I do not answer the
letters from those who write and ask me this question. I can't help you.
I couldn't begin to
tell you of all the pets I've ever had. At one point, Les and I had an eight
acre farm...but that's another story. I can tell you about my monkeys....no, I
don't have them anymore, but I would like to have monkeys again.
I'm a 'primate / feline / reptile' kind of a person. Several years ago I
had to find new homes for my monkeys...I had to simplify my life, at that
time. I had four monkeys. Things are back to normal with me now, and I'd love
to get a monkey back into my life.
Back when I was a very
young girl, I used to love to look at the ads in the back of my Aunt Carolyn's
True Confession magazines. They had ads for little Squirrel Monkeys and you
could buy them for $19.95. Ahhh....those were the days......today, those same
type of monkeys go for an average of about $1,500...and up.
Anyway, I can remember that
my Mom-Mom would talk to me about them. She knew that I wanted one more than
anything in this world. So, she helped me to save some money for one. I began to
save pennies and loose change in an old metal Band-Aid box.
Well, I don't remember how
much money I actually had, but my Aunt Carolyn stole my money and that ended my
dream.
But Mom-Mom and I still
talked as though I were going to have a Squirrel Monkey some day. We even
thought of a name....Squeaky......
Flash forward a few
decades....in the year 1989, I was reading the 'want ads' of our local newspaper
and saw an ad for a Squirrel Monkey and cage for $500....and I was so excited. I
knew I was going to buy that monkey, and I did.
I named her Squeaky, right
away....and I even cried. This was more than just a dream come true for
me......this was a fulfillment of something that me and my very favorite
grandmother had talked about...and now I was actually seeing it all come true.
These first few pictures are of my first
monkey, 'Squeaky'.....the pictures give
you an idea of the size of Squirrel Monkeys..
It took some time
for me and Squeaky to bond, but we did. Monkeys are very attached to their
owners and we needed time for her to get used to me. Once she did bond with me,
it was finalized.....I was her favorite human. She was insanely jealous of my
husband and anyone else who attempted to get near me.
My second monkey was a
male, 'Spanky'. He was so unusual...hated to get his hands wet or dirty, and
soaked everything in his water dish....including his toys and cotton candy.
Then we got a monkey on loan from Hollywild
Animal Park. I baby-sat her for a couple of years. Her name was
Crazy Eddie, for obvious reasons...doesn't she look like Eddie Munster? She
had not been handled by humans before and I totally trained her. She was also
very attached to me and I was the only one who could touch her.
At
last, a baby was born to Squeak, my first monkey. She was pregnant for six
months and the birth was very quick. We named the baby boy 'Jo-Jo'.
It was amazing to me how all of the
monkeys pitched in to help 'raise' Jo-Jo....though Squeaky was
the mom, the other female, Crazy Eddie, would also step in and help 'mother' him. I had no idea how
'maternal' the females
would be....Jo-Jo had two moms.
I learned a lot by watching all of them
interact. I even saw the father, Spanky, play with Jo-Jo, much like a father
plays with his boy. The monkeys were very protective of the
baby....especially the girls...but Spanky was very protective, as well, though
he was more competitive when it came to food. What surprised me was that
Squeaky shared her baby with me, as well. I never expected that, but she
trusted me with him completely. They were such an interesting community...a
little family.
All of the monkeys got
along wonderfully. They loved me to death, and were very jealous of me...my
husband was attacked more times than he cares to remember, just for kissing me
good-bye in the mornings or sitting too close to me in the living room. If the
monkeys were out of their cage you couldn't get near me...they would even
attack if you laughed too loud, so I couldn't let them out when we had
company. I have lots of great monkey stories and unusual things they did. I
wish I could tell you everything on this page.
But I can tell you this, if
you are thinking of getting a monkey, remember, they require a lot of attention,
they demand it. They can become very depressed if they don't get the proper
attention. We'd even take out monkeys with us when I would go visit my parents,
more than 500 miles away, as it was less stressful for them to go with us than
to leave them at home with a sitter.
Also, monkeys don't like
children real well. Monkeys take 'eye contact' and shrill voices and sounds as
acts of aggression and children do those things. So, if you're thinking of
getting small children a monkey as a pet, it might not be such a good
idea......monkeys will and do bite, viciously.
