Updated article giving you extensive information on the finger monkey Pygmy Marmosets - Pet Pygmy Marmosets

Finger monkeys - while I admit the pictures of a tiny monkey hanging on to a finger are astonishingly cute the closest thing I can find would be a pygmy marmoset. Are finger monkey’s fact or fiction? You decide. The pictures of the finger monkeys are obviously infants observing the faces and the closed eyes.

I use to tour zoos when I was still able to get around before my accident. While I was at the Duluth Zoo in Duluth Minnesota I saw a marmoset for the first time ever in the zoo Primate Conservation Center, which I would like to add the Primate Conservation Center, is amazing.

The animal I believe to be the finger monkey or thumb monkey is the pygmy marmoset that comes from tropical forests of South America. The pygmy marmoset’s average lifespan is around 15 years. The marmoset lives about 25 years. They are of the callitrichid family.

The pygmy marmoset fully grown is around 4.4-5.8 inches body size and the tail 6.5-9 inches. Adult pygmy marmosets weigh from 3.5 to 5 ounces.

These darling little monkeys are highly social and it would be very difficult to raise them at home as an exotic pet. They live in family groups of a couple to nine pygmy marmosets. They reach sexual maturity around 16 months but because of their social order few females are allowed to breed. They weigh about a half ounce at birth. The females will usually have twins though triplets are not uncommon, they can have quadruplets occasionally.

The pygmy marmoset uses a series of trills and calls to communicate as well as body language. As with all primates they communicate chemically using glandular secretion from their scent glands to communicate needs, desires, expectations, and fears.

They are not facing the human predator quite as badly as other monkeys in that they are able to hide quite easily. Though, habitat loss is certainly taking its toll on these pygmy marmosets, they are considered threatened and many endangered. Don’t think that for a minute their size will keep them from chasing off an invader, they have a “no fear” attitude. As adults they can be unpredictable and aggressive. This is another reason they do not make good exotic pets.

The pygmy marmoset is an omnivorous, eating insects and other invertebrate, fruit, and plant matter. The majority of their diet is from tree exudates, seed gums, and tree and plant sap. They chew holes in trees with their long lower incisors. Their diet alone would make it very difficult to raise them domestically.

Add the unpredictability and aggressiveness with the very long sharp teeth and you may have a finger monkey without the finger.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming have bans on private possession of primates. Several more states are in the process of stopping the possession of primates as pets. There is also the possibility of federal legislation banning these exotic pets.

You must find a veterinarian able to treat a primate before you bring your pet monkey home. These veterinarians are not easy to find.

Make sure any primate you intend on bringing home has had a full physical with a complete set of laboratory tests. As with any primate you truly don’t know if they have been poached in South America or Africa and you certainly don’t want to bring home a pesky disease like Ebola.

Yes the finger monkeys are just as cute as cute can get but monkeys of the callitrichid family are aggressive, unpredictable, have long sharp teeth, have a complicated diet, finding a veterinarian is difficult, and they are expensive to purchase and expensive to care for. The cost of these little monkeys starts out around $2000. Just because they are small doesn’t mean they won’t be a danger to you, your children, or other pets.

New article! The Finger Monkey IS a Pygmy Marmoset!
Pygmy Marmosets - Pet Pygmy Marmosets

Points to ponder Design You Own Exotic Pet Foxes New article!!!

My article - Monkeys as a Pet
Monkeys as a Pet

There are marmosets breeders, pygmy marmoset breeders, pygmy marmosets sellers, and monkey breeders located under breeders and sellers under subjects to the left of this article; in addition to finger monkey breeders.

Here are the finger monkey videos from youtube.

video of a finger monkey

Pygmy Marmoset videos from YouTube pygmy marmoset video



Pictures of monkeys, pictures of finger monkeys and pictures of pygmy marmoset Finger Monkey Pictures
Picture of Finger Monkeys
Pygmy Marmoset Pictures


Book I authored
FERRETS: A Complete Guide (paperback and Kindle)