The flatmates then gave the scorpion water on a kitchen towel, which it immediately drank, and some kind of card to hide under before contacting groups of animals.
Phoebe said they tried the RSPCA but realized it was more for collecting cats and dogs before contacting the National Reptile Conservation Center (NCRW).
The charity was able to send someone within hours.
NCRW’s Chris Newman said reports of such stowaways are surprisingly common.
“There is a scorpion Olivier Martensiusit doesn’t really have a common name other than the Chinese scorpion,” he said.
He said its sting would be “medically significant … potentially life-threatening, but the average adult would have a very bad day.”
“It is very worrying that this is the second such incident in less than a month.”
Fortunately, there was no sting in the story, and Ms Alonso-Mossinger said she now thinks “it’s a funny story … but at the time it was quite scary”.
Shein said he contacted her to resolve the issue.
The statement said: “After receiving the feedback, we immediately conducted an internal investigation.
“Our teams on the ground have inspected the cargo packaging process and inspected the goods in our warehouse and confirmed that all standard operating processes are being followed.”
