How do you care for a pet spider monkey?

Question

I saw an ad offering a free spider monkey to a good home, as the owner is leaving the state to go to college. We've got children, dogs, cats, hamsters & fish already.

What kind of care does a spider monkey need? Are they usually caged or free-roaming? What do they eat? Do they mix well with other pets? Children? Do they use a litter box?

Any info that you can give me re: spider monkeys as family pets will be appreciated!

Answer 1

To quote Dane Cook "you do not want a monkey"

Seriously, most people do a poor job at best in taking care of standard house pets much less an exotic like a monkey. You need to know food, housing, training, and also enrichment activities for it. If you don't know this stuff pretty well that monkey will wreck your house, scare the crap out of your other pets, and make you miserable. Plus once you are miserable and want to get rid of it you have to find another unlucky fool to take it off your hands.

Answer 2

Will, it's not about your opinion ("personally I think that if you raise it from a baby..."). It's about reality - and reality is that spider monkeys are fairly good-sized wild animals, and they will act as wild animals do. If you were to raise one from a baby, you would be directly causing serious suffering and harm to that monkey - how do you think a human winds up raising a baby monkey? Where do you think that baby's mother is? Do you think life as a pet can substitute for the extended period - years - that young monkeys are dependent on their mothers for? You don't have to look far to see how disastrous this is for both people (once the monkey starts growing up) and for monkeys (from the moment baby's torn away from mother to the time that monkey is put into a cage, because he has become uncontrollable, to live out the remaining DECADES of his life). Please, be realistic, and don't let your fantasies about what it "could" be like to raise a baby monkey cloud your judgement, or your compassion. Don't do it.

Answer 3

You have so many pets right now, caring for a monkey would be like caring for five 2 year olds at one time, they are mean, nasty, throw their poop, cant wear dipers, do the monkey a favor, and let a person who is experienced with monkeys adopt him, you dont want to buy it, and realize it is to much to handle, that would be mean to teh monkey, having it move from one house to another

Answer 4

See if it's legal to own a monkey where you live. I live in Pennsylvania and it is 100% jail you and auction off your house to pay the fines illegal to own any monkey or primate without a permit. I mean you can always take the risk and deal with the CDC later on...

Answer 5

Go to the zoo and get their opinion on whether an average pet owner should have 1 or not. I'm serious.

Answer 6

You dont want the monkey. Monkies are dirty, filthy animals. All the jokes about flinging poo are true. Monkies also become aggressive as they mature, its part of their social status and how they communicate.. you cannot "train it out of them".. people have recieved nasty bites from their pet monkies. Monkies can also carry nasty diseases like HIV/AIDS, turberculosis, and hepatitis.

http://www.petmonkey.info/testimonials.htm
http://www.monkey-island.net/wantmonkey.html
http://www.primatestore.com/monkeywant.htm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0916_030916_primatepets.html
http://www.honoluluzoo.org/pets.htm
http://monkeymaddness.com/articles/realitycheck.html
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/primates/a/primatesaspets.htm
http://www.petmonkey.info/

Answer 7

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/primates/a/primatesaspets.htm

http://exoticpets.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=exoticpets&cdn=homegarden&tm=68&gps=88_1329_1134_661&f=10&su=p284.8.150.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.petmonkey.info/

Here are some articles i found on keeping monkeys as pets. Sounds like it might not be a good mix.