wes_von_papineäu
Our Roving Correspondent
LINCOLNSHIRE ECHO (Lincoln, UK) 28 April 08 Pet Found Alive After 10 Months Under Floorboards
A family pet given up for dead has been discovered 10 months later living under the floorboards.
Dottle the newt went missing in June last year when she escaped from her box and there had been no trace of her since.
But the plucky amphibian had somehow scurried her way from an upstairs bedroom to the dark, dank environment under the house.
The newt is thought to have survived by shutting down its systems and going into hibernation at the house in Brancaster Drive, Boultham, Lincoln.
But for Helen (42) and David Warhurst (52), the return of Dottle put them in a spot of bother - as they had already replaced the creature without telling daughter Eleanor (nine).
Mr Warhurst, who found Dottle when pulling up floorboards while doing some DIY, said he was amazed the newt was still alive.
"I looked down and saw something but I thought it was a spider," he said.
When the Chinese fire-bellied newt went missing last June, David, Helen and son Greg (12) decided it was best to keep Eleanor in the dark about Dottle and found an immediate replacement - another newt called Dottle which since been re-named Schnikle.
But now the original Dottle is safely back in her box, the adventurous amphibian is able to spend time lounging on rocks with her replacement, alongside old friend Murtle.
Everyone in the family is still baffled about how and when the newt made its way under the floorboards.
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk...me=yes&more_nodeId1=156139&contentPK=20488551
A family pet given up for dead has been discovered 10 months later living under the floorboards.
Dottle the newt went missing in June last year when she escaped from her box and there had been no trace of her since.
But the plucky amphibian had somehow scurried her way from an upstairs bedroom to the dark, dank environment under the house.
The newt is thought to have survived by shutting down its systems and going into hibernation at the house in Brancaster Drive, Boultham, Lincoln.
But for Helen (42) and David Warhurst (52), the return of Dottle put them in a spot of bother - as they had already replaced the creature without telling daughter Eleanor (nine).
Mr Warhurst, who found Dottle when pulling up floorboards while doing some DIY, said he was amazed the newt was still alive.
"I looked down and saw something but I thought it was a spider," he said.
When the Chinese fire-bellied newt went missing last June, David, Helen and son Greg (12) decided it was best to keep Eleanor in the dark about Dottle and found an immediate replacement - another newt called Dottle which since been re-named Schnikle.
But now the original Dottle is safely back in her box, the adventurous amphibian is able to spend time lounging on rocks with her replacement, alongside old friend Murtle.
Everyone in the family is still baffled about how and when the newt made its way under the floorboards.
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk...me=yes&more_nodeId1=156139&contentPK=20488551