MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 6-foot iguana named Titan decided the FedEx store was his personal jungle gym Wednesday, bursting out of a shipping box like a scaly missile and turning a routine package pickup into pure reptile chaos.
Roderick Duncan, 41, rolled up to the Memphis FedEx location to claim his new pet, shipped overnight by a breeder. Workers initially thought the “live animal” label meant a fish. One curious employee begged for a peek: “Can you take him out to check he’s alive?”
Big mistake.
Duncan popped open the box. Titan, bigger and thicker than Duncan expected, saw daylight and took off like a green rocket. The massive lizard vaulted the counter, sent employees diving for cover, and bolted straight into the back room while one worker scrambled onto the countertop in pure panic.
“My initial thought was, ‘Oh s–t, he’s bigger than I thought,’” Duncan told media outlets. “He was bigger, thicker, more grown. Titan saw an opportunity and took off first chance he got.”Duncan had ordered the iguana after his previous pet, Hopper, died earlier this year. Fresh off overnight shipping, most reptiles arrive stiff and dopey. Not this one.
“He was shipped overnight, and I expected him to be stiff for a minute like most reptiles after shipping. Nope. Titan came out ready for ALL the smoke,” Duncan said.
The whole wild scene was captured on Duncan’s Meta smart glasses. In the video, workers scream, scatter, and one nearly wipes out while Titan races around like he owns the place. Duncan eventually chased the lizard down and secured him. No humans or reptiles were harmed.
“Nobody was hurt, and everybody ended up laughing,” Duncan said. “They handled it like champs.”Titan is now home safe and sound. FedEx workers, meanwhile, will probably think twice before asking customers to open their “live animal” packages again.
