Category: capuchin

A Very Special Re-Homing Story – by Mary Lynn Campbell

capuchin monkey with children

Welcome back to the Primate Care Site. We hope that you and your families have been able to remain healthy during this world pandemic. Although I have not been able to resume taking the monkeys of SunShine MonkeyShines out to local schools and birthday parties, I have been very busy networking with many of you who have needed help with your monkeys. This site has provided me with an ability to network with many monkey families all around the world. I thought it would be a wonderful time to share the story of one of these families unique experience with giving a home to two Capuchin monkeys.

Soon after writing my last post, I was contacted by someone from South America whose family in earlier years had been active in caring many of the smaller primate species. As we all know, in South America their are many different types of primates living on that continent. I hope you will enjoy hearing this story from a part of the world where New World Monkeys are actually born into wild troops.

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dora cinnamon capuchin

I can’t believe it but it has been over 7 years since we purchased Benji, a male cinnamon capuchin, from an animal auction.  We’ve had him since he was 4 months old and while challenging at times, I truly enjoy spending time with him every single day whether it is “chase the monkey” or “cuddle time”.  Just like their human counterpart, monkeys are very social animals so spending lots of time with them is crucial to keep them happy and healthy.  Since humans can’t really replace the relationship they have with their own kind, we were looking for another cinnamon capuchin for quite some time because lets face it, they get bored so easily at the moments we’re not spending time with them.  When trying to find a companion, the biggest chance for success is by pairing them with the same kind, same sex so we were in essence looking for another male cinnamon capuchin between the ages of 4-7.  Given the fact that there aren’t that many cinnamon capuchins available in the USA, we knew we might have to be a bit flexible.

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cooper rehome capuchin monkey

It was the summer of 2015 and after finally being settled into our new home, it was time to apply for an USDA license so I could exhibit Benji to others and get him a buddy. Monkeys are very social animals and don’t like being by themselves. I work full-time but am lucky enough to be able to work from home. Benji has access to my home office so he can visit me any time and he often spends hours in my office but having a buddy is still a lot better than just being able to see me during the day. We spend time every day together but that isn’t until after work or during my lunch break.

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By Mary Lynn Campbell

opie capuchin monkey rehome

When I look at this photo of our “Miss Opie,” my smile (inside and out) is for her unbelievable ability to surprise us at every turn as she did with this photo. Welcome once again to our monthly post here on the Primate Care site. This is the story of a re-homed girl monkey with a boy’s name, I must add that it took several days to finally get her permission to talk about her in this post. She is definitely a girl monkey who has a mind of her own!

When I went to pick up Opie from her previous owners, she let me know instantly that she was ready to be my monkey. Her eyes were full of acceptance and awe. She had a wonderful home with her owners but after experiencing life with her they felt she needed to be with other monkeys and wanted her to have an opportunity to bond with my troop.

She is smart and beautiful but there is a list of “nutty” things about her that is a mile long! Many of the things that have made up her list have been caused by a sketchy early background that we have been trying to piece together.

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how to diaper a monkey

Amongst primate owners, the most commonly known method of diapering is the tail hole method but more and more primate owners are switching over to the tail wrap method. Since I’ve used both methods myself and don’t really have a particular preference, I reached out to other primate owners to find out why they prefer one method over the other. Before we go into more details, I’ve recorded a short video to demonstrate the difference between both methods. After that we’ll talk about diaper covers, different diaper brands, and what monkey parents are doing to prevent diaper rash.

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By Ivan Crab

During recent years, the feeding of PRIMATES has undergone significant changes, as more has been discovered about their nutritional needs.   The pets market of today provide different “monkey pellets” , pelleted diets they are usually well balanced but they can not by given at the expense of a varied diet.

It is no coincidence that when breeding began in earnest during the 1950s, it was the OLD WORLD species which reproduced most successfully in collections. This is because MONKEYS such as the MACACA species were best-suited to thrive and breed on a diet composed of little more than vegetables and fruits.

The needs of other species are more complex. Certainly in captivity they thrive when offered a diet which contains a relatively high proportion of vegetables and fruit. (more…)

it’s Motherday today so mission number one today is to make sure Pami, my wife, has all the peace she deserves.  Benji is therefore going to spent the entire day with his monkey dad.  Right now he’s up in our bedroom together with me, jumping from my shoulders to the bed and the dresser.  He’s leaping 7 feet with ease with these jumps and does it at a speed most people without monkeys would not be able to comprehend.

Remember how Benji used to have nose bleeds?  That stopped a few months ago.  We used humidifiers for a while but that didn’t really seem to make that much of a difference.  I guess the nosebleeds just slowly went away.

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It is Thanksgiving and Benji just fell asleep in my lap.  Benji has definitely become way more active around the house in comparison to a month ago.  He’s still very clingy when I first come home from work but during the day when he’s spending time with my wife or when we’re watching TV together later on in the evening, Benji always loves to run around the house.    Yes, he basically gets into everything so we constantly have to keep an eye on him.  One of his favorite games is to kick everything off the living room table.  Once everything is on the ground, he seems happy.  I wonder if that is a habit that we’ll be able to break.

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Until today Benji would always stay within 2 feet of me or my wife.  For the first time ever Benji decided it was time to start checking out the rest of our bedroom.  My computer is up in our bedroom so every night and weekend Benji and I spent most of our time together there.  In most cases he just spends his time on my lap and jump back and forward from my lap to the chair next to me where he has a little basket with toys in it.  Today Benji actually jump on the floor several times to check out the rest of his surroundings.  He’s still trying to play with the cats but in most cases the cats just leave after a while or give him a slap on the wrist.  They’re pretty gentle about it but at that time Benji knows it’s time to leave them alone.

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