HILLSBORO, Texas (KXXV) — When Raptor, an emotional support lizard, went missing, his owner, Joey Rodriguez, took to social media for help.
- Raptor is a 5 year-old Argentina Black and White Tegu
- Joey left his back door open, and Raptor left the house
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“I thought maybe he was hiding underneath the bed…I went under the bed to try to find him...he was missing. I couldn’t find him anywhere," said Joey Rodriguez, local Hillsboro resident and owner of Raptor.
It was at that moment that Joey Rodriguez said he knew his emotional support lizard Raptor was gone. After moving to Hillsboro, Joey was unpacking and left his back door open, not thinking Raptor would move fast enough to leave the house.
But in just two minutes, Raptor was gone. He looked for Raptor for hours, and Joey’s emotions ran high.
“Mostly worried about him getting hit by a car or getting into someone’s backyard and them not liking him being in their backyard because he’s a big scary thing that no one knows what he is," said Joey.
Raptor is a 5-year-old Argentine Black and White Tegu. Joey has owned Raptor since he was little. When Raptor disappeared, Joey reached out to local neighbors on social media about his lizard's disappearance. Joey said some responses weren't what he expected.
“A guy said he shot him and hung him up on his fence, so my buddy and I drove around to see if we could find him, see if he was hung up on someone’s fence or something somewhere, and we didn’t see anything," said Joey.
After a long 24hr search, Joey went back home and spotted Raptor sitting on the steps. Now home and safe, Raptor is calm and relaxing -- something neighbors have the chance to see too when Joey takes Raptor for walks.
“Say hi! If Raptor ever happens to ever get out again…and I hope it never really happens, he’s never really aggressive," said Joey.
