Keeping a Pet Monkey: Legal, Housing & Social Needs

Unlike most other pets, monkeys require different care. A well-maintained monkey will require your undivided attention for the duration of their life, and monkeys can survive anywhere from 20 to 40 years. Adorable new-borns turn into challenging adult monkeys who are not typically suitable as pets.

We discuss the difficulties that come with owning a pet monkey, such as potential behavioural, health, and legal problems.

Should you keep a pet monkey?

Monkeys do not develop into the same adults as human youngsters. They are essentially toddlers forever. In addition, your pet monkey may not get along with new people, such as spouses or kids, and they may make it difficult for you to take trips. A pet monkey’s search for a new home is also very challenging and stressful for the monkey psychologically.

A monkey also requires a great deal of social engagement. If you don’t give your pet monkey enough time and care, it may develop serious behavioural difficulties like biting and screaming, in addition to psychological disorders that may be hard to treat.

It may be against the law in your area to keep primates as pets, including monkeys. Various nations have various restrictions when it comes to owning monkeys as pets. If you live in the United States, find out if you are allowed to keep a monkey as a pet by checking the state and municipal legislation. While keeping monkeys as pets is completely illegal in some places, it is permitted in others with possible limitations. Even in cases where owning a monkey is lawful, permissions may still be needed. Permit holders may occasionally have their homes inspected to make sure the right amenities and care are being given.

Furthermore, if your insurance company discovers that you possess a monkey, they may cancel your policy altogether or seek additional liability coverage under homeowner policies. But if your monkey bites someone, you could be in danger if you don’t have insurance.

The cost of purchasing these creatures from reliable sources is significant, in addition to the high expense of maintaining a pet. Based on the kind of monkey, costs will change. A chimpanzee may cost $50,000, but capuchin monkeys may cost $5,000 to $7,000.

Should you keep a pet monkey?

Monkeys are a long-term commitment, as, generally, they can live 20 to forty years. Furthermore, influencing a monkey’s life span will be its species. While a capuchin might live 15 to 25 years, a chimpanzee can live 50 years or more.

Between humans and monkeys, a wide spectrum of diseases—known as zoonotic diseases—can be spread somewhat seriously. Among the viruses and diseases capable of passing from monkeys to humans are those like:

Tuberculosis
Yellow fever B virus
Simian immunodeficient virus
Monkeypox, sometimes referred to as Mpox
Viral bleeding fever
Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract

Maintaining a captive monkey healthy might also prove challenging. It can be difficult to locate a veterinarian close by, ready to treat a primate. And monkeys sometimes call for specific diets that can be costly and time-consuming to create. Pet monkeys often get diabetes because of the inadequate nutrition many of their owners feed them. This is only one illness your veterinarian should always be observing.

Eventually, a gentle, reliant young monkey will grow up to be the wild animal they were meant to be. Pet monkeys will never really become tamed; raising a monkey around people won’t modify their natural behaviour. Actually, depriving a pet monkey of typical social contacts with other monkeys might lead to neuroses and behavioural issues.

Pet monkeys have 32 teeth to deliver these deadly bites and often exhibit a biting inclination. Some monkeys are quite violent, while others are kind. Even the mildest monkeys, however, are erratic and may become hostile to anyone—including the person to whom they are closest—especially during and following puberty.

Monkeys require a huge, safe cage, which building can be costly. If at all practicable, they should spend time outside. They also need a wide range of always shifting toys and exercise tools to keep them engaged or else they would grow bored. While certain states call for specific kinds of enclosures to satisfy permit requirements, you should always have somewhere to safely store your monkey to protect the public.

Monkeys are not neat and orderly either. Most are not easily toilet trained. Although many young monkeys can be diapered or at least partially potty trained, that capacity is generally lost as adulthood advances. They may also participate in nasty activities with their pee and excrement, like painting with it and hurling it. Apart from the mess in the toilet, pet monkeys can be rather destructive and mischievous—especially when bored.

Housing Pet Monkeys

Monkeys are not particularly nice pets overall. Indeed, for a period, some can be really pleasant. To live in a human home, however, monkeys really are capable of causing too much damage and demanding too much care and attention. For apes—that is, chimps, orangutans, and gibbons—these problems are just as crucial. Human beings and non-human primates make bad roommates, in short.

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