# Cotton-Top Tamarin advice wanted!



## ONDoubleB (Jan 8, 2013)

Hi guys, 

Firstly I would like to thank you all for reading this post!

I am a newcomer to the idea of primate husbandry but I absolutely LOVE all small primates! Capuchins and Cotton-Top Tamarins are my favourite breeds so far! I have done a few months of research on the idea of keeping them myself (how exciting!) and discovered early on that Capuchins seem to be a lot more difficult than Tamarins to look after and are not recommended for a first time owner and therefore I am thinking of getting an unrelated pair of parent reared Cotton Top Tamarins!

Although I don't think my dream will become a reality for a while yet, I am looking for some different bits of advice of how to keep them.

I have set myself a budget for £2000-£2500 for a large outdoor enclosure with a long run that leads into a rear room of my house, which will contain an indoor heated environment. Would you say this pricing is about right?

I have looked many places trying to find a Cotton-Top Tamarin breeder, but they seem to be few and far between! I imagine this is because they probably don't advertise publicly. But I cannot seem to find the pricing anywhere!

I have the monkeys best interests at heart so if I had to initially get a pair from the same troop this would not be an issue. But I was wondering how much is a singular parent reared Cotton-Top Tamarin? Is it the same for male and females?

What would be the best age for the monkey before it was taken away from the troop? I have heard all sorts of different theories and I wouldn't want to be unknowingly sold a baby that was too young by a cash hungry breeder!

How much is insurance normally? 
Veterinary costs for regular health checks etc? 

I have done quite a bit of research into diets but I can't seem to find a definite answer about grapes, some people say they love them, some people say grapes are toxic to them, does it depend on the species? 

Thanks again for reading this post and I would just like to say I think we would both agree that primate husbandry is often a heated topic for newcomers, but I would never pursue this amazing hobby if I didn't have the time and finances and I would always have the monkey's best interest at heart. I would just love to put the time and effort in to see the privilege of monkeys just being monkeys as a troop every day!


----------



## PETERAROBERTSON (Jul 2, 2008)

ONDoubleB said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> Firstly I would like to thank you all for reading this post!
> 
> ...


There are a couple of pics of one of our pairs on the photo section on here.
And a bit about two first born being hand reared.
Hope this helps a bit.
But please dont be like others and pm about selling.
I dont sell primates.
And never sell n internett if i was going too.


----------



## ONDoubleB (Jan 8, 2013)

Thank you so much for your kind advice, it is much appreciated! 

I won't pm you to ask to buy any as I am not looking to purchase in the short term anyway unfortunately! But when I do get some it will be great to get some pictures up here of them in their enclosure etc  

It is one of my dreams to have an enclosure to fit a large troop and be able to look after them all, I'm not sure whether that would ever be practical though as I only live with the Mrs.

Thanks again for some great advice! :2thumb:


----------

