A CASHIER found a Madagascan hissing cockroach in his trousers after visiting Chester Zoo.

Dave Spruce, 59, was at home when he put his hand in his pocket and made the discovery.

He hurled the two-inch creepy-crawly into his garden, but later collected it in a container.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Chester Zoo could not confirm if the cockroach had escaped from its twilight exhibit.

“It would be very difficult to say if it was one of ours,” said a spokesman.

“It’s not like giraffes when you’d know if one went missing.”

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Mr Spruce and his wife Janet had taken their 12-year-old son James to Chester Zoo last week. They spent several minutes in the twilight exhibit looking at the cockroaches in sealed glass tanks.

They returned home and went to bed.

The next day Mr Spruce wore the same trousers and put his hand in his pocket.

Only then did he see the Madagascan hisser - one of the largest species of cockroach.

“They’re horrible things,” he said.

Mr Spruce, who works and lives at the Rostherne entrance to Tatton Park, was convinced it must have come from the zoo.

“I can’t remember the last time I went to Madagascar,” he said.

Mr Spruce had a crisis of conscience and collected the cockroach in a plastic container.

He then went on the internet to find out more about the creature.

Yesterday (Tuesday) the father called Chester Zoo.

Experts looked at the Guardian’s picture and confirmed it was a Madagascan hisser.

The zoo said the bug, which is found on the island off the African coast, was not dangerous.

“We used to use them in education sessions with children,” said the spokesman.

Mr Spruce lived in Australia for eight years and was used to seeing cockroaches there. But he never expected to find a two-inch one in his current home.

Chester Zoo has now offered to collect the wingless cockroach.

“There are no problems with the tank and they’re all safe,” said the spokesman.

Madagascan hissers can be kept as pets. They are popular because of their ability to create a hissing sound by forcing air through their pores.

The species has featured in several films including Bug, Men in Black and Starship Troopers.

Mr Spruce named his cockroach Henry, put it in a jam jar and gave it vegetables to eat and wood to climb on.

But then yesterday he noticed a baby cockroach in the same container. So the mother, which could live for five years, has been renamed Henrietta. “It seems to be doing all right,” he said.