My Home Zoo

All my life I have admired and fought for animal rights. My family being a bunch of animal lovers themselves instilled the love for them in my heart and mind. Through my life I had several pets. From fish to hamsters, cats to dogs, and bearded dragons to capuchin monkeys. Yes, you read that correctly. I said capuchin monkeys.

My grandmother and I adopted a baby capuchin monkey when he was only a few weeks old. We named him Rudy. He was a fluffy little baby, with tiny hands and feet, the cutest squeaky noise when he would speak with us, and a temper built for a toddler hyper from an abundance of sugar.

I love him. All my life I believed exotic animals should never be kept as pets and I still believe that. However, Rudy has changed my life for the better. He has taught me responsibility, love, and patience. I would never change a thing in my life when it comes to getting him.

He started off from being a few months old loving to take a nap with me. Rudy would wrap himself in a baby blanket and curl up on my leg for me to slowly rock him. He would have a bottle first and then slowly his body would drift off into a restful sleep. Rudy only needed liquids for the first part of his life. We would give him bottles full of baby formula and change it up with certain different foods in it. Bath time was not his favorite. He would whine and whine, his little arms balled up as he stared up at me when given a bath. Occasionally he would jump from the tub and attempt escape. My grandmother would grab my hand and we would chase after the wet ball of fur laughing as we went.

We had two chihuahuas that he always wanted to play with, but they were older than him and slightly spoiled. Rudy would persist however, and the chihuahuas, Emme and Sophie, would growl at him, showing their teeth but never actually do anything to get him away. Rudy was a daredevil. He would approach them in a reckless manner and watch their mouths roll into a snarl.

Rudy would start out his morning with daringly high jumps from the couch to the gigantic cage that takes up half our living room that we purchased for him as a play room. When it was time for “quiet time”, he would go into his cage and play with his toys. I would go in there and sit with him as he jumped from wall to wall, rope to rope, and landing perfectly on his feet, sometimes with something clutched tightly in his amazing tail that was like his fifth appendage.

Rudy had extremely sharp teeth. We went with the adoption process knowing all this and that, acknowledging that he was an animal. As a tiny baby his teeth were hardly there, but as he grew older and reached his now two-and-a-half years old his teeth grew with him and are fully capable of ripping into skin as easily as cutting a cucumber with a sharpened knife. But we knew this already. We were prepared.

I have always had tough skin, my life not having been the easiest one. I also knew that with an animal, biting and scratching should be expected. I have been bit, I have been scratched. But as he has aged he has learned what to do with us and what not to do. He now nibbles a lot and if I am honest, I have never bled from any of his bites. I’ve had more cat scratches to bring blood to the surface than his bites.

Capuchin monkeys are fully capable of catching any diseases that we can. Since all this Covid-19 mess, we haven’t taken him out around the town but before it all he was quite well-known. People loved him and he enjoyed the attention. He could be protective of his family and we would warn people of that, but he never tried to hurt a stranger and always spoke to people when they gave him attention. Rudy enjoys attention and expects it everyday or he throws a temper tantrum.

He has his own birthday parties where we get him cake and presents. We sing him the “Happy Birthday” song and give him more kisses than could ever possibly be asked for by a normal toddler. He isn’t human, he isn’t a baby, but he’s amazing and we love him more than the world itself. We are mindful when giving him cake or sweets in general just because they aren’t the best thing for a monkey, but he loves them and they bring him joy.

I would do anything for Rudy. He is my baby. I will say that I would never trade getting him for anything on the planet, but I do acknowledge and still feel strongly that exotic animals should not be kept as pets. However, if you do ever desire to get any sort of exotic animal, raccoon, monkey, bobcat, etcetera, go into it with the knowledge needed to be able to take care of the animals needs. Do not ever get an animal and expect it to give up its wild tendencies just because you tell it no. You should do this with any animal you adopt so that you and the animal can go on to have a peaceful and blessed life together.

Stay safe out there, everyone! Thank you for reading my story for those of you that do.