5 Things To Consider BEFORE Getting A Pet Monkey

Hi everybody and welcome to another video. My name is Natasha and this is Ollie. Ollie is a baby squirrel monkey and he just turned two. So in today's video I'm going to give you five things to consider before getting a pet monkey. And I'm also going to throw out this disclaimer right now before we even get started. I am in no way shape or form promoting or saying that you should get a monkey in general. What I'm really hoping to achieve by making this video is to shed some light on some things that maybe somebody who's considering getting one hasn't thought about and will reconsider before they get a monkey. There's not much information out there online in general when it comes to primates. So a lot of the stuff that is out there online right now is not going to touch on the five things that I'm about to share with you. So let's get into the video. So the first thing you should consider is the fact that there is no pet monkey daycares. There's no such thing as taking your pet monkey to a doggie daycare camp or hiring a sitter. There's no such thing like that for a pet monkey. So there is no I want to go and have a romantic weekend and not have to worry about my animals or anything like that. There's no such thing. So with Luke and I's lifestyle we actually don't go anywhere pretty much ever. So there's always somebody home with Ollie 24-7. We do have monkey boo Pete across the street if we ever had. Really Ollie? Okay can I try this again? We do have Pete and monkey boo across the street so if we ever had an emergency or anything we could always ask for him to help us out. But there is no such thing as daycare or monkey sitters. So that is something extremely important to consider. So number two would be the cost the monthly cost to have a primate. There are a lot Ollie this is going to be a funny video. There are a lot of things other than just the initial cost of a primate because primates need specialty care. Their vet bills are a lot higher than what they would be for a cat or a dog. So keeping that in mind there's also because squirrel monkeys have very short attention spans. We have a monthly allotment that we spend on Ollie for new toys and new bedding and things that keep his mind engaged and active. New things for his playroom stuff like that. So that's something to also consider. We're just going to read this list because that's going to be so much easier. Cleaning supplies, fresh food, vet bills, diapers, clothing, enclosures, heating and cooling costs. That's something that most people don't think about. We have to keep the house at a certain temperature for Ollie because his body is not used to his fur is not super thick. So the temperature in the house has to stay above 75 at all times no matter if it's winter or summer. So that is something that also needs to come into consideration is the added heat and cooling bill is going to be much higher than what a normal house would be. All right so number three. Primates have mood swings just like human primates. As you can see Ollie right now he's already been up in this playroom for a couple of hours but he is still just got a ton of energy. So there are days and Monkey Boo has this as well. Rainy days affects their moods. They have mood swings. They may not want to come out of the enclosure or they may want more cuddle time. It really varies on the primate. It really varies on the primate but that is something that needs to be taken into consideration that they have and feel emotions just like we do and have good and bad days. Number four. This is something that I kind of touched on a little bit in my last video on Ollie's sounds and mannerisms that you need to have enough time to be with your primate to understand all of their different sounds and noises and mannerisms. Their pulses, their chucks, whatever it is that your primate does. Specifically your primate breed as well because if you do not understand them or take the time to understand them now it could really cause some behavioral issues in the future when they get into adulthood because they can't communicate with you and you're not you didn't take the time to understand what they're trying to say. It's just like working with a toddler. Cohen right now is two and we are working with him to verbalize what he wants so it's the same sort of concept but you really it's not there's not just like four or five commands like what you would teach a dog. You really need to understand their feelings and emotions as well because they do have mood swings and everything so you need to understand for the safety of your primate and for your safety as well. And then lastly number five is to try to replicate. Ollie we're doing this again man. Oh man. And then lastly number five is to try to replicate their natural environment. So like I said we have our heating and cooling set at a certain temperature that is much higher than what I personally find comfortable but that is what we have to do for the primate to stay happy healthy and replicate his natural environment as much as we can. We also do that with giving him foods that he would naturally find in the environment. We also use tree branches. This is why it's also important for Ollie's specific breed that we keep all of his toys and stuff that his hiding spots and everything up high because that is naturally where he's going to want to go instinctively. So even in his enclosure I always make multiple levels for him so he can choose if he wants to be up high or if he wants to be down low but typically he's going to be up high. It's also why we chose a very tall enclosure versus a wide enclosure. These are all things that are gonna vary specifically on the primate breed and species but that is what works for Ollie. If you liked this video thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it. I'm hoping to bring more of these educational videos to you guys because there just really isn't a lot of information out there on primates in general and like I said at the beginning of this video I am not encouraging anybody to get a monkey. It is very hard work, takes a lot of dedication, and as you can see there's a lot of things that we have to do to accommodate Ollie that you're not going to be able to find on the internet and read about before getting one. So that's something that I'm really trying to stress and bring to the viewer that yes they are very cute and they are very fun but guys there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that I really want to reiterate for you guys. So if you appreciate this video please give it a thumbs up and like always if you're new subscribe and hit the notification bell. Thank you so much for watching the only channel on YouTube dedicated to the life of this little guy right here. Say bye!