Gary from ‘Zootopia 2′ is a hit in China. Now young people are buying venomous pit vipers

Gary De’Snake, a character in “Zootopia 2,” is seen. (Disney via CNN Newsource)

BEIJING — Qi Weihao recently welcomed a new family member – a beautiful, highly venomous, blue snake.

The 21-year-old from central Jiangxi province bought the Indonesian pit viper for 1,850 yuan (US$260) two days after the release of Disney’s animated hit “Zootopia 2” on November 26.

Qi’s favourite character was also the franchise’s newest: Gary De’Snake, believed to be inspired by the Southeast Asian serpent.

As a reptile lover, Qi had long wanted a blue snake, but he finally went ahead and got one after seeing the positive and adorable portrayal of the snake character, voiced by Ke Huy Quan.

“‘Zootopia 2′ helps give reptile pets a better image – they’re not oddballs; and Gary is the most representative character among them,” Qi told CNN. “I love his enthusiastic attitude and his sense of responsibility.”

The film – which landed toward the end of the Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac – has become China’s top-grossing foreign animation of all time, taking more than 3.55 billion yuan (US$503 million) so far at the box office. The record was previously held by the first “Zootopia” film, released in 2016.

Globally, “Zootopia 2” has surpassed US$1 billion at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo, a website owned by IMDb that tracks box office data.

In the movie, Gary sets out to clear his family’s – and all reptiles’ – reputation, with the help of the original film’s protagonists, bunny-fox duo Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

Qi added that reptile owners like him have long faced prejudice in China, often considered to have “a weird taste for ‘creepy’ creatures.” He hopes Gary De’Snake can help improve their image.

He’s not the only one who adores the film’s blue snake so much that they’d like to have a real-life version, despite its venom.

Since the movie’s release, major Chinese e-commerce platforms have seen a surge in searches and an uptick in prices for the Indonesian pit viper – commonly known as “island bamboo pit viper” in China – with its costs ranging from a few hundred to several thousand yuan, Chinese state media outlet The Paper reported.

Reptiles have increasingly captured young Chinese people’s hearts in recent years. More than 17 million people in the country owned exotic pets by the end of 2024, according to data cited by Chinese state news agency Xinhua, which said the market size was approaching 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion). More than 60% of them were from Gen Z, the data said.

A 2025 report on China’s pet industry noted snakes make up over 50% of all the reptiles being kept as pets.

Most of these reptiles are raised and tamed by humans before being sold in physical stores, while some are available through online vendors who typically ship them directly to the buyers, according to Chinese state media reports.

According to Chinese laws and regulations, mailing “various live animals” or “dangerous items like toxins” is prohibited, but raising the Indonesian pit viper is not illegal.

The growing interest in buying a highly poisonous snake online has raised official concern. Qi, a seasoned reptile pet owner who drove 40 minutes to collect his snake in person, agrees it is not a decision to take lightly.

“If you don’t have extensive experience and safe equipment for raising snakes, please don’t rush into keeping venomous snakes on a whim!” Qi warned.

Chinese state-linked media The Beijing News also commented that “in the movie, the blue snake is imbued with endearing and brave human-like traits, but the real-life venomous snake, island bamboo pit viper, is far from being a harmless ‘trendy toy.’”

“If a venomous snake escapes or attacks, it endangers not only the owner and their family but can also escalate into a public safety incident,” the newspaper added.

A check by CNN on Friday found the blue pit viper is no longer available for sale on major Chinese e-commerce platforms, including ByteDance’s Douyin, Instagram-like Xiaohogshu nor Alibaba’s second-hand marketplace Xianyu. But there were still numerous listings on JD –– China’s largest online retailer –– marked “mailing included.”

When CNN informed JD, the items were promptly taken down. A JD spokesperson said: “We strictly prohibit the sale of venomous animals on our platform and once identified, the items are removed immediately.” CNN has also reached out to Alibaba, ByteDance and Xiaohongshu for reasons behind the related removals.

Other Gary fans in China are opting to spend their money on safer snake-themed merchandise.

On Taobao, the blue snake character blind box, where buyers don’t know what’s exactly inside before they unbox it, made it into the top 10 weekly best-sellers on Friday, and the character-based plush toys are also highly sought-after in stores offline.

“We’re currently out of stock on the Gary plushie, and it may not be available anytime soon,” a worker at Shanghai Disneyland told YiCai, a state-owned Chinese news outlet, about a week after Zootopia 2’s release.

According to statistics from YiCai, the Zootopia franchise has co-branded with over 70 Chinese brands – especially in the trendy collectibles market – including Pop Mart, whose Labubu dolls gained global popularity earlier this year.

By Joyce Jiang, CNN