Yes, you can train a monkey to use a human-sized toilet if the monkey in question is the right size. A monkey can be taught to relieve him or herself on the toilet, flush and not make a mess.
Chimpanzees are the easiest to train to use the toilet like a human, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Only a small handful of trainers ever get this far with it.
People who are training smaller monkeys, like baby macaques, might end up using miniature pet toilets. If you go this route, then you definitely want to keep the area clean.
Diapers have become a common way for primate trainers to deal with the issue, but these should only ever be used on a transitional basis. You’ll want to keep them on while your monkeys are undergoing potty training and then take them off later on.
For most trainers, though, potty training has a much different meaning.
What Does it Mean to Potty Train a Monkey?
Potty training a monkey involves teaching them to go back to their cage or enclosure whenever they need to relieve themselves. They do their business inside and then leave when they’re done.
Monkeys that are potty trained don’t need diapers and then they don’t usually have accidents around the house. As long as you leave the door to their cage open, they’ll head right to it whenever they feel the sensation.
If you have an otherwise housebroken monkey who’s well adjusted to his or her habitat, then you should normally be able to potty train them in this way. While that might not seem anywhere near as impressive as actually teaching one to use the toilet, it certainly does help to keep things clean.
Some potty trained monkeys will actually notify their owners if they feel something coming and can’t get to their designated area. If their cage was closed and they had to go, then they’d let you know before peeing on the carpet.
It can take a while to get to this point, but fortunately there’s a few steps that can make things much easier.
How Do You Potty Train a Pet Monkey?
Before you start, you need to make sure to take your monkey either outside or to a large enough designated area to play around and exercise every single day. That will help to keep their systems moving, so you can try the following steps:
- Take your monkey to their cage or enclosure any time they pee on you. This isn’t a time out; it’s a chance to show them where to go.
- Take them back out after a period of time.
- Close them in the cage each time they urinate on you.
- Feed your monkey in or around their “home” so they get a sense of where to go.
- Stop playtime whenever your monkey pees on you or while you’re holding him or her.
- Let your monkey jump off you and do their business outside.
- Stop using diapers once your monkey gravitates toward their cage.
- Leave the cage door open once they have the idea of where to go.
- Put your monkey’s water supply in an area that encourages them to go near it but not on it.
- Switch to a larger cage if it doesn’t seem to be working.
Certain species of monkeys just can’t be housebroken under normal circumstances, and you should be aware of this fact. If you’re trying to train something like a pygmy marmoset, then you may find that they don’t take readily to instruction.
On the other hand, Michael Poggi shows that a good cage setup can help a lot:
As MonkeyHappy shows, playing with your monkeys will help them take directions much more readily too:
How to Train a Monkey to use the Toilet
Toilet training a monkey is harder, but it can be done! Giving your monkey the right size toilet could help:
Positioning your monkey on the toilet is the most important first step:
Once you’ve got this down and your monkey is cooperative, you can try these steps:
- Stop playtime whenever your monkey urinates on you.
- Take your monkey to the toilet during accidents and position him or her on the seat.
- Move your monkey’s enclosure closer to a human bathroom gradually.
- Elevate the enclosure until they get used to the idea of climbing on the toilet.
- Put their food and water closer to the bathroom, but not actually in it or in an area that’s not clean.
- Praise and reward your monkey when it does its business in the bathroom.
- Stop diapering the monkey once bathroom trips are regular.
- Clean up any fuzz in the bathroom left by your monkey.
- Make sure that the toilet stays clean, or they might not use it.
- Eliminate any scary noises that might come from things around the bathroom to encourage your monkey to go inside.
The process isn’t exactly easy, but it’s doable. Some trainers have remarked that it’s somewhat similar to the process used to teach cats to use a toilet.
What if You Can’t Potty Train Your Pet Monkey to Use the Toilet or Even Use their Cage?
Not all monkeys can be trained to use their cage or a human toilet. You may have to leave padding out or place your monkey in a dedicated exterior enclosure, which needs to be cleaned on a regular basis.
Resist the urge to keep your monkey in diapers all the time. This can cause rashes and isn’t humane.
If you keep your monkey in a larger enclosure or an outside area, then there’s a good chance that you can at least encourage him or her to go in a certain designated part of it. You can do this through strategic placement of the food and water bowl.
Never forget to clean up this area on a regular basis. Your monkey may end up going on other things if they don’t have a place that’s just for them.
A few species of monkeys, such as some of the New World tree-dwellers, may not even want to learn to be this careful so watch out.