He had to spend 10 days at sea, a week in Customs at Hull and has been waiting another week to be found.

But now Lenny the Lizard, thought to be from India, has made it to Huddersfield.

It was when Robert Smith, 36, opened a delivery of flagstones from India that his business, William Smith & Sons roofing merchants, had ordered that he spotted Lenny.

The lizard arrived in a sealed wooden container.

"I am not sure how he survived all that way, he must have been quite cold," said Mr Smith.

"At first when I saw the lizard I thought it must be dead. But when I tried to push it I noticed there was some movement.

"I put it in a box and took it inside to warm it up. Now it seems fine."

Mr Smith's son, Joe, who celebrates his sixth birthday this week, named the family's new pet Lenny.

But mum Beverley is adamant that Lenny is not staying.

"I rang the RSPCA and left a message for them to come and collect the lizard," said Mr Smith, who lives in Gatesgarth Crescent.

"We have found moths in packages that have come from abroad, but never anything like a lizard.

"It is not an extraordinary lizard, but it does have a strange colour. I am just amazed that it survived such a long journey.

"He seems well enough, but there can't have been many bugs to eat during the long journey."

Lenny, who has not yet been fully identified, is now in the care of the RSPCA, who are trying to find out exactly what type of lizard he is.

* It is thought Lenny left the port of Calcutta in eastern India.

* He then travelled around Africa, as our map shows, and up into Europe before docking in Hull 10 days later, eventually arriving at the Smiths' home.

* All the time, Lenny would have been in the sealed wooden container.

* It is 4,998 miles between Calcutta and Hull as the bird flies, but the total mileage of Lenny's trip will have been more than double that.

* Last month another Indian lizard set out on a long-distance trip. Somehow this creature had found its way into an in-flight biryani on an airplane from Bangalore to New Delhi.