More people in HCM City are keeping snakes, geckos and bearded dragons as pets.

Hundreds of members of the Iguana Saigon Club with guests often gather at Suoi Tien Amusement Park to exchange about experiences in raising reptiles. 

Quang Dai, a 10th grader in District 9, said he had raised an African lizard for about a year. Vinh, a local in District 3, said he bought an iguana four years ago and had to keep it a secret from his wife. But after looking after the iguana, his wife also loves the animal. "She loves it more than me," he said.

Each iguana costs several million VND. Adult iguanas with unique appearance can cost up to tens of millions or hundreds of millions of VND. There are also other types of animals including tarantulas, geckos, colourful pythons, South American horned frogs, and turtles.

Meanwhile, an ornamental shrimp can cost from some millions to tens of millions of VND. Most of them are from China and Indonesia. It takes huge amount of care by the owners in order to raise an ornamental shrimp. According to many people, raising those pets is also a way for them to train their patience and mind. 

The snakehead fish from India has become a popular pet recently because of its fins. Each fish is sold at thousands of USD.

Besides the reptiles, one of the most costly pets are eagles bought from the Europe and America. Binh, an eagle collector in HCM City, said many people asked him to find and buy eagles for them, most of whom were successful and want to buy eagles to their certain tastes. 

"I have three customers who are very wealthy. They're very strict about the requirements. I represented 50 to 70 eagles to them before they can choose one. But then, they are willing to buy at any cost," he said.

Nguoi Lao Dong/Dtinews