Capuchin Monkeys Info

Cork-Chick

Hi, Im wondering does anyone know if you need a DWA licence to keep a capuchin monkey in Ireland? And if you o how would I go about obtaining one? Also I am looking for any people in any part of Ireland that are selling them. I dont want any scammers and I am looking for someone that can provide me with proof that they were bred in captivity. Also if anyone knows of any vets that would deal with them towards munster area I would be very greatfull.

I would really appreciate any advice or info anyone could give me as I could have missed out on something while reading up on them.

Also I am not looking for anyone to tell me its not fair to keep them as pets or to tell me they are diseased. Just remember all animals were wild once upon a time.

Thank ye all

Lisa:D

Raiser

So you desperately want a small, needy, wild, clingy, high-maintenance hairy little creature to run your life, suck up all of your cash and free time and thrash your house?

- Just have a Baby, honestly.

crally

they are from central and south america. they live and feed in the tree tops. they are normally in groups of 10 -15 and i am sure you can find more detailed information on them. they do not like to be dressed up and kept in a house with a human and taken away from their habitat and deprived of their natural instincts. i am in shock that ireland is becoming like this. what is missing in people that they have to take in and control an animal that deserves to be free, to make them feel complete. i see from your profile that you are 18 and i think you should realise that a monkey can give a nasty bite and attack it is not a barbie doll!

animalcrazy

If you are planning to keep it in your house then don't bother getting one, you won't want it once it starts to attack you and trash your house. If you are willing to provide a sanctuary for one, a huge enclosure with lot's of ropes and things for it to climb, then get in contact with a zoo or wildlife park, it is terribly cruel to keep just one aswell, they are social animals.

Cork-Chick

who are you to judge me because of my age, how do you know how responsable i am?I have my own house so i can turn a bedroom into a safe and enjoyable place. And dressing the poor thing up in clothes like a barbie?im sorry now but barbies were just never my thing.And Im not going out into the wild just taking the poor thing from everything it knows.Im getting one that has been born in captivity and soesnt know any different. When you think of getting a dog or a cat or a rabbit o you stop and feel sorry for them because they were wild once upon a time too.

and also incase you didnt see the part in my thread that said---
Also I am not looking for anyone to tell me its not fair to keep them as pets or to tell me they are diseased. Just remember all animals were wild once upon a time.
I specifically asked nicely for people like you to not get high and mighty on my thread

Cork-Chick

animalcrazy wrote: »

If you are planning to keep it in your house then don't bother getting one, you won't want it once it starts to attack you and trash your house. If you are willing to provide a sanctuary for one, a huge enclosure with lot's of ropes and things for it to climb, then get in contact with a zoo or wildlife park, it is terribly cruel to keep just one aswell, they are social animals.

I already have a garden shed turned into one outside with an open part coming out into the garden.Im also going turning a bedroom into another enclosure because i have been told they get istressed in this irish weather from time to time

00112984

"My Monkey Baby" must've been repeated over the weekend on Ch4 :rolleyes:

Clare Bear

00112984 wrote: »

"My Monkey Baby" must've been repeated over the weekend on Ch4 :rolleyes:

It was on lastnight!

00112984

Clare Bear wrote: »

It was on lastnight!

Yup, that answers that.

Every time that stupid programme is on, there are threads on here from people looking to buy Capuchins.

It's almost funny as that documentary points out the very reasons why it's such a bad idea.

Clare Bear

00112984 wrote: »

Yup, that answers that.

Every time that stupid programme is on, there are threads on here from people looking to buy Capuchins.

It's almost funny as that documentary points out the very reasons why it's such a bad idea.

Exactly

OP I'm sorry if it seems like everyone is attacking you and you're not getting any helpful information but as you can see people here feel strongly that it is a bad idea. I'm not being patronising but would you consider a different type of pet? Do you have any other pets? If not a dog or cat maybe something like a chinchilla? It sounds like you would give a pet a great home.

Sigma Force

OP you cannot keep one on their own it's cruel they are intelligent social animals and must be kept in pairs at least. You will not find one living in a zoo or park on their own unless it's a badly run one or there's some medical reason etc.

They need more than a room they need an enclosure, a shed isn't big enough in the long term they need a large proper enclosure like you would see at a park.

The most important thing aside from space is vet care, unless you can find a vet in your area that specialises in them it's not worth the heartache of getting one either. It's hard enough to get a vet that can deal with exotics like rabbits.

Problems arise when they mature also.

Monkeys are not domesticated animals ok they can live within a human family and do but they are not as domesticated as a cat or dog they still have very strong wild instincts.

Not meaning to offend but you clearly haven't done enough research into even the basics if you think it's ok to keep just one on their own.

Captive bred may mean no animals taken from the wild but it doesn't always mean it's right. There are thousands of captive bred parrots for example and many esp. larger ones but even cockatiels and budgies who suffer terribly in a domestic situation because they aren't being provided with the proper diet, housing, socialisation. Parrots can often go completly off the wall from inproper care even captive bred ones.

Look if you are serious about it, then ensure you have the space and have built the enclosure and have a vet on standby and everything set up first. Do much more research and never get one on their own. If you are living in a rented accomodation then don't get any your landlord will not approve I would say. If you have bought your own home then fine but realise the costs involved in buying, housing and keeping the animals.

Just to give you an example, I built a good sized aviary which is similar to a set up you would find for marmosets (smaller and not as strong as a capuchin) although big enough for birds the aviary would not be big enough for primates and yet the whole thing costs a couple of thousand so build properly from the ground up.

00112984

Cork-Chick, just to give you an idea of what you're in for, I'll give you some serious advice. Don't get me wrong, I think Capuchins are cute little blighters too but I'd never have one in my home for a lot of reasons.

Firstly, they're not "pets" and never will be. Primates have a very complex social structure. They'll tolerate being in captivity and allowing you to care for them but they'll never truly be a "pet".

Monkeys bite. They're very territorial and there are many cases in the US of visitors to monkey owners' homes being bitten, badly and ending up sueing for the cost of medical treatment, often plastic surgery.

While we're talking about medical costs, have you thought about the vet youll need to find? Capuchins get human sets of vaccines and tests like TB (and you better do it because YOU can catch it from them) and need specialised vets so it costs a ton and they HAVE to go a lot (zoonosis is common with primates, everything gets passed back and forth like the humans in the household but things that might just send us to bed for a few days can kill a monkey). Many capuchins end up with Diabetes from improper diet. Can you afford the insulin too if you have to?

Monkeys go through defined life stages, much like humans. They grown from babies into children, teens and adults, all with differing hormonal and tempermental problems. Remember that monkeys, though small, are pretty much solid muscle and they have five appendages for grasping on to you as well as a very strong jaw and teeth designed for tearing and ripping. A mad monkey is a very, very dangerous thing to have in your home. Bear in mind, most monkeys are still in an infant stage until they're about 6 years of age. Suddenly, you have a "pet" who you've presumed is perfectly tame for years turn on you just to try out his teenage capabilities.

As you've accounted for, monkeys need indoor and outdoor space. They can chew through walls and ceilings so any room in your house would need to be reinforced. Might want to check your liability insurance should little Mojo decide to escape from your garden shed and bite a neighbour some day.

They're also very inquisitive creatures and like to get into everything. They chew wires so you have to protect them against electrocution. Now, you'll say rabbits chew wires too and, while this is true, rabbits can't scale your couch, across your china cabinet and up onto the ceiling light fixture. There have been reported cases of pet monkeys opening the fridge, climbing in, door closing behind him and the owner comes home to find a very cold, dead monkey.

While you may think little monkey nappies are cute, you've already said you don't want a "Barbie replacement" so I presume you're going to let the monkey live as closely to it would in a nature reserve as possible and monkeys don't take well to toilet-training and just go as they walk/swing. So imagine cleaning up after an over-fed human toddler every day for up to fifty years. That's a lot of **** to shovel.

Speaking of life expectancy, the record for a captice Capuchin is 54 years but they don't live that long when kept on their own due to shortened life expectancy caused by depression and isolation. The solution- get another monkey! The problem? Well, not all breeds are compatible and even if you get a second Capuchin, think back to the natural pack tendancies of monkeys. Suddenly, you hae you vs. two monkeys. A monkey will always show much more loyalty to another of its kind rather than to a human.

So, before you get too tied up in the idea of having a cute new accessory, consider all these facts. The first thing you're looking at is cost. You'll find loads of scams out there offering Capuchins for a grand or two but a genuine breeder with captivity-bred and proven Capuchins will be looking for €5k+. Factor in at least a thousand for a large, re-inforced metal cage outside, another €2k to convert your spareroom, vet bills, medical insurance, liability insurance, food and the cost of replacing things in your home that get damaged over the course of four or five decades.

In countries like the US where Capuchins and other small monkeys have become popular as pets, so many monkey shelters have had to be set up to care for the monkeys who have been surrendered. Have a Google for some of these shelters and see if you can get information for the reasons they're surrendered so frequently.

I genuinely think that monkeys are not pet material and, in my opinion, the ownership of them should be restricted to people who are trained to handle and care for these creatures, not just someone who sees them on TV and fancies herself as the next Dian Fossey.

animalcrazy

Would you get a lion, a cheetah, an elephant etc. just because it was born in captivity?, they are not domestic animals and it is not the same as getting a cat or dog.

You are 18 where are you getting the thousands of euro you need to do this properly?

Ruby Soho

OP, you can NOT compare keeping a dog or cat to keeping a Capuchin Monkey. Dogs (Canis familiaris) do NOT exist as a wild animal, nor has it ever. Humans made them the way they are, therefore our homes, towns and farms are their natural environment, as it has been for thousands and thousands of years. Dingos and other dog-like animals in the wild were originally domesticated and reverted back to the wild state. There are not herds of greyhounds hunting Gazelle in the Middle-east or Rottweilers prowling in the woods in Germany, that's just a silly argument.
Just because an animal like the Capuchin Monkey was bred in captivity does not make it ok to keep as a pet.
One of the big big issues I have with the idea is that of veterinary care. I don't know of any exotic specialists in our part of the country. You might find that you have to travel to the Veterinary Hospital in UCD for treatment, or at the very least, an exotic vet in Dublin. Your ordinary vet down the road is NOT going to be able to do anything for you, not even the routine stuff. And I don't mean its because they don't know how to, I mean that there are NO veterinary drugs used in everyday practice that is licensed to treat primates.
While I'm trying not to let your age influence me here, ok, you're 18. The country is in the middle of a recession. What happens if you decide to flog the house, change jobs, lose your job, get a job offer abroad, go back to college, have a few kids? You could sell your house and go away travelling when you're 27. Who's going to mind the monkey for a year? Your parents? I don't bloody think so....

lightening

Wow, sounds like a fookin nightmare. Anyone have one of these? I presume holidays are out?

theonlygirl

Having lived volunteered at a monkey sanctuary for a number of months, I would have to advise against purchasing any species of monkey as a pet. Like the OP I am mad about monkeys, and adored the idea of having my own little critter as a companion, but instead of purchasing one I volunteered at the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa www.vervet.za.org/. Vervets are a species not wholly unlike Capuchins, although they do grow up to be a lot bigger, with much larger teeth! They are absolutely adorable as little babies, very playful, lovable and cute, and people often make the mistake if they come across an orphan, trying to keep it as a pet. BIG mistake. I had the dubious pleasure of working hands on with Vervets ranging in age from a few weeks to 34 years old, and they have a very complex ranking social system, which took me some time to climb. I spent numerous weeks getting bitten, pooed on, puked on, little paws being stuck up my nose, in my ears and my hair being chewed off. I have some lovely scars to prove it!

It was an absolutely amazing experience which really opened my eyes about how much damage humans can do by trying to domesticate wild animals. We had one particularly lovely teenager called Pavo, who was raised as someones pet until he got to the stage where he liked to play a bit too rough. You can't discipline a monkey by putting it on the naughty step, and no matter how affectionate they will be one minute, you must respect the fact that 2 minutes later they could have a large chunk of your arm or leg or face (in my case I was deprivesdof a nice portion of cheek and lip!) in their sharp little teeth, as it is their natural behaviour to do so. You are not their mother or their carer, you are part of their troop, and they will continually try and asert their dominance, which they are completely entitled to do.

If you are hell bent on spending astronomical amounts of money getting yourself a monkey, it would be well worth using a little of that cash to go and volunteer in VMF first. You will get the hands on experience that you are dreaming about, and you will see first hand the not so nice realities that come with it. If you still want to buy a Capuchin after spending 8 or 12 weeks in a sanctuary like VMF then at least you will be making a more educated decision!

Sigma Force

Agree with theonlygirl, there are far better ways to get involved with wildlife esp. complicated animals like monkeys.

There's a monkey sanctuary in Wicklow that perhaps the op could get involved with, help fundraise and perhaps eventually get to give a hand with feeding etc. As far as I know it's more of a hands off approach like with many primates in rescues and parks it's hands off unless there's an orphan baby.

Also check out http://www.monkeyworld.org/ many of the chimps etc. were rescued from the pet trade. Perhaps take a visit there and help support the excellent work they do.

fiona2205

my god people realy out to put you off Capuchin Monkey, i have looked into these to and have not come up with responsible breeder living in ireland yet, it is legal, now before everbody gives out i have a lot off land ,we are farmers. i breed s,husks but not very often as they are my house pets, and they dont come from country, and one of my pups is gone to live in poland.i heard there is vet up in stillorgan you can find this out just have to phone any vet,and they will let you no where exotic vets are in ireland. now i have to say monkeys like to live with there own kind , so one is no good it wont be happey. if anybody has monkey would love to hear from you

star-pants

fiona2205 - this thread is almost 3 years old, generally people don't bump up a very old thread without good reason. I'm closing this thread