ST. THOMAS, USVI — Most people are satisfied with bringing a t-shirt, mug or coaster home from vacation.
That apparently wasn't enough for Tyler Cooper, who unknowingly returned to the frozen north from the island of St. Thomas with a tropical friend in tow.
The story starts just before Thanksgiving when Cooper, a producer with Best Buy Creative, traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands for a holiday vacation with his family. The traveling crew included Tyler's mom and her husband, his three sisters, their spouses and kids. Especially enthusiastic were his nieces Elise and Collins (ages 5 and 3) who all week were on a mission to catch one of the local lizards.
Tyler and the crew spent the week deep-sea fishing, snorkeling and bumming on the beach. Before they knew it, it was time to climb on the plane and get back to Minnesota.
Fast forward a week and a half, with the island and vacation solidly in the rearview mirror. It had been nine days since getting home, and Tyler's suitcase was still where he dropped it, still packed with stuff. He decided it was time to finally began unpacking. In the process of sorting through a pile of clothes he was surprised by a stowaway... one of the little lizards his nieces were so enamored with.
"I’m pretty sure I jumped and shrieked an expletive or two," Cooper shared. "The suitcase was lying in my spare room for nine days, poor thing. I thought for sure it was dead, it certainly looked that way, but I nudged it and saw some movement."
Not sure what to do, Tyler first put his new friend in a Tupperware container with some water, a lamp and heating pad to keep it warm. The lizard (which he thinks may be a Puerto Rican ground lizard) started to move and drank some water. Cooper later fished an old aquarium out of his storage space to give the little fella some more room and tried to provide a bit of nutrition - fish food, lettuce and some flies he found in the garage.
At this point, the intrepid vacationer doesn't seem to know what to do with his new housemate. Cooper hasn't named the lizard yet, but is thinking about asking his niece Elise to do so (she wants to be a turtle doctor).
What he can do is offer a solid piece of advice: check your bags, maybe a couple of times, before leaving a tropical paradise.
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