# Meerkat...



## foxxy cleopatra

does anyone know where i could get a Meerkat (to keep as a pet), my boyfriend has seen a meerkat as a pet on youtube ect, and now he really really wants one. Is it even legal to keep one in Britain?


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## cherrie_b

no idea, but if its legal, get a breeding pair and give me one!! I would absolutely love you forever...Meercats are brilliant!!!!!!


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## foxxy cleopatra

hahahaa totally should! they are soooo cute, look on you tube, omg and while you eat, they look out for you....hahaaa he has used his cute voice on me, so im going to have to find him one....


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## cherrie_b

I googled it...

Apparently you have to have some sort of license to keep them and they can be expensive. I imagine that the meerkat itself will REALLY REALLY costly!! but yes please!!  Apparently, they sell Capuchins in a [email protected] near cheadle hulme...is there any truth in this?? I would defo have a Capuchin Monkey!!


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## shezzy

I seen a pair of meerkats in a pet shop one day.. I was totally confused lol didn't know you could keep them as pets.

You might need a licence for them?? I heard about a woman who kept meerkats and other exotics in her back garden, was like a mini zoo lol But I remember reading that she needed a licence for some of them. 
I felt kind of sad for for the meerkats in the petshop though... there was only two and they were all fat because there cage wasn't very big, big enough for them to dig fair enough but still pretty small.


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## foxxy cleopatra

OMG excellent, this has made my boyfriend VERY excited. hahaaa....you shouldnt have said about the monkey....my boyfriend wants a monkey too....


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## Froggie

foxxy cleopatra said:


> OMG excellent, this has made my boyfriend VERY excited. hahaaa....you shouldnt have said about the monkey....my boyfriend wants a monkey too....


Sorry but Meerkats should not be pets its just not right. They for one should be kept as a indoor pet. They need a large outdoor area were they can play, dig & live. You have to make them home like the ones in the zoo. We have heard seen some horrible storys over people buying Meerkats & keeping them all wrong. I like I say these are not pets what so ever never should of been put in the pet trade. Its getting silly now the kind of animals that have come on the pet trade think the law needs to change as its not fair to the animals.

Ian & Carol


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## noushka05

Froggie said:


> Sorry but Meerkats should not be pets its just not right. They for one should be kept as a indoor pet. They need a large outdoor area were they can play, dig & live. You have to make them home like the ones in the zoo. We have heard seen some horrible storys over people buying Meerkats & keeping them all wrong. I like I say these are not pets what so ever never should of been put in the pet trade. Its getting silly now the kind of animals that have come on the pet trade think the law needs to change as its not fair to the animals.
> 
> Ian & Carol


excellent post, i totally agree with you, i'm also horrified that [email protected] are selling Capuchins!


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## cherrie_b

I think this was just an enquiry post really...I would never want a Meerkat as a pet as I don't think they should be kept as such-they haven't been widely domesticated as they are very much a wild animal. I think Foxxy knows that they, if legal to own as a pet, would be incredibly expensive and be difficult to get hold of! 

The idea is nice though...that's what we meant as they are beautiful animals!! :biggrin:


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## cherrie_b

> i'm also horrified that [email protected] are selling Capuchins!


Oh, I don't know if this is true, but they have been domesticated a little...  

There was an advert on preloved or somewhere, advertising a Capuchin monkey for adoption in London.

They are so cute but should be swinging in the rainforests, not in our back gardens!! :nono:


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## noushka05

cherrie_b said:


> I think this was just an enquiry post really...I would never want a Meerkat as a pet as I don't think they should be kept as such-they haven't been widely domesticated as they are very much a wild animal. I think Foxxy knows that they, if legal to own as a pet, would be incredibly expensive and be difficult to get hold of!
> 
> The idea is nice though...that's what we meant as they are beautiful animals!! :biggrin:


they are very Cute:001_wub: 
i am really shocked tha [email protected] sell monkeys though i agree they belong in the forest. x


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## cherrie_b

I shall do some research and find out if there is any truth in it!! :frown2:


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## appaloosas

its a odd pet!
the only thing is meeekats like to live in groups so even if you got two they would still be quite lonely!
didnt you know meerkats are really vicous!they will even kill each other!


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## carol

my friend has some but they are very funny about people, hers will only like her going into them and they are hard to breed as well she only had 1 pup last year. dont know where she got them but can ask her for you and let you know if you really want one.


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## foxxy cleopatra

Froggie said:


> Sorry but Meerkats should not be pets its just not right. They for one should be kept as a indoor pet. They need a large outdoor area were they can play, dig & live. You have to make them home like the ones in the zoo. We have heard seen some horrible storys over people buying Meerkats & keeping them all wrong. I like I say these are not pets what so ever never should of been put in the pet trade. Its getting silly now the kind of animals that have come on the pet trade think the law needs to change as its not fair to the animals.
> 
> Ian & Carol


hmmmm i think this is right........i think a ferret is a better idea. My boyfriend will be disapointed, but it would be cruel to keep one, since they are from Africa....


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## Marcia

Froggie said:


> Sorry but Meerkats should not be pets its just not right. They for one should be kept as a indoor pet. They need a large outdoor area were they can play, dig & live. You have to make them home like the ones in the zoo. We have heard seen some horrible storys over people buying Meerkats & keeping them all wrong. I like I say these are not pets what so ever never should of been put in the pet trade. Its getting silly now the kind of animals that have come on the pet trade think the law needs to change as its not fair to the animals.
> 
> Ian & Carol


I agree 

And besides, you need an exotics licence. These are often very difficult to obtain. If you're not experienced enough in exotic species, you will be refused even before you fill in any forms. Also, the actual licence itself is fairly expensive, not to mention the cost of the meerkats. i have seen prices go as far as £2500-£3000 per meerkat. Also, they need to be kept in groups because one meerkat on it's own might self harm 

I know it's not the same, but you could always adopt a meerkat instead? See the following link 

Adopt a meerkat at ZSL London Zoo - ZSL London Zoo Adoptions - Shop - ZSL


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## foxxy cleopatra

GREAT IDEA...i live in chester, so i go to chester zoo all the time 

the meerkat idea is totally over ....they just look so cute on youtube


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## carol

foxxy cleopatra said:


> GREAT IDEA...i live in chester, so i go to chester zoo all the time
> 
> the meerkat idea is totally over ....they just look so cute on youtube


oh they are so cute, but very hard to look after and very funny about people,


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## foxxy cleopatra

i feel really bad for starting this thread lol  i wouldnt have just got a meerkat once i had found this out...sorry if i seemed like i am horrible for wanting one..thank for the advice though (Y)


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## Marcia

Don't feel bad hun. Believe me, i'd be first in line for one if i could lol


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## cherrie_b

I would be pushing in front!! haha :aureola:


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## turkeylad

Froggie said:


> Sorry but Meerkats should not be pets its just not right. They for one should be kept as a indoor pet. They need a large outdoor area were they can play, dig & live. You have to make them home like the ones in the zoo. We have heard seen some horrible storys over people buying Meerkats & keeping them all wrong. I like I say these are not pets what so ever never should of been put in the pet trade. Its getting silly now the kind of animals that have come on the pet trade think the law needs to change as its not fair to the animals.
> 
> Ian & Carol


Well said - Absolutely, agree with you!


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## Froggie

Will tell you a sad story about some Meerkats. We went to collect some African Pygmy Mice which they guy said he need to rehome so we travel over 120 miles there & back to get these mice. When we got to the guys house we were invite in & down to a cellar which was not very big was all sorts of animals but in on one wall was a glass off room that I would say was no bigger then 15ft long by 10ft wide. We were really shocked when the guy told us he had three meerkats in there, he was breeding them to make money we could tell, he had two females & a male. The place they were in was not in anyway suitable for 3 meerkats, no desert area to dig & play in, just some logs & some tubes for them to hide in. They looked very unhappy & something about them was not right they did not act in a way that meerkats do. The smell was really bad was making us feel sick. Now there really sad thing is the guy told us they had some litters but they had all died not something the female should be going through it really upset us & still does to this day. We were just glad to be out of there in the end, now we never ever report anyone to the rspca as we hate the rspca but we report this as it upset us so much, we never heard back from the rspca over it & the guy never contact us again so never found out what happen to the meerkats.

Like we say to everyone who want to keep meerkats, monkeys etc go to the zoo to see them!

Ian & Carol


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## noushka05

aww thats so sad animals like this arnt "domestic pets" i dont think you can ever replicate the eco system they come from, they belong in the wild.


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## Guest

Hiya

We kept meercats at college (i studied animal care). They are most certainly not pets! Ok a handreared baby might be handtame, but a normal adult is a highly dangerous animal. They have big big long canine teeth and can rip through a leather gauntlet in seconds. We did have one hand tame little girl who had been hand reared. She was rescued from a "breeder" who was removing all the pups from the parents, handrearing them in isolation of others of their species, and ripping their teeth out so they wouldnt be able to bite. Does that sound like a good breeder or a good pet to you?. Our college meercats had a large large heated outdoor enclosure, with a purpose built colling and warming tunnel system for them and were given all sorts of envoronmental enrichment. 

You also need a dangerous wild animal licence to keep one.

Cappuchins (organ grinders monkeys), have long traditionally been kept as pets - but that doesnt mean they should be! Watch monkey life/business for a few minutes one afternoon and you will see why!


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## noushka05

billyboysmammy said:


> Cappuchins (organ grinders monkeys), have long traditionally been kept as pets - but that doesnt mean they should be! Watch monkey life/business for a few minutes one afternoon and you will see why!


Monkey world are fantastic & have rescued several of these monkeys from the despicable conditions they were kept in as "pets", they have also rescued loads from a laboratory in South America


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## Guest

noushka05 said:


> Monkey world are fantastic & have rescued several of these monkeys from the despicable conditions they were kept in as "pets", they have also rescued loads from a laboratory in South America


Yep i am a big supporter of monkey world and the work they do!

But back to the topic, anyone thinking about getting a meercat as a pet, should maybe talk to your local zoological gardens, and speak to the keepers - you will soon see that they are not pets!


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## Vixxen

no exotic species should be kept as pets....the ban in the 70s was the best thing to happen.


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## cherrie_b

Aww, that's really sad!!  :cursing:


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## turkeylad

Vixxen said:


> no exotic species should be kept as pets....the ban in the 70s was the best thing to happen.


Absolutely right!!


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## mousemighty

sadly you can buy them of preloved a couple are going for a staggering £2000 , when will we give up on dwa and excotic animals, if there to go to zoos or specailist ppl whom are trying to build up the numbers then i think its ok to take some thing from wild, also like in usa you can own tiger lions ect, when will it stop, espically as these animals are dangerous its in there genes


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## noushka05

Vixxen said:


> no exotic species should be kept as pets....the ban in the 70s was the best thing to happen.


DEFRA have been useless in protecting primates especially the small ones like marmosets,tamarins & squirrel monkeys you dont even need a licence to keep these.


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## u-look-like-a-hamster

I dont think excotic animals should be domesticated 

I would like a european hamster though!! 

Xx


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## Sausage's Mum

My little JRT reminds me of a meerKat when her ears aren't stuck up lol


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## ferretman4

First of all you cant get one meercat because thats cruel as everyone they are highly social creatures. They need an ever changeing diet whic could cost over at least 30 quid a week. Your looking to pay around the 1 grand mark for a pair possibly more.

To add to the monkey debate most cappuchin adverts are scammers from forgin countries because the cappuchin is on the dwa list and would a dwa to keep them. Were you heard pets at home are selling cappuchin's i dont no but its a load of bull. A cappuchin will cost over at least 6k anyway.

Marmasets tamarins and sqirrell monkeys are all specailised ill agree and should only be kept in large enclosure but they are very expensive which puts allot of people off anyway.


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## foxxy cleopatra

ferretman4 said:


> First of all you cant get one meercat because thats cruel as everyone they are highly social creatures. They need an ever changeing diet whic could cost over at least 30 quid a week. Your looking to pay around the 1 grand mark for a pair possibly more.
> 
> To add to the monkey debate most cappuchin adverts are scammers from forgin countries because the cappuchin is on the dwa list and would a dwa to keep them. Were you heard pets at home are selling cappuchin's i dont no but its a load of bull. A cappuchin will cost over at least 6k anyway.
> 
> Marmasets tamarins and sqirrell monkeys are all specailised ill agree and should only be kept in large enclosure but they are very expensive which puts allot of people off anyway.


can people stop posting on this thread? we have all learnt things..i wasnt really serious...please read all of the posts before making another one.
:/


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## cuddles

You dont need a liconse to keep meerkats but they are very hard to keep. You need to give them lots of attention and you need to keep them to a strict diet so that they dont get thin or fat. If you want a tame one you need to make sure you socialize it with people and other animals all the time or it will turn nasty and you would have to pay alot for tame.


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## shewolf

> DEFRA have been useless in protecting primates especially the small ones like marmosets,tamarins & squirrel monkeys you dont even need a licence to keep these


I can agree on this one totally and from experience...

I am a volunteeer re-homer or carer for the R.S.P.C.A and currently have a marmoset monkey amongst alot of other exotics, who was ceased from a small house on the main road, the owner also had a pair of meerkats who he bred for money however they were kept in a dirty little rabbit hutch on the floor.

Wild animals need to be protected more from the pet trade, first it was reptiles, then it was parrots and now things like meerkats, skunks etc I have seen alot of cruelty to these exotic animals where ppl saw them, liked them, bought them then didnt want them anymore due to costs or they werent what they expected and so abandoned them.....

However... as was quoted here



> can people stop posting on this thread? we have all learnt things..i wasnt really serious...please read all of the posts before making another one


The original person was only enquiring and showing an interest, regardless of what ppl say, ppl will always fall in love with the 'strange new pets' that come along on the market, we cant pull them down when 'exotics' such as these are on the pet market in the first place.

All i caution is this: Bare in mind to research properly beforehand and decide whether its the pet u want and u are willing to provide everything it needs...and especially to look into their behaviour and whether they are 'social/solitary' creatures. 
If you dont- these pets get abandoned and abused just as much as dogs and cats do allready.... and if we cannot properly care for these animals, how can we care for exotics?

Thank you


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## Tigerneko

This is a really old thread, I don't think it needs any more posts, thank you.


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## lady heather

yes i know where you can get a meerkat from ME i'm a meerkat breeder. my web site is 5 * Adorable Baby Meerkats For Sale. 
They make wonderful pets if raised properly and given loads of TLC. If not they are a nightmare. All my babies are hand reared and are beautiful, my babies socialise with children, dogs, cats, wallabies,snakes, lizards and rats and fit in really well with family life providing they are not alone to often. they are very affectionate. However they are not toys and are for experienced pet owners only.


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## lady heather

lady heather said:


> yes i know where you can get a meerkat from ME i'm a meerkat breeder. my web site is 5 * Adorable Baby Meerkats For Sale
> They make wonderful pets if raised properly and given loads of TLC. If not they are a nightmare. All my babies are hand reared and are beautiful, my babies socialise with children, dogs, cats, wallabies,snakes, lizards and rats and fit in really well with family life providing they are not alone to often. they are very affectionate. However they are not toys and are for experienced pet owners only.


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## Marcia

This is an old post, read the dates first 

Mods, can this topic be locked?


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## Shrike_xX

Hey, I'm a bit late joining this thread and actually nearly missed this thread because I didn't want to believe that our species could be so selfish in such a petty way. 

Thousands of animals are endangered already as a result of the pet trade industry - capuchin monkeys started off happily in trees, do you really think it only took a few peanuts to achieve what we have now - UK bred capuchins? Why do we have to take everything and ruin it by putting beautiful creatures in cages and putting a price on nature.

All that aside - Meerkats are naturally group animals and naturally very vicious animals and naturally territorial, they live in some of the toughest climate out there but they thrive off it - how are you going to mimic their natural habitat, diet and all the things they need? Frankly your just cruel and heartless, an example of a human being whose out to ruin this world animal by animal. Imagine in 20 years when chimpanzees are extinct from the wild and only kept in zoos and wildlife parks, and people say why? Apart from the habitat destruction and poaching for bush meat by the people to poor to feed their family any other way its due to idiots like you wanting to keep them as pets? 

:cursing:


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## foxxy cleopatra

Shrike_xX said:


> idiots like you wanting to keep them as pets?
> 
> :cursing:


read the whole thread and go away.


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## Marcia

Foxxy, ask the mods to close this thread, people are clearly that stupid ut:

THIS IS AN OLD POST AND FOXXY WASN'T SERIOUS ABOUT KEEPING MEERKATS!


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