Monkeys as pets?

RoseFairy

just wondering,
hubby has been looking through web and convincing kids (and me) that he is going to get a small (those Marmoset sp.?) monkey as a pet apparently being sold in UK, all vaccinated, just feeds on fruits and seeds, wears small nappies and kept on a chain. the kids are getting excited but i'm not - what;s wrong with our goldfish? and besides the kids are monkeys enough!

is this possible and are they actually kept as pets in UK?

cheepskate_2

Why would you want an amimal as a pet that is " a wild animal " , they can never be " tamed".

Also monkeys live in family units , are you willing to get another few?

My sis had one in Spain, that roamed her land and would come back into the house etc.
They are never tame in the sense of a pet, and your children will be at risk by getting one of these as they can give a good bite, even tho they are small.

They are legal in uk, but shouldn't really be.

welshlil

Try watching the programs associated with Monkey World - if your husband has any ounce of compassion for "wild life" as this is what a monkey is, he wouldn't even entertain the thought.

cheepskate_2

a good ste i came across on first browsing
/www.reptileforums.co.uk/exotic-mammals/83160-marmoset.html

McKneff

No. No. No.No. No

aliasojo

Oh Lord, as much as I am all in favour for individual choice and support it whenever I see it being slated....I have to say that individual choice in this case can only mean boredom and misery for a poor creature who is being made to live in a habitat he was never designed for.

Please, please try to get your husband to reconsider. This is so unfair...........unless you have a huge garden enclosure that can house monkey and pals in a stimulating and roomy environment that is.

grace1990

Legal, yes, cruel, yes!

cheepskate_2

As has already been said, one marmie will not thrive, you need to consider having two, they don't need to be a breeding pair though. You also need to consider why you want a marmoset, many people are under the impression that all marmmies will sit on your shoulder whilst you go about your business, this isn't going to happen! Even though they are CB they're still wild animals, there's such a lot you need to research from diet, housing, enrichment, body language (important as you can make an instant enemy if you unwittingly challenge or threaten them), zoonotic diseases to name a few!

Although marmosets are only small, they do require a large space to live in, preferably with a heated indoor retreat and a secure outdoor cage so they can move freely between to two. Something like a large ourdoor bird aviary and flight, but bigger is better. It needs to be 100% secure as primates are very dextrous and will be able to unbolt/undo anything that is within their grasp. The enclosure needs to be filled with trees/branches, plarforms, ropes, swings etc to keep them occupied.

The diet isn't the hardest (suggies are much harder to get right), they should be fed a couple of times a day, things like fruits, veggies, insects, boiled/scrambled egg, multivitamins, calcium (and D3 depending on the amount of natural uv they get) are what I gave my primates during the daytime, and they'd have cooked pasta, baby cereal, a bit of bread and honey, and a small marshmallow each before bed.

Marmosets in the wild are gum eaters, they go and actively seek out wounds in trees and they use their teeth to make the hole larger and they lap the gum up, so that's a good enrichment technique you could incorporate that would benefit them in a dietary sense as well as an enrichement exercise.

Zoonotic diseases are an issue with all primates, what is a common cold or even a cold sore to us can be fatal in primates, so you need to think about hygiene and how to deal with them when you are sick.

Why would you want an animal that required this amount of care.
I think that they are made out to be these little cutie things and are fun to play with.
This extract is from a question asked about getting a monkey and says it all.
Spend your £2000 on something better

UKTigerlily

RoseFairy wrote: »

just wondering,
hubby has been looking through web and convincing kids (and me) that he is going to get a small (those Marmoset sp.?) monkey as a pet apparently being sold in UK, all vaccinated, just feeds on fruits and seeds, wears small nappies and kept on a chain. the kids are getting excited but i'm not - what;s wrong with our goldfish? and besides the kids are monkeys enough!

is this possible and are they actually kept as pets in UK?

I'll just assume you're joking or trolling, but if you are serious then there is a reason why they're not kept as Pets all over the UK by many households.

SnowyOwl_2

Your husband has clearly lost his marbles.

foreign_correspondent

RoseFairy wrote: »

just wondering,
hubby has been looking through web and convincing kids (and me) that he is going to get a small (those Marmoset sp.?) monkey as a pet apparently being sold in UK, all vaccinated, just feeds on fruits and seeds, wears small nappies and kept on a chain. the kids are getting excited but i'm not - what;s wrong with our goldfish? and besides the kids are monkeys enough!

is this possible and are they actually kept as pets in UK?

poor things - they need to be in the wild, with proper stimulation and their own kind, not kept in a house, on a chain wearing nappies. To keep these sort of animals as captives for humans entertainment, in an unsuitable environment is cruel.

The pet shop down the road used to have one in a large enclosure and it was seriously mentally scarred from being in captivity, constantly engaging in repetitive behaviour and self harming, it was hearbreaking. I have rarely seen such abject misery in an animal, despite him having a large enclosure, greenery and branches etc. Eventually the shop was broken into by animal rights activists, (who normally, I do not support, but I have to say in this case they were spot on!) I just hope they found him somewhere he could be happy. I think he was probably too damaged, mentally to recover.

If you care about animal welfare at all, please try and get your husband and kids to see why this is cruel and wrong.

You may want to read this - I really canot see the fun in having an animal which can be aggresive, dangerous, easily stressed (to the point of dying from it) and which urinates and poos on their paws, and rubs their perineum (the bit between their genitals and bottom) over everything!

Obviously your husband thinks differently!!!

"Marmosets are not an easy pet to care for. Bottle-fed babies can become quite loveable but once they hit sexual maturity they become aggressive and unpredictable. Some can even be dangerous to humans including their owners.

Breeders will usually hand-raise marmosets to produce better, more domesticated pets. However these animals cannot be considered domesticated, they are still wild animals. Hand-raising a marmoset is not an easy task because it requires a great deal of care and patience.

Marmosets are prone to stress and can easily die from too much stress. Be sure to never grab a marmoset or chase it. The same goes for other pets and children. A marmoset should be handled with great care, they are social and giving them lots of attention will make them loving animals.

The marmoset is not a particularly messy monkey. The odor of their urine is not very strong but they tend to urinate frequently in many different locations. This is how a marmoset will scent their area, they will often rub their perineum over everything.

With enough training, a marmoset can be somewhat trained to defecate in a specified area.

Marmosets also urinate and defecate on their paws, this gives them better grip when climbing.