\n Beth Withington and her partner Ryan Birch, 31, travelled to Costa Blanca in Spain for a week of sun with their three kids on July 13.\n<\/p>\n
\n When they returned home on July 20\u00a0from their Jet2 holiday, the 24-year-old, who was simply expecting to tackle a mountain of washing, was shocked to spot the tiny reptile lurking inside Ryan’s case.\n<\/p>\n
\n The pharmacist dispenser assumes the 2.5-inch gecko must have been inside their hotel room and covertly crawled into the unlocked case stashed under their dressing table.\n<\/p>\n
\n After sharing their pint-sized stowaway on TikTok, the clip has gone viral with more than 146,000 views (Image: Kennedy News\/bethwithington5) The worried couple scooped him up into an aerated plastic tub and rang a vet who confirmed they were able to keep him.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite previously saying they’d never have pets, the mum-of-three believes the gecko ‘chose’ their family and have decided to adopt Grylls, named after the British Adventurer Bear Grylls.\n<\/p>\n
\n After sharing their pint-sized stowaway on TikTok, the clip has gone viral with more than 146,000 views.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite swapping the sunnier climes of Spain for a chillier Manchester, the reptile seems to be thriving thanks to a tank and heat mat gifted by kind-hearted social media users.\n<\/p>\n
\n The couple are due to take him to a vet to ensure he’s disease-free and safe for the family to handle.\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth, from Littleborough, Greater Manchester, said: “We were all shocked and didn’t know what to say. We couldn’t believe it.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It wasn’t until Monday afternoon that we opened the suitcase. As I got all the clothes out I noticed a lizard and I was like ‘oh my god Ryan there’s a lizard there’. I was really shocked.\n<\/p>\n
Native wild animals in the UK<\/p>\n
\n “The first thing I did was slam the suitcase shut because I was a little bit scared. We opened the suitcase back up and it was just there running around.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We took the suitcase back downstairs and at this point we didn’t really know what to do. We put it in a plastic tub and my partner put a few holes in it with a screwdriver.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We ended up ringing a lizard wildlife number. He said ‘send me your address and a picture of it and someone will pick him up’.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I put a post on social media saying ‘does anyone know what to do with it?’ A few people commented saying they’d take it in so we thought ‘we might as well keep it then’.”\n<\/p>\n
\n After the vet confirmed the family were able to keep the gecko, they decided to adopt him.\n<\/p>\n
\n After being gifted a tank and heat mat from social media users, the pair bought locust hoppers, fruit flies, gecko food, reptile bark and a UV light to keep Grylls comfortable.\n<\/p>\n
\n Beth said: “We’re enjoying having it as a new member of the family. It’s a sign, he clearly wanted to be part of our family.\n<\/p>\n
\n “He chose us and now we’ve got a little holiday souvenir.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We’ve called it Grylls like Bear Grylls and my partner says he’s a born survivor. He’s a very strong little lizard.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We never considered getting a pet gecko and we said we wouldn’t have any pets.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We have said if Grylls passes away we will have to buy another one. I think he’s really cute and the children would be devastated, it’s meant to be.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I told my [three-year-old] son we were getting rid of it at first and this morning when he woke up I told him we’re keeping it and he’s thrilled.\n<\/p>\n
\n “He said ‘I love the lizard’s new home, it’s amazing’. I think he’s very happy about it.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Some people [on TikTok] were really offended and acted like I took it and put it in my case like ‘you’re coming home with me’. But we believe it chose us.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We couldn’t put it into the wild, it wouldn’t survive and it wouldn’t be fair on it.”\n<\/p>\n
\n A Jet2 spokesman said: “With our generous 22kg luggage allowance, there is always room for a gecko or two!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beth Withington and her partner Ryan Birch, 31, travelled to Costa Blanca in Spain for a week of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-301558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114937331967333991","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}