Do SQUIRREL MONKEYS make good PETS?

Hey, what's going on, guys? So a lot of you guys out there might be interested in keeping a monkey as a pet. Well, I'm back here in Florida at the Extreme Exotics Foundation. This is where the clouded leopards live and chompers, my favorite bobcat in the world. So in this video, Sabrina is going to show off some of the squirrel monkeys that are here at the foundation. And she's going to give us an idea on whether or not having a squirrel monkey as a pet is a good idea or not. All right, so this is the squirrel monkey enclosure that is being worked on. Every time I'm over here, there is always construction. There's always new things. So every time I come back here, there's always something new to see. Of course, I'm going to film two more million videos over here. But so we've got four squirrel monkeys in this enclosure. And how old are they? So they're going to range anywhere from four months to seven years. So we've got a variety of ages. We've got a mom, her daughter from 2019, her daughter from last year. And then another female that all live together. And we just expanded the enclosure, so it's not completed yet. But we'll show you how that's going to be, because they're very active. They need a lot of enrichment. So we added on to the enclosure so they have more playroom. Fantastic. Yeah, so they're my favorite, favorite monkey species. But you'll see, they're very, very stinky, very messy, super cute. Just like me. Just like you. Hi, Miss Fiona. Who is that, Fiona? So she's the matriarch. Gotcha. She's who we've had the longest. She's the mama. She's the oldest. That's Bobtail Betty. I don't really know what happened with her tail. It was already like that when she came to us. She came to another facility that was rehoming their troop of squirrel monkeys. And she was one in the troop that was kind of getting pushed out by the others. So we took her in to try her with ours. And she fit right in. But I don't know what happened to her tail. I can tell you it doesn't slow her down at all. She gets around just fine without it. And she just fit right in with our group. They were all best buds. Nobody fought. It was like she was meant to be here. Fantastic. All right, so I see in this enclosure we've got tons of toys for them to play with here. And that's all part of their enrichment program. Yeah, so they are extremely active. And I like to say they're the smartest. Squirrel monkeys have the largest brain to size of body ratio of any primate species. So I like to say they are the smartest. But they get very into everything. They can get bored easily. So we're constantly doing new toys. We've done this expansion to give them more playroom. It's going to go really tall up in the trees for them, give them a lot of sunshine area. So it's a lot to keep them stimulated and keep them from getting bored. The one thing with animals in captivity is they don't have to find food. They don't have to find shelter. And they don't have to find a mate. They spend a lot of time in the wild doing that. So in captivity, they don't have to do all that. So they're more likely to get bored. And so you have to stay on top of doing new things for them. The thing about having them as a pet is that they are pretty much smarter than you. So you might have all these things going on in your day. And you're exhausted. But they don't have all those things going on. So they need to be stimulated. All right, so let's talk a little bit about diet for squirrel monkeys and how much they eat. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because I actually have their food. And so I'll go get that. And you can see what a mess they make with it. But really important with this kind of animal in captivity is they're not getting the same foods that they would in the wild. And our fruits, like we talked about in the lemur video with you, is very high in sugar. So we try to do not as many fruits and more veggies. But they also do a lot of protein. They love mealworms. They like scrambled eggs. So we do a good protein source, a little bit of fruit, and then some veggies. They're good about leafy greens and carrots and all that. So they eat a ton, though you will not believe what these little bodies will go through. What I bring in now, you'll see, they eat twice a day. And I bring in two bowls. And they'll eat it completely dry. They leave nothing. Every single day, every bowl is cleared. It's fascinating. But if you watch how much they bounce around, they're constantly burning it. So for people out there that are thinking about getting a squirrel monkey, and there are commercially available monkey chow diets out there, it just doesn't seem like that's adequate to me. Yeah, so we do a monkey biscuit from Missouri as a portion of their diet. As their entire diet. Yeah. And I think in a lot of laboratory settings, I think the biscuits is a primary diet. You will see, I've already kind of cleaned in here today. But usually what I clean up the most on the floor is the biscuits. They go through that fruit and veggies and eggs and mealworms. The natural stuff, they don't leave an inch of it. The man-made commercial processed stuff, they sometimes toss it to the ground. They don't want anything to do with it. What has mama got? Mama got the good goods? Hi, Miss Fiona. Would you like to take your pick? What would you like? She's like, I can't decide. It's like a kid on Halloween, you know? You probably want this bowl. No? You want that bowl? OK. So this is our fruit and veggie mix. Also, some vitamin C for them. So this is all pre-cut that we do the night before. It's got eggplants, squash, kiwi, all kinds of stuff. And then this has got their leafy greens. They're pretty good about eating a few of the biscuits. And then this is a seed and insect mix they really like. So monkeys are obviously social animals. They live together in a troop. So it's not really a good idea to just get one, because then you become. It's only troop. And then the only member of the troop that they feel they need to fight for dominance. Right. So a lot of times, it's who can be head honcho. So and the other part of it is, are you really going to spend 24-7 with that animal? The parts of the day and the night that you're not with them, they're then alone. Where in the wild, they would never be alone. All the construction happening over here, yep. Always, never fail. Even if somebody gets one and they say, oh, I'm home all the time. I'm going to spend all this time with it. Are you really going to spend 24-7 with it? And the times that you don't spend with it, it's then alone, which in the wild they would never be alone. But as it matures, it may not want time with you as much as it did when it was a baby. So your first six months to two years might be wonderful. And then it may mature and decide, I don't want you to touch me. I don't want you to pick me up. So then what? You have an animal that just lives in a cage alone. Right. So I'm a very, very big fan of letting them be raised in a troop. And if you can tell, these are all parent-raised. These are not hand-raised. They're not running over to attack us and bite us. I can come right in and hand them food. I can interact with them, but they have each other and they live in a natural hierarchy, so to speak. So all the pet stores out there that I've kind of been in and they have just one squirrel monkey in a cage, it's just the worst. It's awful. It makes my heart hurt so much because even like in a pet store setting and it's got all these people coming in and out to watch every day, it's never going to interact with people the way it would with another squirrel monkey. You don't speak the same language. They're talking to each other right now. And so even though I can talk to them and hang out with them, they're communicating amongst each other in a body language and a vocalization that I'll never understand. And I can't give back to them. So it's not to say just because it's around people all the time, it's got its social needs satisfied. So let's talk a little bit about proper enclosures for squirrel monkeys. They are very difficult to house. I would never want to have to house them inside ever because one, they're so messy. They mark their territory with their pee. They rub their food all over everything. So aside from them being so messy, we talked about how much enrichment they need. You see how much they bounce around. And this is a decent enclosure. And we've added a whole nother section because they are so active and they're so playful and they need so much room to bounce around that we've just added a whole nother addition for them. It's very difficult to keep your house intact and keep them from getting into things they shouldn't get into that may be toxic to them, breaking things in the house, not to mention there's zero chance you're going to have a monkey in your house and someone walks in for the first time and cannot smell that you have a monkey. They're very stinky. So I would never in a million years want to house a monkey indoors. They are an outside animal for sure. They do need the UVB as well for their bones to stay healthy. It's just like a reptile that needs UVB. It's the same thing with mammals. So you can't just keep them inside and think they're going to get all of the minerals and vitamins that they need that they get outdoors. Their toys I take out and I pressure wash this every week. You can see I didn't pressure wash it just for this video. Right. That could be your house. Yeah, look at that. So this is one of their toys completely encrusted in various filth. But yeah, you're right. That could be your kitchen counter if you are housing a monkey inside. Again, just with the bounciness and the craziness and all over the place and then rubbing food on everything and peeing on everything, pooping on everything. I mean, they don't go to the toilet. If they got to go, they just go. So I'm sorry, that was your kitchen counter. Oh, well, I don't care. Right, right. And honestly, when people have a pet monkey, I don't think there's such thing as a pet monkey, but when people have a pet monkey that lives inside, it's much easier to give them a piece of donut, a piece of pizza, a piece of cheesecake, a piece of whatever you're eating. So, I mean, in this scenario, it's written out to a T what they get, what they eat. You don't have all that extra temptation or things that they grab and run off with, high sugar stuff. They've got a little body, so they don't need lots of sugar. And they don't need that sugar rush. Yes. They have enough of that naturally. They've got enough of that, but it's definitely, I just think, an outside animal, 110%. Absolutely. All right, so you also have marmosets here that we absolutely have to meet to finish this video up here. We sure do, we sure do. All right, so here is the marmoset enclosure. There's the little cutie right there. So now, going in with the marmosets is gonna be interesting. That's gonna be your call. He might like you, he might not, so. Okay, well, we'll see if he's a fan or a critic. I'm going in. He's pretty good. I mean, look at these little puffballs. How bad can this be? I know, they're like, woman, where is our food? Hi, buddy. So, Will, I haven't gone in here yet today, so you're gonna get the morning view of having a monkey. Having, okay, all right. Just have a look right over there in that corner. There you go, there you go. What they've got waiting for me. They've got a whole nice pile for you. So kind of them to throw their food everywhere. Hi, buddy. He'll probably hop on your shoulder if he decides he likes you. If he decides he doesn't like you, he'll still hop on your shoulder and bite your ear off. And then bite my ear off, okay. All right. He wants your fluff. Yeah, he wants the fluff, just like Chompers in the other video. Oh, well. She's a little shy. Okay, so we're just gonna concentrate on you, buddy. What's his name? Rafiki. Rafiki, hi, Rafiki. Rafiki actually was one that someone bought as a pet and then realized a few months later, holy crap, I have a monkey in my house. Absolutely. Hi, Rafiki. And what's this one's name? So I just call her Rafiki's girlfriend. Rafiki's girlfriend. Yeah. That works, that works. Now he just jumped up on you. Yeah. So obviously he likes you better than me, which is fine. He just met me. Well, I see him every day. Right. And he was raised by a girl. So it was a girl that had gotten him. Ah, there you go. So, but the problem is usually when he gets on me, he pees on me. Ah, sure. So I try not to let him stay on me too long because I usually end up getting peed on. So these are the things that, you know, I think that a lot of people that are like, it would be so cool to, you know, have a monkey as a pet. Well, these are the things that they don't think about and that they really do need to think about. Yeah. And you know, it's very easy to see a 30 second clip on the internet of a super cute monkey. But I always say, what about the other, you know, 24 hours in the day that you're not seeing? Exactly. I am Rafiki approved. Hi, little buddy. Don't, don't, okay. My ear's in there somewhere. Don't bite it. All right. Yeah. All right. So that was a, right. I think that I am Rafiki approved and I could not be more proud of that interaction. And your shirt's not wet. And my shirt's not wet. My ear is intact. This is going good. This is good. So Rafiki is more social than her because he was raised by a human where she was raised with a troop of monkeys. And you see how he is and that's what makes people want them. But the reason he came to us is because he did start getting testy with the girl that had him and he bit her. And that doesn't mean he bites every day. He hasn't bit me, but I also don't try to handle him. I don't make him do anything he doesn't want to do. Whereas in a house situation, they're getting into something you don't want them to get into and you try to reprimand them and they bite. In this environment, I don't have to reprimand him. I don't have to make him stop getting into something. So I don't get bit. Right. These guys are absolutely amazing. Hi. Hi, little buddy. No, don't. Can you get your thing out of my nose? Don't lick up in my nose. You don't know where my nose has been. You know, the other thing I'd like to mention is that there's a lot of push and pull out there about zoos and private zoos and facilities that have these animals. But for something like him, this girl got him. Six months later, he bit her. She was scared of him. She couldn't handle him. Where's he supposed to go? So then in that situation, if you don't have somebody like us, they go into a cage by themselves and they stay there because then the human's scared of them or doesn't want to get bit or can't handle them. Absolutely, and then the care drops and- And then the animal's not happy. Right. So yes, the first six months to two years may be wonderful, but that animal's gonna live 18 years, 20 years, you know? And so you've got to think about the majority of the life and how that's gonna be spent. All right, guys, so I have made a friend. Anyway, guys, again, it is just absolutely awesome to be over here at Extreme Exotics. There is something to be seen around every corner here, and I will definitely be back and do more videos here. But Sabrina has a really awesome YouTube channel called The Wild Side with Sabrina. I'm gonna put her links in the description below. Anyway, guys, I hope this video gave you a little insight as to the care and maintenance that goes into having a squirrel monkey as a pet. In case you ever decide to get one, please do your research before you go and make that impulse purchase. These are animals, they're not impulse purchases. So guys, there's more animal adventures coming up. So until then, love the planet, feed your animal obsession, and rattle on. ♪♪♪