CAMBODIAN REPTILE CAFETARIA

PHNOM PENH : For anyone terrified of an albino python, an orange corn snake or a scaly, bearded iguana, Chea raty says getting up close and personal at Phnom Penh's first : reptile-themed cafe is the only remedy.

Taking off from the cat cafes already popular in the Cambodian capital, Chea Raty launched his business to revamp the skin crawling reputation of  lizards and snakes and convince haters that they are simply misunderstood.

As customers sip on their their lattes and hang out with the reptiles, ''they will love them like I do,'' the 32-year-old said while while stroking the scaly neck wattle of an iguana.

The walls of his cafe are lined with lit-up glass tanks containing snakes of various lengths and colours, while a bright macaw screeches in the corner. Some visitors look hesitantly at the cages, others are bolder in their embrace of the creatures.

There's no entry fee, so visitors can order a coffee and request a  sit-down with a serpentine  from from one of the tanks.

An ice tea  for a young customer instantly becomes a cool-object for a  yellow-and-cream coloured ball python to twist its body around.

A woman giggles as an albino python creeps from her shoulder and wraps behind her head. Nearby, a bearded dragon iguana perches on a table while a man gently pets it.

Customer Y Navim was wary at first of a corn snake,  an orange-coloured  serpent that kills its prey through constriction. But it was soon resting on her palm as she sipped her coffee.

''This cafe is quiet unique,'' the 22 year old said. ''I've never seen some of these reptiles before. They are beautiful and scary.'' To critics who say the animals should be left alone in the wild,  Chea Raty says his humans-bred creatures  ''cannot survive there''.

All of his cafe creatures are imported from Thailand. Business is still slow-going  due to the common fears of snakes and  lizards. But women, Cea Raty says, are providing an unexpected boost.

''They put the pythons around their neck, take selfies, and they are happy.'' [AFP]