Is it ludicrous to want a pet monkey?

[handbaghoarderr]

Hi all,
I have watched the video of the monkey being reunited with the individuals who saved it, and it was so cute, and now I love monkeys and want one. Am I being absurd? The sensible part of my brain would never get one, but the (bigger) reckless part of my brain would. I know it's not feasible, but my heart has been stolen by monkeys. What do I do?

Of course you are! DS2 (22) wants a tiger. He plans to be very rich and have an island with a tiger on.
Failing that, he'll have to live with me and help me run my animal rescue centre. You are very welcome to join us...

There was someone on Monkey Life whose monkeys were kept in adequate accommodation , it cost 10k to build ,plus the extras like toys and food. He had at least a pair and used them as a marketing gimmick for his pub. Most people who had pet monkeys just let them run around the house and were expected to sleep in a tiny cage.

Monkeys need very special conditions and most people wouldn't make the effort. If you want a monkey borrow a toddler

Charla Nash

Yes go ahead OP , get one with big teeth , Oh and a dancing bear to keep it company

handbaghoarderr Mon 10-Jun-19 14:19:37
@Sissy79 I don't want it for entertainment, I want it so I can have something to nurture, I don't want children, but I still want something to look after.

get a pot plant

My daughter loves animals and I bought her a reborn orang-utan and a reborn gorilla. They were fabulous. Very realistic!

She had one very similar to this -

www.amazon.co.uk/Bradford-Exchange-Ashton-Drake-Annabelles/dp/B0117TRKZU/ref=asc_df_B0117TRKZU/?hvlocphy=1006567&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=345519669270&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos=1o1&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-296396735740&hvrand=18130346773548927927

And almost identical to this one -

www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/6966574397135593/

Get one of those instead.

A monkey is a bonkers idea, sorry. They are social animals and need to live with their own kind.

Put yourself forward to your local animal rescue shelter as a foster carer. Some animals can't cope in a shelter and need the security of a home environment. Then when they are rehomed, the shelter will allocate you another. Sometimes you get kittens or puppies with their mum, and you keep them and socialise them until they are ready to be rehomed.

Alternatively, adopt an animal which is senior in years and needs a loving home to see out their days. Shelters find them particularly hard to rehome.

I always find it odd when people like you OP, decide you want a pet, particularly an unsuitable one like a monkey and try to justify it by stating ‘I just love animals!’

What is loving about this situation exactly?

You are taking a non domesticated animal and keeping it in a totally unnatural, alien environment, away from its friends and family, denying it the right to behave in a truly natural natural fashion and denying it a truly natural diet for your own entertainment because you think it’s cute and intelligent and you ‘love’ animals.

Is that really the definition of ‘loving’ an animal?

I was in hospital once with someone who had a serious lung infection, they couldn't work out what it was and then she mentioned that she had a monkey and all became clear - she was rushed off to the Tropical Diseases Hospital. The doctors said that monkeys carry all sorts of diseases.

Yes, and cruel.

I don't want it for entertainment, I want it so I can have something to nurture, I don't want children, but I still want something to look after

See? This statement sums my argument absolutely perfectly.

You don’t want the monkey because you genuinely love it and appreciate it and want what is best for it, for it to live it’s most natural enjoyable life.

No.
You want it because you feel something is missing and want it to fill the void as it were, to care for and nurture and satisfy that motherly instinct.

That is not love.

Thanks all. It was just a silly notion.

Knicky

I want a polar bear but DH says no.
Fucking spoil sport that's all he is!!

LTB

How the hell would you even begin to find somewhere that sells Monkeys? Isn’t it illegal? Well it should be.
Just adopt one

'Being intelligent' is what makes a pet awful! They know how to manipulate you and become destructive through boredom. I know people who work with monkeys and, er, nothing they say makes me think 'great pets!'....

I know it's not feasible, but my heart has been stolen by monkeys

Err will you still feel the same way OP when it tries to rip your face off?

I'd like a room full of sloths in hammocks. Baby ones too. I'd dress them all in matching scarves.

Instead, I shall have to make do with this scruffy little cross breed terrier thing that barely tolerates a collar let alone a scarf and seems to prefer my pillow to the little hammock I knitted her. And save my pennies for a visit to the sloth rescue centre in Costa Rica.

You aren’t ludicrous to want one. I’d like one too. And a baby elephant. I don’t intend to get either because it would be cruel for the many, many reasons already given and also it’s just plain stupid. But I still really, really want one.

A dog would probably be better. If your lifestyle is appropriate for dog owning.

I went to a rescue centre for black faced spider monkeys in Mexico once. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life. And I've had a few.

What makes spider monkeys so scary?

unless you have a garden big enough for a large indoor & outdoor enclosure (acres and acres) and space for appropriate number of companions, money for the right food and vetinary care.... just don't.

I want elephants.
as I can't have a real one, little figuerines it is...

I get where your coming from with wanting something to look after but wouldn't having a pet monkey be like looking after a toddler for 20 odd years. Having your own child would be far easier they are only toddlers for 2 years

So far my DP has got me a fictional zoo containing all the beautiful animals I've demanded after seeing them on TV.

So far I've got a hippo, giraffe, at least one of each of the big cats, platypus, armadillo, meerkat, sea otter, geckos, a few snakes, and various wolves and dingo type dogs that I can't remember the correct names for. No primates though.

It's a wonderful zoo that works tirelessly for animal conservation. It also has a reasonably priced cafe where you can get an excellent cream tea.

An imaginary menagerie that you can be the imaginary manager of is the way to go, because you can't keep a wild animal in a house (which I'm sure you know really )

To even entertain this idea for a fleeting moment, you ain’t no animal lover.