A bearded lizard delivered in a box containing a bicycle from Walmart is now resting easy in a mini hammock under a heat lamp in a loving home.
Al and Chris Brummett adopted the warm and scaly reptile. They named him - Falkor, after the lucky dragon from the 1980s fantasy movie, "The Neverending Story."
"We are lucky to have him," Al Brummett said. The lizard, which is between 6 and 8 months old, arrived on the Brummett's doorstep on June 6.
The bearded lizard arrived with a bicycle that the couple bought for their granddaughter. At first they were shocked. But after talking to animal services they learned that they could adopt it.
"The first thing I thought when I saw him was 'get him out of here!'" Al said.
Once he learned about becoming a foster parent to a critter from Down Under, he said, "We thought it would be a cool thing to do."
The Brummetts have had turtles and other lizards, but none as seemingly attentive.
"They like to be held and have relationships," Al said. "My wife is looking at him now through the glass of his enclosure and he looks right at her. He seems very aware of his surroundings."
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It remains a mystery as to how the lizard wound up in a bike box. Walmart told animal services it didn't know, said John Welsh, a spokesman for the Riverside County Animal Services.
Welsh said that his agency normally doesn't allow exotic animals to be adopted, fearing the owner will turn around and resell them online.
But the Brummetts, he said, were quick to report it.
They are "a pet-loving family, so we made an exception," he said.
