealed up container.”
The gecko was taken to the Ashleigh Veterinary Center. The lizard was found to be in good health aside from its missing tail, which Moran said she found at the bottom of the package of strawberries. Henderson said the tail is expected to grow back.
The gecko was retrieved from the veterinary clinic the following morning by an RSPCA rescuer and taken to the Reptilia Exotic Animal Rescue in Ossett, West Yorkshire.
“This little one has settled in well and will be ready to be rehomed once he has passed his quarantine period,” a Reptilia spokesperson told the RSPCA.