THE OWNER of a popular Oswestry flower shop found herself in a “sticky” situation when she discovered a stowaway in her plant delivery.
Tracey Austin, owner of Hobo Floral Design, was surprised when a stick insect crawled out of her delivery of pistache foliage.
Usually native to tropical climes, the insect had most recently been in Holland from where it had travelled in a box with the plants in the freezing weather - but survived the journey and has now gone to a new home at a town pet shop.
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Tracey said: “We had the flower delivery in the morning and they come in big cardboard boxes.
“We were cutting the stems of some of the greenery and the insect was part of it.
“It was just a coincidence it moved fast enough before we cut it."
The florist didn’t know anything about stick insects until yesterday so she called Petworld in Oswestry to help her with the unexpected visitor.
She added: “If it would have been a daddy long legs it would have been out that door faster than you know.
“I rang Petworld up and marched through town to bring it to them.
“The lad, Harry, who works there has had stick insects before, and put it in a fish tank – so I expect it thinks it’s on holiday.”
The florist explained that as soon as the stick was somewhere warm it started to come back to life.
“It must’ve been so cold on its way here”, she added, “Wherever it is it will have a happier life now”.
Harry Poole, 20, a retail assistant in Petworld, has taken the stick into his care now.
He said: “I used to have them a long time ago now, but this guy will come with me.
“I plan to have a normal setup for it – a simple plastic tank with a heater.”
Although no one has ever come in with a stick insect before, people have brought in other animals.
“We had someone bring in a lizard they found in their suitcase once," Harry said, “But I didn’t take that one home”.
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