Published : 01/04/2026
From the "goods economy", where people pay for emotional value, to the cultural roots-seeking of the museum economy, and the emotional connections fostered by the companionship economy—these new economic trends in China are no longer merely about "survival", but are now serving life and the inner world.
Flowing together from small trends into major industries, they are redefining the landscape of consumption in China today.
Have you heard of the rising trend of "exotic pets" such as sugar gliders, Call ducks, lop-eared rabbits, fancy mice, and corn snakes?
In the Chinese Mainland, the exotic pet market is booming. According to statistics, around 17.07 million people in China are already keeping exotic pets, with the market size approaching 10 billion RMB. So, what makes these creatures so fascinating?
A wide variety of exotic pets go viral accidently
The so-called "exotic pets" refers to niche pet categories different from cats and dogs, including insects, birds, small mammals, amphibians and reptiles, such as ants, lizards, snakes, frogs, and hamsters.
Which type of exotic pet is the most popular? The number one choice may surprise you. It's aquatic life!
According to the "2026 White Paper on China's Pet Industry (Consumption Report)" (hereinafter referred to as: the 2026 White Paper), owners of this type of pet account for 17.3%, an increase of 3.9%.
Ease of care and ornamental value are the main reasons for the popularity of aquatic pets. Among them, ornamental fish have become the first choice for novices.
Next, reptiles, birds, and rodents took second, third, and fourth place respectively, with proportions of: 13.5%, 8.7%, and 7.6%.
The remaining nearly 53% belong to animals outside of these four categories. It is clear that owners' choices of exotic pets are very diverse.
Housing and medical expenses cost the most
Even though the exotic pet community is a niche, it has its "top stars". Tortoises, snakes, and geckos dominate the list of reptile pets, with proportions of 57.8%, 50.4%, and 49.8% respectively, making them neck and neck.
Parrots at 60.1% and cold-water fish at 69.1% each dominate the bird and aquatic categories.
Syrian hamsters and fancy mice, with 32.1% and 21.5% respectively, have become the new favourites in the rodent category.
What is the biggest expense when keeping exotic pets?
Food comes first! Food and supplies are the main expenses. The demand for food for rodents and reptile pets is high, with both exceeding 92%.
The second largest expense is medical fees, with birds costing the most, accounting for 41.4%.
As more people keep them, exotic pet supplies are naturally also selling well. Data from Tmall shows that during the "618" shopping festival in 2024, bird-related product categories such as bird nests and bird feeders saw a year-on-year increase of over 50%; aquascaping equipment (decorations) saw a year-on-year increase of over 20%.
As for JD.com, the transaction value of hamster cages saw a year-on-year increase of over 379%.
Pet cafés and zoos gaining popularity
Some people bring exotic pets home to keep, but if it is inconvenient for you to do so, what are the alternatives for getting some "pet cuddle time"?
Various exotic pet-themed shops can meet this demand.
In Guangzhou, a young person from the post-1995s generation has opened a capybara, meerkat and cat café, with an average of 30 customers per day, and up to 100 on holidays.
Shanghai also has an interactive reptile pet shop, which popularises knowledge about reptile pets and is a great destination for parent-child activities.
These experience shops are similar to cat and dog cafés, charging per head and offering feeding services.
A shopping centre in Shenzhen also has a "cute pet paradise", which collaborates with a safari park, features over 20 types of animals, and focuses on an immersive experience.
The tickets range from 89 RMB for a single person to 219 RMB for three, with a portion of feed costing 20 RMB. Customers can enter an unlimited number of times with no time limit throughout the day, to cuddle alpacas and pet mountain goats.
Zoos are also a must-visit spot for "virtual pet owners". The Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo offers online "adoptions" and regularly holds offline experience events.
The zoo's three capybaras, "Xingren", "Xiangxiang", and "Fubao", have long been "fully adopted". This has further boosted other local capybara interaction businesses.
Exotic pets are novel and come with social talking points
Behind the rise of this exotic pet trend, apart from pets being cute, therapeutic and providing companionship, what are the other reasons?
The 2026 white paper shows that the main demographic of pet owners is the post-1990s generation, accounting for 42.7%; followed by the post-2000s and post-1980s generation, with proportions of 26.3% and 24.5% respectively.
The post-2000s group is growing rapidly, while the number of pre-1980s pet owners continues to decrease, accounting for only 6.5%.
As pet owners become younger, keeping exotic pets better satisfies the new generation's psychological need to try new things and express their individuality.
Compared to cats and dogs, exotic pets have a unique appearance.
For example, reptile pets such as crested geckos and bearded dragons have a cool and aloof look, are easy to capture in photogenic shots or videos, and are more buzzworthy.
"Keeping this kind of pet is very cool and alternative," is the main initial reason for people to get into the hobby.
On the other hand, with the prevalence of social media today, sharing the daily lives of exotic pets generates significant online traffic, further promoting the development of the exotic pet market.
The "flying" sugar glider, gliding from the top of a cabinet into its owner's palm—it is a short video that many people may have watched.
This small mammal pet gets its name from its fondness for eating sweet tree sap and lives in a wire cage at least 1.2 metres high, which is preferably equipped with toys such as platforms, climbing ropes, and running wheels.
On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, topics related to sugar gliders have accumulated over 10 billion views, driving searches for and purchases of pet-keeping supplies.
Purchasing and raising pets legally to protect ecosystem
More and more people are becoming fond of exotic pets, but it is essential to do your homework before keeping one, otherwise it is easy to run into trouble.
Currently, the main channels for selling exotic pets include: pet shops, breeding farms, flower, bird, fish and insect markets, exotic pet exhibitions, and e-commerce platforms.
Industry insiders suggest that pet owners should choose legal breeding farms, refuse smuggled or wild-caught animals, and at the same time, request that the seller provides a quarantine certificate.
It is also important to pay attention to relevant laws and regulations, such as the List of Wild Animals under Special State Protection (《國家重點保護野生動物名錄》) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), whose appendices list over 30,000 species of plants and animals prohibited from trade and transport.
Exotic pets are not something you can just keep casually. Someone ordered a marmot online, only to find it was injured upon arrival. They suspect the seller had captured it from the wild and sent it over, and that it is not a breed suitable for domestication.
Last August, the Ministry of State Security issued a statement pointing out that behind the craze for keeping exotic pets lie hidden security risks, which concern both ecological security and biosecurity. Exotic pets can be kept as companions, but not without due care; it is essential to comply with the law and keep them responsibly.
Most of the popular exotic pets are not naturally distributed in China and are considered alien species. If they escape or are abandoned, they pose a significant threat to China's biosecurity.
Establishing legal identity cards
To protect biodiversity while meeting market demand, the development of the exotic pet industry in China has begun to be standardised.
It turns out that many species of parrots and tortoises are listed in the List of Wild Animals under Special State Protection. This means that keeping or trading them without a licence is a suspected violation of the law.
However, in April 2021, China launched pilot schemes for dedicated identification management in Henan Province and other places, establishing "legal identity cards" for specific species that have achieved mature artificial breeding.
Fischer's lovebird, the purple-bellied lory, the green-cheeked parakeet, and the monk parakeet, these four types of parrots with a certain scale of breeding, were the first to be issued with dedicated identification, recording information such as origin and species to facilitate their sale and transport.
In January 2024, the scope of the pilot schemes was further expanded. The variety of parrots was expanded to 11 species, all of which are animals under special state protection.
The species also extended to the African spurred tortoise, the red-footed tortoise, the leopard tortoise, Hermann's tortoise, the radiated tortoise, as well as the black-spotted collared lizard and the green iguana.
The management of specific identification for exotic pets is undoubtedly a new direction for standardised development. Whether this system can become normalised, which species can be included in the pilot scope, and so on, are all points of concern for the industry.
Veterinary care challenges for exotic pets highlight potential in specialist pet hospitals
In recent years, China's "pet economy" has continued to boom. In 2025, the consumer market size for pet cats and dogs in the Chinese Mainland will reach 312.6 billion RMB.
In comparison, although the exotic pet market is small in scale, it has great potential for development.
Similar to the consumption patterns of keeping cats and dogs, for exotic pets, food and housing are just the standard configuration. The demand for health, clothing, grooming, travel, and so on will grow.
An exotic pet vet stated that it is currently not easy for exotic pets to see a vet, as related pet hospitals and specialisms are few, and they believe this line of work has considerable prospects.
The rise of the exotic pet economy reflects the increasingly segmented development of the pet industry, injecting new vitality into the sector.
Evolving from a "niche interest" to an industry, it not only enriches the ways in which people and animals can bond, but is also becoming a sustained new driver for the future of the pet industry, propelled by the purchasing power of young consumers and diverse cultural trends.
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