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Living with a monkey makes for an interesting home
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I raised a capuchin monkey for Helping Hands. “Ziggy” Campbell is now a helper-companion for a quadriplegic. My.jpg)
seat-of-the-pants adventure started when I became a foster mom for a five-week old brilliant little cebus apella capuchin weighing 11 ounces—and who fit into the palm of my hand. I had her for thirteen years.
Incorporation
The main thing I wanted to talk about is how to affectively incorporate an animal into your home. Lots of people have pets, but do they have meaningful relationships with their pets?
Diapers and bottles
Since rearing Ziggy was based more on childcare—she is a primate and so are we—I decided that she needed to be with us where we spent the majority of the time. She was raised like a human infant child..gif)
We parked her cage into our living area. The footprint of that included the living room, dining room and kitchen. At this particular time I also situated my office on the living room table, to be nearer to her at all times. (For the first 8 mos. of her life, I wore her on my wrist like a furry Timex, all day, all evening.)
Proper caging
The yellow enameled cage was professionally built and seven-foot tall. I painted it a cheerful brilliant blue. It sat on legs which kept it about five inches off the floor. I placed a washable mat underneath, similar to what you might put under a desk chair in an office. Her cage was in front of a wall full of mirror tile (she loved talking to the monkey in the mirror). The floor is Bruce hardwood. All the surfaces were wipe-able except the ceiling (which I had to scrub and paint when she left).
Cage set-up
The bottom level of the cage was a tray filled with cedar. Convenient to dump in the woods (and the crows stood in wait for that!).
The next level was a grate so loose food and potty droppings would fall through to the cedar (much like a bird’s cage). But Ziggy was with us, every minute of the waking day. And that was the point. Even when she was in the cage (her apartment, so-to-speak) she was always in full view..jpg)
Commitment
I wrote a book about the experience called: Bringing Up Ziggy: What Raising a Helping Hands Monkey Taught Me About Love, Commitment and Sacrifice. It’s become a classic for individuals who decide to care for monkeys as pets (something I do not advocate, by the way). The title is right on, however, I feel that if you are going to “parent” an animal, that you make the lifetime commitment needed, in order to not only enjoy your pet, but see it thrive.
Later this week I’m going to run some ideas I’ve collected from some of Examiner’s pet columnists. I hope you’ll come back for that. It should be very sound advice. Because life with primates or pets can be very interesting indeed.
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