HARRY the tarantula has been re-united with his owner after spending two months being cared for at Paignton Zoo.

The exotic creature is back with Anouska Young who has duly presented her long-lost pet to her son Owen as a 10th birthday present.

The Herald Express revealed in January how Harry was found abandoned in a lunchbox late at night in Torquay's Newton Road.

Anouska, who lives in Paignton's Fisher Street, reckoned the stray was the very same tarantula a friend had mislaid 14 months previously in nearby Crownhill Park.

She has now been presented with the little chap after no one else came forward to claim him.

"I'm so glad to have him back. I never thought I would get him until the Herald Express and police helped me with my claim," said a delighted Anouska.

She added: "I went to the zoo yesterday and they brought him down to me straight away. I was so happy."

When police were handed the lost spider in the New Year, they called it Harry, which had been the name it was given by Anouska before it went walkabout.

"He's about four times bigger than he was when I last saw him," said Anouska who revealed Harry would live in a box above a tank in which she kept a cornsnake and two ratsnakes.

"They won't pay each other any notice at all. Harry's got the penthouse suite," joked Anouska.