Conwy dad of three 'shocked' to find baby gecko with a missing tail in bag of Asda chillies
A Conwy dad-of-three was shocked to see a baby gecko drop from a bag of chillies he bought from a supermarket, and fall onto his kitchen work surface. Kevin Cuthbert purchased the red-hot Scotch bonnet chillies from an Asda Superstore in Llandudno a week earlier.
He said: "When I found the gecko, it was missing its tail - it must have shed it when it was being packed.
"After a couple of days, I noticed it was growing back, so I thought there was a chance it might survive."
The family were determined to keep the reptile alive and have now named him "Scotty". Mr Cuthbert continued: "I have three young boys and they’re always asking for a pet – a dog or something – and I’ve always said no. Then all of a sudden, one drops onto my worktop, so I had to keep it."Inquiries at the Welsh Mountain Zoo, Colwyn Bay, revealed the tiny critter to be a Crocodile Gecko, also known as a Moorish Gecko.
They are found in North Africa and Mediterranean countries. This matched with place-of-origin labelling on the chillies, which were imported from Spain.Mr Cuthbert said: "I went back to the store to tell them what I’d found.
"They couldn’t believe it, so I showed them a photo. They told me to bring in it and they’ll send it to the head office.
"I said I couldn’t do that, it’s still alive!"
He placed Scotty’s tub on a tea towel draped over a radiator at his Llandudno home, to keep it warm.
However, further inquiries to Conwy Council’s environmental health team produced worrying news, that "geckos are big carriers of salmonella and other bacteria".
Mr Cuthbert said: "It was worrying I’d already used the other chillies to make savoury rice for the boys. I place the chillies in whole with the rice and let the goodness but not the spiciness soak into the rice, then remove the chillies.
"I’d not long recovered from food poisoning and I didn’t want them to go through the same thing."Realising the tub temperature still wasn’t high enough, he went shopping for a specialist reptile heat bulb.
By the time he arrived back, Scotty had died.
He added: "Apparently you have to provide temperatures of 80F-90F (28C-32C)."
He’d kept the baby gecko alive for 10 days after being released from its bag of chillies.
Now Mr Cuthbert wants to discover how the gecko managed to survive days if not weeks sealed inside a bag in chillers, cold storage and his own fridge and is hoping the Welsh Mountain Zoo will provide answers.He said: "The tub with Scotty is still in the hallway. If the zoo doesn’t want him, we’ll find a nice place in the garden. The boys understand what’s going on."Asda has said it has “robust” washing and quality controls for fresh fruit and vegetables. The retailer said that “very occasionally, hitchhikers may make their way onto our produce".The company has since written to Mr Cuthbert and as a goodwill gesture, he’s been offered £50 for lost fridge contents and the cost of buying crickets and a heat bulb.
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