FedEx workers expecting a routine package collection found themselves dealing with something considerably more lively when a huge iguana suddenly burst out of its box.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The chaotic encounter happened at a FedEx location in Memphis, Tennessee, after Roderick Duncan arrived to collect his new pet.
Inside the package was Titan, a green iguana measuring almost six feet long.
Duncan, 41, already had experience owning iguanas and wasn’t particularly concerned about opening the box inside the store.
The employees, however, were curious about what had arrived. Check out the full video below:
Duncan told USA TODAY: “The [employees] were just curious and wanted to see him and also wanted to make sure he was still alive,”
He added: “Even though I insisted that he was still alive and large.”
As it turned out, Titan was very much alive.
Footage from the collection shows Duncan beginning to open the package before the enormous reptile suddenly launches itself out and races across the counter.
Within seconds, the relatively calm pickup descends into chaos.
Employees scramble to get away from the unexpected escapee, while another customer can be seen on top of the checkout counter. One startled worker even falls to the floor during the commotion.
Duncan admitted he hadn’t been prepared for quite how substantial his new pet would be.
“My initial thought was, ‘Oh s**t, he’s bigger than I thought,” he told the New York Post. “He was bigger, thicker, more grown,”
He estimated that Titan was roughly twice the size of his previous iguana.
That earlier experience may also explain why Duncan wasn’t expecting his latest arrival to make such a dramatic entrance.
He had previously bought an iguana named Hopper around the end of 2024. When Hopper’s package was opened, the animal had remained rigid and stiff.
Duncan assumed Titan might react in much the same way.
He didn’t.
“Titan saw an opportunity and took off first chance he got,” Duncan said.
There was also a practical reason the enormous reptile had ended up at a FedEx location rather than being delivered straight to Duncan’s home.
When Hopper was delivered, the package had been left on his porch.
With hot summer weather and the possibility Duncan could be working when Titan arrived, he decided to have his latest pet held at the FedEx location instead.
Shipping the animal itself isn’t necessarily as unusual as it might sound. FedEx allows certain harmless reptiles to be shipped domestically through overnight services, provided the shipper has prior approval and uses approved packaging.
But the workers presumably weren’t expecting the contents of this particular package to start sprinting around the premises.
Duncan said he deliberately tried to remain calm during the escape, particularly after seeing one of the employees fall.
“I was worried about her,” he said.
He also knew the iguana wasn’t a danger to the people inside the store.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, footage of the bizarre encounter soon attracted millions of views online. And the timing of the recording couldn’t have been much better.
Duncan hadn’t arranged the escape for a video and said he was simply recording the pickup using his Meta glasses, which he also uses as his everyday prescription glasses.
It was only after returning home and watching the footage back that he realised how funny the whole incident looked from his perspective.
Not everyone online was convinced it had been accidental, however.
Some viewers apparently suggested Duncan had deliberately allowed Titan to escape in an attempt to generate viral content, something he strongly denied.
“I hate that people think it was malicious,” he said.
Duncan later uploaded the full video to provide more context and demonstrate that the reptile’s dash for freedom hadn’t been planned.
And despite creating instant chaos upon his arrival, Titan apparently became considerably calmer once he reached his new home.
“He’s pretty chill,” Duncan said. “He hasn’t really jumped or anything now.”
Duncan planned to give the iguana time to settle into his enclosure before beginning to feed and handle him more regularly.
Titan now shares Duncan’s home with his dog, Truce. Duncan’s previous iguana, Hopper, had died a few months earlier.
After seeing both his considerable size and much calmer personality away from the FedEx counter, Duncan settled on the name Titan for his newest companion.
It’s certainly an appropriate name for an iguana approaching six feet long.
And for the FedEx workers who watched him unexpectedly explode out of a cardboard box, it’s probably one package collection they won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Featured image credit: Instagram/@chefp_
