A family who buried their dead bearded dragon were stunned when the reptile reappeared on their front lawn five weeks later.

Rachel Haspell, 42, from Cheshire, could barely believe her eyes when she saw her beloved pet Nala, sunning itself in her garden, having seemingly returned from the dead.

The family were distraught when their beloved lizard fell ill, with a vet later confirming that Nala had passed away.

Mrs Haspell said: 'The whole family was absolutely devastated when we thought Nala had passed away.

However, the reptile was simply in a state of hibernation and on awaking from its slumber, managed to claw its way out of his shallow grave.

'After noticing that Nala wasn't breathing I panicked, I tried to give her CPR by putting her head in my mouth and her tail was swinging but I still couldn't see that she was breathing, I even tried chest compressions.

'My dad helped me bury her in the garden, we dug a grave that was at least a foot deep and covered the cardboard box with soil.

'Even though we were all really upset we knew we had to move on.

'Around five weeks later my dad and uncle came round and all of a sudden they were shouting my name from outside.

'I went to have a look at what all the commotion was about and I saw Nala on my uncle's chest.

'We all just stood there and looked at each other in shock, we didn't know what to do, they had found Nala sunning herself on the lawn.

'Thankfully she is now back to her normal self, and has become quite the celebrity in the local area.

'I cannot believe we buried her alive, I think it's really important for other owners and vets to know about hibernation, I would hate for anyone else to make the same mistake that I did.'

She added: 'We'd had a really hot day and so I put Nala outside with my pet hedgehog Mowgli.

'Later on that day I went to get Nala but I saw that she was slumped over her food bowl, she had been sick and wasn't moving.

'I picked her up and her tail moved, but she was black all underneath where she is usually a pale orange colour.

'When I took her to the vet, I told them what her symptoms were but all the vet said after taking a look at her was that she was dead.

'I placed her in a shoe box, but we weren't ready to bury her just yet and over the next few days I regularly checked on her.

'My youngest son, Louie, 12, was really affected, he really missed Nala and it was horrible to see how upset he was.'

However, five weeks after burying her beloved pet, Mrs Haspell had the shock of her life when the dragon appeared in her back garden, alive and well.