Our pet monkey

Great story. I remember those ads when I was a kid, and also remember wanting one of those little guys. I can't remember the price being that high though. I seem to remember $6.95, but I guess there was postage to be paid as well. I did buy a lot of novelties from 'The Johnson Smith Company" out of Michigan somewhere.

Do you have any pictures of Cotton that you can post?
 
Great story. Apparently they were squirrel monkeys.

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Well with all this talk of Monkey/Smonkey we actually were the first family to have a "Black Sheep", Yup we sure were! Since that time I've seen many a Family with Baboons,orangs and the like so I guess we started a trend now didn't we?Who needed Slinky,Hula Hoop and their like.We have the "REAL" Things and hard to believe but ALIVE,THEY ARE ALIVE!
 
That was a great story. Never saw the ads for the live monkeys before. Can't imagine actually doing that.

Having said that, I still have a box of sea monkeys someone bought me as a joke probably 30 years ago. Wonder what would happen if I just add water? Always planned to try it someday.
 
The one in that ad could be a Marmoset...They really are small enuff to fit in a teacup, & the ones I've seen are very docile..Saw/handled one at an Exotic Animal show once...Was holding it, it cuddled up next to my throat...The woman that owned it went, "Awwww...She LOVES you, Mister !" And it WAS cute..Then the woman said she was $1800, & that damn monkey got REAL ugly, REAL quick like...
 
Question: Why only 10 years? I thought squirrel monkeys (if that's what it was) lived for a couple of decades?

I remember as a kid, a teenage neighbor who had a squirrel monkey. He encouraged me to 'pet' it, and I foolishly tried (I was maybe 6 or 7 and didn't know any better). Little bastard took a hunk out of my hand between forefinger and thumb. Teenage neighbor thought it was hilarious. In retrospect, I ought to be glad I didn't catch anything from the little SOB.
 
Ever wonder how many of those well-ventilated boxes arrived with a dead monkey inside? I gotta figure it was a pretty high percentage. And, depending on when it died, it coulda been pretty gamy...

At the same time, had it been give a decent amount of monkey chow to live on (what about water????), that box would've been resplendent with the love that a monkey could heap on an unsuspecting home.

Still, I love the OP's story!

I was all about the X-Ray specs... Since I already wore glasses by third grade, I had this Christmas Story-esque fantasy of walking into school in my new specs, being greeted by all the cute girls complimenting me on how cool I looked in my awesome new glasses, wholly unaware that all along.....
 
jhtstone said:
That was a great story. Never saw the ads for the live monkeys before. Can't imagine actually doing that.

Having said that, I still have a box of sea monkeys someone bought me as a joke probably 30 years ago. Wonder what would happen if I just add water? Always planned to try it someday.
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Dig 'em up and post it! You might be surprised at what happens...
 
The Post Office ships live animals pretty fast. I suspect the greater part of that 8 weeks shipping was spent trying to get that monkey in the box and seal it. I worked at the Post Office before college, there was this cute girl I always worked with. One day a shipment of game chicks came in. They were peeping up a storm which made my coworker "havta see them" she lifted the flap to peek in and they bum rushed her. 50 or so of those little darlings ran in every possible direction. Six of us spent about four hours crawling around on the floor of the 107,000 Sq Ft mail facility. We got them all. Lol. I don't know which was harder, catching them or counting them.

Love your story!

Rob
 
Great story - whatever happen to Cotton?

My dad and his pet monkey Elvis. I need to find out if Elvis came from a comic book.
 

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jhtstone said:
That was a great story. Never saw the ads for the live monkeys before. Can't imagine actually doing that.

Having said that, I still have a box of sea monkeys someone bought me as a joke probably 30 years ago. Wonder what would happen if I just add water? Always planned to try it someday.
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IIRC those "brine shrimp" eggs will not go bad, and they don't live long in fresh water. My dad bought some of those eggs in the 70's to feed his small tropical fish. Much cheaper at the PX than mail order as "sea monkeys" They came in a little glass coin tube shaped container with some salt. That tube sat in my fish stuff box for years. I seem to remember getting them to hatch years later. They are nowhere near as big as you might expect, little tiny swimming specks really.
 
EchoWars said:
Question: Why only 10 years? I thought squirrel monkeys (if that's what it was) lived for a couple of decades?
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Yeah he was a squirrel monkey. Maybe it was his Lizard and Jello diet? May have been 12 years I'm not sure. He just disappeared so I don't how he met his demise.
 
JT-3 said:
Great story - whatever happen to Cotton?

My dad and his pet monkey Elvis. I need to find out if Elvis came from a comic book.
Click to expand...

Great pic! My father was a professional photographer yet the only pic I have of Cotton is an old Polaroid of him clinging to the pole lamp in our living room.
 
I want a "Monkey in a teacup" t-shirt!!! Great story, dude. You improved my summer about 12%....
 
Robinhawaii said:
The Post Office ships live animals pretty fast. I suspect the greater part of that 8 weeks shipping was spent trying to get that monkey in the box and seal it.
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it's a great story,but I can't imagine "the shipping dept" at a place like that...it had to be either hilarious or horrific...i'm gonna lean towards the latter and guess the monkeys were heavily sedated before "packing"...i just can't imagine any other way to do it really...i'm also betting that the mortality rate was likely pretty "significant" as well,and those that survived pretty traumatized...
 
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