Bangalore's Exotic pets

Exotic birdies giving you a wake-up call. Piranhas, sharks, gouramis and angel fishes gliding in your aquarium. Bring in a slice of wildlife right into your drawing room: head to some of these pet shops that trade in both the mundane and the marvellous.

Start your exotic pet tracking from Pet Planet. The shop is filled with a bevy of birds and fishes from around the world. Small finches can be seen nesting or flying around inside the shop. Mr Shariff, the owner, senses your wonder and gleefully vouches, “They are trained not to leave the shop.” He doesn’t fail to add, “We have the best collection of birds and fishes in India.”

Sure they do and you soon realise that. Apart from the colourful macaws, African grey parrots, fantailed pigeons, talking cockatoos, lovebirds, and budgies, the shop also has a great collection of exotic fishes, Siamese cats and hamsters.

Wet Pets is also a good bet, if you are looking for unusual companions. The small pond in the premises teems with colourful fishes. Inside the shop, birds with amazing hues tempt you to swipe your card.

Yet another place to pick up lovebirds, cockatiels, Java sparrows, budgies, pigeons and African birds is from breeder Daniel R. Been there done that, Daniel quit his lucrative job few years back to pursue what he loved most, rearing birds.

Today his aviary, located at the outskirts of the city, comes alive each day with the twitters of hundreds of colourful birds. And how expensive are these pets? Well the prices range from less than a hundred rupees to over a lakh. You can contact him at 9845089977 for further information.

Besides this trio, there are scores of pet centres in the city that you can scout: Pet Care, Pet Post, Pet Bonding, Pet Passion, Goyal Brothers, Sann & Company, TM Enterprises, Kumuda Agencies, Kamadhenu Agency, RK Amith Traders, Zooland Pet Shop, Dhvani Enterprises, Chaudhary Enterprises and Moosa Oomer Sait And Company.

Here’s to your brush with the wild, domesticated of course!