Ringtail
Lemurs as pets
June 2001
by Linda La Frentz
"The
Good the Bad & the Ugly
If they
are not spayed or neutered (at
the right time) they will get aggressive
and attack you or your friends. Because
of hand raising and bonding with humans,
they lose their fear and respect when
they reach sexual maturity. In the lemur
troupe there is a pecking order, similar
to horses. The female is the most
dominant of the sexes. They do know a
human male from a female. The female
lemur will rub her rear on a man. It's
like saying "YOUR MINE".
If you have a pet that is put into a breeder situation, they will breed, reproduce, learn to take care of their young. BUT the females will eat you up when they have a baby. I have 1 female breeder that was hand raised. When she has her baby we have to get out the leather gloves & net. This is a "have to" for our protection. We do this to check the sex and to put iodine on the baby's navel. You don't have to do this with a "mother raised breeder". The hand raised mom will forget about their love for you at this time. The love of the baby is a stronger bond. Because of hand raising she is NOT afraid of you.
Even if they don't have a baby, they are very moody. You don't pet or touch without their permission. If they think you are going to take something away from them .....whap.....you are gonna get it!! If they attack, (jump on you) they usually go for your head...One time I gave the hand raised mom a piece of romaine lettuce. She sat on it. I gave her another one and reached for the one she was sitting on....She shot like a bullet at me. Knocked my glasses off. WHAP...I GOT IT.... I wasn't thinking. You NEVER take anything away from her. Another time I reached into their food dish to hand a male lemur a grape....I got my hand slapped......FEMALES FIRST........
I
don't have any experience with a male
pet as a breeder. I have heard a few
horror stories though. One lady said she
had a pet male for 3 years and got him a
female. At that point, he bonded with
the other lemur and started attacking
the lady. The female lemur that she got
was mother raised, and never gave the
lady any problems. The lady finally "got
rid " of them after trying to deal with
them for two more years. She hated to
let them go, but she was scared of them.
They have 2 long teeth on top that can
rip and slash the flesh. Now they are
somebody else animals,
and they may be mistreated at this
point.
Another lady that works with a big wildlife facility called me. She is the keeper of the lemurs. She is called the "Lemur Lady". She loves her
lemurs but when they get older and go into breeder situations they turn aggressive and attack her. She was telling me about the females. I don't know if she has any hand raised males or not.
If you
want a breeder----let the mother raise
it! If the baby's life is threatened for
some reason and you need to hand raise
it. plan to spay or neuter it for a pet.
In some cases if they are pulled at 4 or
5 weeks of age, they aren't as good a
pet, but they are OK as a breeder. They
usually don't attack people.
The
mother raised breeders are friendly
enough to hand feed. You can't hold them
though. I have taken a lawn chair into
their pen and sat down with a hand full
of grapes. They will climb up on my lap
and even reach above my head for a
grape. But I can't hold them like a pet.
If I pull a baby to hand raise it (at 14
days), the mother will fret, but "not
attack" me.
These
are such beautiful animals. They do make
a wonderful pet. Sissy is a perfect
testimony for this. Because she was so
very ill for the first few months of her
life I decided to spay her. She was the
subject of the article,
called "Joint Ill - What's That?" She is
such a delight. I just love her. She is 3 1/2 years old now
(d.o.b. 5-30-99). She prefers to
stay with the other lemurs most of the
time. When she decides to stay in the
house for the night, she has a big cage
and a large pet kennel (her bed) next to
my bed with baby blankets and stuffed
toys.
Every day
that the weather is pretty enough, she
"helps" me feed all of the other
critters. I let her run loose in the
yard. She loves playing in the trees and
on top of the buildings... BY THE WAY
...I live in the country. This might be
dangerous in a city situation...Traffic,
power lines, dogs, neighbors...
She is
a little possessive of me. Some times I
sit in a glider swing to play and love
on her. I raise Great Pyrenees
dogs. One of the males loves to "protect
me." He leans on me or sits on my foot.
Sissy doesn't want him this close. She
will hop back and forth from the glider
swing arm to pop Shadow on the head or
shoulder. This doesn't faze the dog of
course, he is so big and unconcerned.
Just sits there and takes it. Sissy has
gotten braver with Shadow. She runs and
jumps around shaking her head then grabs
the dog's back leg...wrestles it and
(play) bites him. He just stands there
like nothing is going on. Since she
gets away with this, she thinks....this
is fun....lets do it again. Funny. Like
a small child....whatever gets
attention. Most dogs wouldn't tolerate
this. The Great Pyrenees
is known as the "gentle giant". These
big dogs are for predator control. We
have a lot of coyotes in the country.
I let
Sissy go into my "Critterhouse"
building. I have several refrigerators,
cabinets, sink, TV, aquarium, and
phone...also pens and cages of animals.
This is where I cut up fruit and veggies
and prepare the food for the different
animals that I have. She has found out
like a small child how to get my
attention...especially if I'm on the
phone. She has seen me write notes while
I'm talking...."pen & paper"... She sees
me write special notes on 3" X 5" cards
on the animals cages. So...what does she
do to get my attention? She grabs pen
and papers and runs with them. Or she
gets my notes on the cages and proceeds
to chew them up. Important notes to me.
Naturally I jump and run after her....
Has she got me trained or what?... She
will also grab paper, pens or $$ out of
a man's shirt pocket and run with it.
...It's Paper... If it's $$...there is
lots of hollering and chasing. She got
attention again...this works :-)
Sissy
also has a pet.....Rambo. He is an
unaltered male prairie dog. He lives in
the lemur pen. The pen has 2' deep sand
for him to dig and burrow. They wrestle
and Sissy hops on him. He could really
do some damage with his teeth, but, he
likes playing with her. He likes for me
to scratch him when I go in the pen. He
grins at me... so cute. I might add that
the pen is completely enclosed with tin
siding and wire on sides and bottom. He
can't get out.
"Sometimes" Sissy is a little aggressive toward other people. Usually this happens when I am close to the lemur pen. Away from the pen, she is better. I learned the hard way NEVER let anyone into the area of the building where they sleep. My two grandaughters, Ashley 6 and Kaycee 9, spent 2 weeks with me during Christmas break. They played with Sissy in the yard the whole time. TWO WEEKS. At the end of the two weeks Ashley wanted to help me feed the lemurs. During the winter, I feed them inside the shed where they sleep. It is more protected from the weather. When Ashley stepped inside the door----Sissy jumped on her (and not in a playful manner). Sissy's warning is a cluck, cluck, cluck. We didn't hear this soon enough. This scared both of us really bad. It's going to take a while for Ashley to get over this scare. So, even though Sissy is a wonderful pet....they can still be unprdictable.
I no
longer let the girls play with Sissy. I
don't let her out of the pen if
"anyone"
is around other than me.
I am not an expert or a veterinarian. These are just some of my personal experiences that I wanted to share. Exotic animals do not always make good pets. In fact they are not good pets for most people. They take special care and understanding that the average person or household is not always prepared to provide. Please look at yourself honestly and critically. Are you truly prepared to take on the responsibility of one of these animals? In captivity they can live 20 or more years. This is a lifetime commitment.
Linda LaFrentz
903-389-5339
mailto:critterhouse@hotmail.com
