Imagine this, your sitting on the coach, watching TV, and a cute furry animal pops up in front of you. Are you wondering what the cutest, shyest, and most common animal in the jungles of Central and South America is? If you answered a squirrel monkey, you are correct. It is a fact that they don’t make good house pets, and simply put, they will never adapt to living in a home. The closest it will get to be a pet will be after 1-2 years of training, with a lot of space and the proper diet.
Monkeys may look cute and cuddly, but it takes a lot of work to take care of them. After humans, they are the most intelligent animals on Earth. However, they often bite and are very territorial, so if they feel
in danger, they will most likely get aggressive. This means it will take longer to tame them. It usually takes about 2 years for a monkey to start getting used to an indoor home. So you need to be very patient if you want a squirrel monkey, or any monkey for that matter.
It a squirrel monkey doesn’t get enough space, it won’t be happy, and upsetting it is the last thing you want to do. The only way for it to have enough space is to get a big enough cage, which includes the following items: at least 2 trees to sleep, climb, and jump from one to the other. Also, the cage needs food and water, a heater to maintain a warm temperature, and a cozy floor to avoid having the monkey scratch itself. Be careful with the bars of the cages, because they could be sharp and hurt the animal. A monkey’s skin is very sensitive.
Monkeys need a many different types of food each day in order to satisfy their nutritional requirements to avoid getting sick and possibly dying. You need to give them commercial primate food mixed with fruits, cooked or raw vegetables, seeds, nuts, wheat bread, boiled eggs, and insects such as grasshoppers. It will take a lot of your time just to look for what they need. You can easily compare a squirrel monkey to a spoiled child because it will always get what it wants, or you will suffer the consequences, because it will get sick. Once a monkey is sick, that means more work for its owner.
Unlike other animals, baby squirrel monkeys are usually carried on the mothers back for the first few months after they are born. The breeding season is in spring, and a squirrel monkey couple can only have one baby per season. Try to keep baby monkeys away from small children because they bite at that small ages, and if a child is bitten, he or she will cry and scare the baby monkey. If the monkey is scared it will go crazy.
In conclusion, squirrel monkeys are hard to take care of, so only get one if you are patient and can fully satisfy their needs. If you think I’m trying to persuade you not to get one, you’re right, not just because of the tremendous care they require, but also because they are an endangered species, and their numbers are being threatened by taking them as house pets. Do yourself and Mother Nature a favor: get a cat or a dog instead. Thank you for your time.