A SHOP owner in Keighley had a surprise when he discovered a tiny lizard in a bunch of bananas.

The fruit had been bought at Bradford Vegetable Market earlier this month and the shop owner only spotted the lizard as he was driving home from the market.

The tiny reptile, which was later identified as a whiptail lizard, tried to escape, but the man managed to trap it before calling the RSPCA.

Shannon McGrath, RSPCA animal collection officer, picked up the lizard.

She said: “The shop owner had visited the market to stock up on fruit and veg for his shop in Keighley.

“He spotted the lizard in a bunch of bananas and said he was quite feisty and was trying to escape.

“He managed to confine the lizard in a tub before calling us and I took her to a specialist reptile centre.”

The eight centimetre-long lizard, which is native to the Americas, is currently being looked after by staff at Reptilia in Ossett, Wakefield.

Whiptail lizards are the smallest members of their family and are foraging animals which feed on insects and other similar animals.

People who discover stowaway animals in deliveries or suitcases are being urged by the RSPCA to be wary and contact the charity.

Nicola White, RSPCA senior scientific officer, said: “While we are concerned for the welfare of these animals, as they’re not native to this country and may well have faced an extremely long and arduous journey, we would always advise people to treat any unidentified animal with caution until identified accurately and not to try to handle an animal that has been discovered as accidentally imported.

“As these reptiles are not native to the UK it would be an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release them, or to allow them to escape into the wild.”