ABANDONED lizard "Lucky" was on his last legs after being dumped in Cleethorpes.
The six-year-old female bosc monitor has been named Lucky by the owner of Pets and Vivarium Fish World, John Booth, who has taken care of the creature since it was handed in on Thursday.
A man said he found it while walking near Cleethorpes Boating Lake.
Owners of the nearby Jungle World Zoo said the 2ft reptile was not one of theirs.
It was taken to Mr Booth's pet shop in Heneage Road, Grimsby, where it has been fed mice to build up its strength.
The shop owner said he was frantic with worry the morning after he took the reptile in because feeding an animal after it has not eaten for so long can kill it.
Mr Booth said: "I woke up on Friday with my heart pounding, not knowing if it would be alive when I went to the case."
He added: "Without any sun it cannot move or digest anything. It needs sunlight.
"We have got the case set up so there is plenty of heat. It had a horrific abscess on its mouth but we have treated that.
"We hope in a few days it will be back to moving around like grease lightning.
"It could eventually grow to five feet, so we want to make sure it goes to a good home with someone who knows what they are doing or has other lizards.
"Wherever she has come from, she is in the right place now."
He said Lucky will need lots of vitamins, chicks, mice and bananas to bring it back to health and fill out its sagging skin.
Mr Booth said most monitors will literally snap the hand off anyone who does not handle it right.
He said: "In Africa, where they come from, they will run into a village and snatch a chicken or a dog."
The animal lover said he had tempted Lucky to open its mouth using a credit card, but that was soon wrecked because of its sharp teeth that lock on to anything in its mouth.
He has looked after animals for more than 30 years and has often been called in to businesses that have found exotic creatures in packaging.
He rescued a tarantula from a flower box from a Freeman Street florist and found a snake in a banana box in Freeman Street Market.
He has also been called to Immingham docks where snakes have been found in cargos of wood.
Several years ago, he was called to a house in Laceby where a gopher snake had burrowed its way into an owner's lawn. Another snake was found in a wood nearby.
The expert said: "Someone had just dumped a load of snakes next to the road. Without the warmth of sunlight they will lie dormant."
He urged anyone wishing to provide a home for Lucky to contact him on 01472 346519.
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