Thailand toad: Amphibian's lift in Cardiff student's suitcase

The travelling toad is being cared for in a reptile centre after its marathon trip

A university student returned from Thailand to Wales with an unexpected guest in her suitcase - a toad.

Hannah Turian thinks the amphibian travelled more than 5,000 miles to Cardiff after hopping in a shoe.

It's now being cared for by a reptile expert after an estimated 35 hours as a toad on the road - and in the air - but seems healthy despite the experience.

Hannah, 20, said: "After the toad had gone, we just sat in our lounge and were like, what has just happened?"

• Exotic frog found among supermarket bananas

• Frog from Ecuador found in Tesco bananas

The Cardiff University student was in Thailand visiting her aunt, after teaching English there for a month.

The toad travelled from Bang Saen in Thailand all the way to Cardiff

She flew into Heathrow Airport, got back to her student house in Cardiff on Saturday night, and unpacked her suitcase the next morning.

"When I first saw the toad moving I was on the phone to my mum, I just closed the suitcase, and ran out.

"Me and my housemate then carried it upstairs into the bathroom. We unzipped the suitcase, and there's a toad sitting in the corner of it looking at us."

"We unzipped the suitcase, and there's a toad sitting in the corner of it looking at us," says Hannah, a psychology student

"When I arrived my suitcase got scanned before I could leave the airport. So I don't know how it wasn't spotted."

It was swiftly named Robert by Hannah and her friends, but it needed to find a home. Hannah tried the RSPCA website, but, as she pointed out: "It obviously didn't have information about smuggling a toad from Thailand."

The non-venomous Common Asian Toad, now called Robert, made the journey of a lifetime from Thailand to Wales

Next she turned to Facebook, and got a message about a rescue centre for reptiles in Cwmbran, Torfaen.

Jackie Hamilton, 40, then drove to Cardiff to pick it up. She owns 150 different species of reptile and has been working with them since she was 16, but she described this as "a first".

She identified the toad as the non-venomous Common Asian Toad.

'He was quite happy'

"They are usually found in Thailand and neighbouring areas," said Jackie

"They often live in built-up areas, so it is not a surprise that this one found its way into Hannah's shoe.

"Because the toad had been in a suitcase, we flushed him over with a two-litre bottle of spring water.

"We also offered him a couple of different bugs, so we could feed him up a bit.

"He was quite happy about that."

• HAYLEY PEARCE PODCAST: Tackling the issues that make the group chats go off

• SAM SMITH PRESENTS STORIES OF HIV: From Terrence Higgins to today