Your Pet Guide

We’ve all seen movies, cartoons, commercials, music videos, etc. in which the main characters are played by these cute, joyful, smart animals. And this may lead us to believe that monkeys would actually make perfect pets.

Although while they are just small babies these sweet creatures, with their big eyes and their fuzzy fur may appear as harmless and innocent, when they grow up and become sexually mature, they can turn into really violent beings. Not to mention that they can pass on to us some extremely dangerous viruses, like the one of herpes B. This disease can be lethal for humans.

The problem is many people think they may adopt monkeys as substitutes for children. And therefore they are willing to pay a rather big amount of money to get such a pet-monkeys may cost thousands of dollars. Nonetheless, veterinarians generally share the idea that monkeys have a complex emotional system, a high level of intelligence, are likely to live a long life, and therefore they feel the need to spend their time with their "own kind" rather than humans, no matter how much we may try to please or spoil them.

Here are the words of such a doctor: "If you try to keep them as pets you're creating a mentally disturbed animal in 99.9 percent of the cases," He also says that "The animal will never be able to fit in any other home. Never learn how to get along with other monkeys. And, more often than not, will end up with a lot of behavioral traits that are self-destructive."

Monkey babies are usually taken away from their moms when they are about three days old, and in exchange for their mothers they are given a cuddly, stuffed toy to play with, a blanket, or other such things. This causes the poor animals to adopt an abnormal behavior: they rock, grasp themselves, or suck their thumbs (so in a way they may remind us of how abandoned children act like.)

Monkeys become of age, therefore reach sexual maturity when they turn 18-24 months old. It is at this point that they can get pretty aggressive and dangerous towards their owners. Because of that, the formerly proud monkey owners decide to give them over to zoos or sanctuaries, where, sadly enough, they get to spend the rest of their lives. Or sometimes they are sent to laboratories for experiments or breeding.

Due to the change in their pets’ behavior as they grow older and stronger, some owners may try to change the unpredictable characteristics of monkeys by chaining them, putting them in small confined spaces, removing their teeth or nails to make them unable to scratch or bite.

Let us not forget that "Primates are wild animals," as said Truitt, from the Primate Rescue Center mentioned. "No amount of surgical mutilation, training, or beating will ever change that."
Monkey pets can really make one’s life more complicated, as they tend to behave like trouble, difficult children. Thus, appart from showing favoritism towards certain family members, growing monkeys are also likely to become more and more aggressive if there are too many people in a house or a room.


Monkeys are happy only when they can fulfill their social and emotional needs. They need other social animals like them, they need to feel loved and protected, and generally long for genuine affection. Such emotional needs may in fact appear as quite similar to the humans’ ones. Nevertheless, there is still a wild side to that, which reminds us of their being wild animals, not domestic pets. Therefore it would be a great mistake to see them and consequently treat monkeys like we would treat a dog, a cat, a hamster, a guinea pig or any other such common pets.

One should try and understand that they do have their very own, specific needs, feelings and emotions, and they are reluctant to change them for our own simple pleasure and entertainment. They are likely to become aggressive when people treat them like toys, this happening especially in the case of human kids who may enjoy controlling them or handling them in a rather harsh manner. Knowing these consequences, think more than twice before you decide for a monkey pet.