The Marmoset Monkey Page

The Marmoset Diet

 

· For all primates in the wild, searching for and consuming food takes up a large portion of the day. The common marmoset is no exception. In their natural habitat, a marmoset may devote up to 50% of the day searching for and feeding on foods such as insects, fruits and tree gums and saps. Like other forest-dwelling primates, marmosets do not come down to the ground to drink. Instead they rely on water collected in the trees.

· For captive marmosets, food is provided at specific times, usually once or twice a day. These times may be marked with heightened activity among group members. In captivity, marmosets usually do not have a natural source of tree gums and saps. However, they may still exhibit tree-gnawing behaviour if an appropriate substrate is available.

· For many captive primates feeding time may also be a period of heightened aggression with individuals attempting to secure the most food and/or the most desirable selection. Marmosets are rarely aggressive. However, with preferred foods, such as grapes, marshmallows, or bananas, marmosets may display some aggression

· In the wild: During dry months, much of a wild marmosets diet comes from feeding on gum, the sticky substance trees use to seal the damage done by marmosets gouging holes in the bark.

· In captivity it is very important to give the marmoset the right types of food and the right amounts. The diet should ideally consist of 2-5% insects, 5-10% hi protein, 15-20% fresh fruit and vegetables and 75-80% commercial marmoset diet.

· The Marmosets natural diet consists of fruit, flowers and worms.

· They also feast on a variety of insects.

· Plant exudates and gums are also consumed, the marmosets has dentition adapted for gouging holes in plants in order to get to the gum.

· I feed my Marmosets the following:

· Morning: Yoghurt or porridge or Marmoset Food, fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice. I leave food for them for the day, since we work: Meal worms (protein, once a week), dried fruit (SAD), fresh fruit/veggies.

· Afternoon: Small snack e.g. cheese, boiled egg, meat

· Night: Fruit, veggies, fruit juice, Marmoset Food (if not in the morning, instead of porridge)

· Vitamin D3: Vitamin D3 is extremely important to New World primates in allowing them to properly utilize calcium.

· Vitamin D3 can be given orally through a commercial diet, however the best source is through natural, unfiltered sunlight (Ultra Violet rays).

· Unfortunately many marmosets cannot have access to this sunlight all year round, in such cases; a vitamin supplement should be added to their diet to ensure that the monkey is receiving adequate amounts of D3.

· Metabolic bone disease such as rickets is the result of a D3 deficiency. In extreme cases, the major organs can also be affected.

· <Thanks to Alex & Ceri le Roux> Big no-no's: The one is Cockroaches, they carry a virus that attacks the Heart, Liver and Kidneys and cause death. Another is onions which cause a type of anorexia that emaciates them over a period of time.