A woman says she "couldn't believe it" when she found a baby gecko in a pack of strawberries bought from Lidl. Nikata Moran says she "can't get over" the almost 3,000-mile trip the tiny creature must have made, all while hidden among the fruit.
Nikata, who works as a nurse, said she put the strawberries in the fridge after buying a punnet from the supermarket, but spotted something moving when she went to take them out. "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," she said.
"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.
"Apart from the little piece of tail, which I found in the punnet, it seemed uninjured, I just can't get over the journey it had, ending up in my kitchen."
Nikata, who lives in Manchester, called the RSPCA who found the gecko had travelled nearly 3,000 miles from Egypt to the branch of Lidl she'd visited in Longsight, the Manchester Evening News reports. The baby lizard was collected by one of the charity’s inspectors, Rachel Henderson, and taken to Ashleigh Veterinary Centre - which is experienced in dealing with exotic animals - where the creature was looked after overnight.
Apart from missing its tail - which should grow back - the 2.5cm long Egyptian gecko was otherwise unscathed. It is now being looked after at Reptilia Exotic Animal Rescue in Ossett in West Yorkshire and will be rehomed after a 'quarantine period'.
Rachel said: "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.
"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, and we’d like to thank Nikata and the other organisations who helped us with this little lizard."
A spokesperson for Reptilia said: "Accidentally imported geckos are very commonly seen in the majority of reptile rescues up and down the country. We have a few of them with us at the moment that have come from various continents.
"They seem to adapt very well to captivity and are seen to thrive in bioactive settings. This little one has settled in well and will be ready to be rehomed once he has passed his quarantine period."
A spokesperson for Lidl said: "We’re pleased that the gecko made it safely to Reptilia Exotic Animal Rescue and hope he finds a new home once his quarantine period passes. We work really closely with our suppliers to ensure that the products we sell are of the highest quality, and can imagine that the addition of a little lizard would have come as quite the shock.
"We’re therefore grateful to the customer for letting us know, and can confirm that their feedback was immediately passed on to our Quality Assurance team to look into."
