Long Beach police are searching for three people who robbed a Long Beach reptile store of two rare monitor lizards Friday afternoon, officials said.

Police responded to JTK Reptiles on Pacific Coast Highway at about 4:20 p.m. where an employee told them the store had been robbed by three people, spokeswoman Jennifer De Prez said.

The robbers, who didn’t use weapons and didn’t injure anyone, fled the scene in a vehicle, she said. The thieves broke into the cages of the two monitors kept separately in the store, according to the owner Bryan Cho.

The robbery left him and his employees shaken up. He said the two reptiles stolen were rare Australian Lace Monitors, which can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh as much as 30 pounds. The monitors were not for sale, but owned by the store for breeding and were expensive to buy and obtain permitting for, he said.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzOXjhphMeL/?igshid=11waidb4eyk43

Valerie Osier is the Social Media & Newsletter Manager for the Long Beach Post. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ValerieOsier