Category: primate ownership

By Mary Lynn Campbell

capuchin toddler
Silly Willy (age 3)

Welcome once again to the primate care site.  The creator of this site and I are both very passionate about helping other monkey enthusiasts to gain good information on becoming great monkey caregivers.

Although we’re one of the oldest sites out there regarding primate care, we’re just one of the many available resources regarding the care for primates.  About thirty years ago, when I first became a monkey caregiver, there were no search engines or Facebook groups to gather intel, and most of the information was passed along by other monkey owners.  In today’s world, information is much more readily available.

Social media has literally changed my life. I realized from the very beginning of adding it into my busy life that there was a big world out there full of other monkey owners. After just a few months of being involved in reading and posting on Facebook, I began enjoying adding other monkey owners to my friends list. Some of them were new to owning a monkey, and then others were like myself trying to make connections with other monkey owners. Before I knew it, I had several hundred friends and I was added to many of the groups that offer help with diet, monkey enrichment ideas, and of course, information about the day to day living with monkeys.

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By Mary Lynn Campbell

aging monkey
Enjoying little Cheech (age 43)

This is the first posting of our “Special Topics” here at Primate Care. I was drawn to write about this topic due to the fact that I am now living with three older monkeys of my own. One of them is a soon to be twenty year old Common Marmoset, and I have a thirty-three year old Black-Cap Capuchin and then the oldest monkey in my troop is a Paraguayan Capuchin that is around forty-three. Much of my experience for the past 27 years has been with receiving monkeys who have been younger monkeys.

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By Mary Lynn Campbell

monkey rehome
“Sissy Lou La La” (age 18) – one of my very special rehomed monkeys

Here we are with yet another hard subject to write about.  Each of these postings have been written with one very important thing in mind and that is to be helpful to both current monkey caregivers and others who may be seriously considering becoming one.

Rehoming a monkey is not always an easy thing to do, especially when you or your family members are divided about doing this. Monkeys are as different in their size, personalities and their behaviors as we humans are. One monkey may really make a great pet/family member and then one may not adjust in your home or family at all.

I have been on the receiving end of rehomed monkeys for nearly 27 years.  Many monkeys have come from homes where they have been dearly loved and the parting was a very hard thing to do.  I most cases people were just so glad that they had a safe and happy home for them to live.  There are so many different reasons why people decide to rehome their monkeys.

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By Mary Lynn Campbell

Monkey Stolen

Of course, we are still talking about “Safety First” in yet another posting. When I type the words (a monkey is stolen) it makes me have a sinking feeling in my heart. This is a subject that I do not like to talk about but it is yet another part of the “Safety First” topic that needs to be covered thoroughly. So let’s begin.

Recently, in the monkey circles on Facebook there was a family that had someone break into their home while everyone was gone, and take their young baby monkey. This actually was what prompted me to begin my first posting about becoming a “Safety First” type of monkey caregiver, here on the Primate Care site. It is important to us monkey caregivers to have well thought out plans formed in our minds if something devastating takes place with our monkeys.

I am so happy to report that the outcome was wonderful for this little monkey and it’s family. They used good judgment and choose to instantly kick into action upon finding the monkey was missing from it’s cage. They did many of the same things that will be listed here on our list. This story touched my heart and soul.

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By Mary Lynn Campbell

maggiewithcapuchins

We as monkey caregivers must live everyday with the knowledge that safety is the most important thing to be aware of with our monkeys. In choosing to follow Safety First monkey care-giving, when you are away from your home with your monkey, you will be able to relax and enjoy your time with your friends and family. I have found that peace of mind when it comes to monkeys is something that I must have at all times. So, it is very important for me to make plans ahead of time in order to know what I would do in case of a real emergency; such as a monkey is stolen, or one escapes, or even an accident, such as a bite or scratch happens involving another person.

A motto that I live by is to always choose to think about Safety First when planning the events or outings that I will be attending. These are just a few of the questions that I will ask myself before I say yes to taking the monkeys out: Is this okay to do with my monkeys? Will their safety be in prosody? Will anyone else be put in danger with what I am planning to do with my monkey? Will the temperatures be acceptable? Will there be pets that are not tethered?

The following information will always be here on this site for you and your loved ones to access if one of the above listed events takes place with your monkey. These are suggestions, of course, but I do know they have been tried and tested many times with a lot of people that have had to respond quickly to monkey emergencies.

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By Mary Lynn Campbell

maggiewithcapuchins

Due to the recent changes with the rules and regulations in many of our states across the country, the issue of keeping our monkey’s safe and under control has become very important.

When an accident happens and a monkey gets away or when something worse happens, the media is right on the story immediately. It is evidently big news to many but to us as monkey caregivers, we begin to think about what we would do if this happened to our beloved monkey. The next things that enters into our minds is what is another incident going to do to the already challenging situation that we have been dealing with due to fearful people and the activist who are working to push more regulations and changes for us monkey caregivers.

Are you using the proper safety procedures and equipment for your monkey?  Let’s find out!

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If you have a pet primate or you’re considering buying a pet primate, the Complete Guide To Care & Behavior is truly a must in your collection. This book is published by Monkey Matters and contains over 1000 pages of valuable information on primate care. One other book I would also recommend is the Primate Care Handbook which was published by the Simian Society of America. Unfortunately that book is no longer in print but you can still find it on Amazon.com or Ebay.com from time to time.

Price:$149.99 (+ $15 shipping – USA Only) – Buy Now
(Orders are processed and shipped by Monkey Matters)

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By Sony Rickson

Breeders will always be there, nobody will ever change that! As far back as history goes, man always lived with pets – even exotics. Since there are breeders and there is no way that anyone is going to stop them, why not concentrate more on the actions of breeders and the people who purchase their animals? Do they truly care about the primates they are breeding, do they place them in homes that are proper for them, do they tell people the facts about the primates they are placing before they sell it to them? Are they interested in the welfare of the animal or is it the money or making a name for themselves that matters most? Do the people purchasing the animal know the proper care of that species, can they afford the vet care and housing requirements, why are they purchasing this type of animal? (more…)

We hear it so many times, people who want a sweet little baby chimp.

I have to admit, they are so cute when they are just a baby but maybe it is time for a reality check.  If you are not an experienced animal trainer, you will not be able to handle a chimp once he gets older.

Did you know that an adult chimp is up to 10 times stronger then a human being?  Before you even think about buying a chimp as an additional family member, just go to the zoo and check out their arm size.  I have no doubt about the fact that you will try to do everything you can to teach your chimp what is right and wrong.  After all, isn’t that what every parent tries to achieve with their kids? However, kids get injured all the time from fighting or fooling around.  Can you imagine what a chimp can do to you when he is just fooling around?  I mean, it’s not the first time that someone lost an arm or a leg or even his life when interacting with a chimp.  Let’s face it, a chimp is one of the greatest and most intelligent creatures among us … but they can never be considered as pets.

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Primates are one of the most attractive animals in our animal kingdom. But, they are unpredictable, destructive, expensive and they need a lot of care and attention. Since some of them can live for over 40 years, they truly are a life-time commitment. Are you the person that is willing to spend most of their free time with their monkey? Before you consider buying a monkey, you have to learn as much as possible about them. Read books, use the internet, try to visit somebody who has primates at home, join primate mailing lists, find primate owners on social networking sites like facebook so you can learn as much about them as possible before obtaining your own monkey. Some people prefer marmosets, while others prefer squirrel monkeys or capuchins. It is important you do the necessary research to find out which species fits you best. (more…)