KINKAJOUS

Kinkajou-Raising Tips

Here are a number of tips that that work for me:

Cage - A huge wrought-iron macaw cage might be a good size for a single kinkajou; However, at $600-$1000, they were a little out of my budget, and I needed room for two kinkajous. So instead, I used 2 dog kennel cages 3' wide x 4' deep x 3' high for about $100 each, and assembled them one on top of the other, and left out the top to the bottom cage, and the bottom of the top cage, creating a cage that is 3' wide x 4' deep x 6' tall! This is tall enough to stand up in and put in a small sapling for them to climb around on, and creates two doors - one in the lower front, and one in upper back. This also gives you two plastic slide-out trays that you can swap out for holding newspaper under the bottom grill (which was originally the top panel of the bottom cage). I "sewed" the "seams" together between the two cage with hog rings (cost about $12 for the hog ring crimper tool and a bag of rings at the local co-op or hardware store).

Food bowls - I have tried everything, but kinkajous are very active and tend to overturn their bowls, spilling food everywhere. I started using medium sized ceramic bowls that were heavier and more difficult to overturn. However, they now tip over even the heaviest large ceramic dog bowls. So now I place a medium sized ceramic bowl inside of a larger ceramic bowl (with a lip) and it seems to be more difficult to overturn.

Water - I originally used the ceramic bowls (above) but the kinks would either overturn them, or soil the water with food or excrement, and it made quite an unhealthy mess for them and for cleaning the newspaper in the bottom of their cage. I switched to plastic water bottles on the side of the cage, but they soon punctured them. I finally changed to using two heavy glass water bottles with metal spiggots made for large parrots ($18 each). They work ok, and only need to be changed about every 2 days as the water stays clean inside the glass bottle. I also developed a large PVC pipe tube with screw-on top and metal "hog-nipple" spiggot (available from co-op) and attached to the outside of the cage with metal bands. This can hold about a gallon or more water, depending on how large and long the PVC pipe you use is. But somehow it leaks and does not work well at this time.

Food - My kinkajous eat about 100 lbs of bananas a month, along with a variety of other assorted fruits, which can quickly get very expensive. I decided to visit a number of local grocery stores and farmer's markets, befriended the produce managers and asked for damaged food that they were going to throw out anyway, and I now have a schedule for collecting boxes of damaged or discarded "salvage" produce from a variety of stores each week. This is produce that is bruised, broken or over-ripe, and gives us a wide variety of exotic fruits that we would rarely have the luxury of buying on a regular basis due to its higher price (mangoes, papayas, cherimoyas, pomegranets, etc.)
Enrichment Toys - My kinkajous don't seem too interested in many of the commercial dog toys I have bought them. There is one dog toy that when rolled, makes animal sounds (groans, oinks, etc), and they seem to enjoy rolling that around for a while. However, their favorite toys seem to be small plastic empty "Baby Wipes" boxes or empty plastic butter tubs with a hole cut in the top for them to reach in and get cereal and other treats. This seems keep their minds occupied for enrichment while they try to get to their treats.

Bathing - Kinkajous are relatively pretty clean by themselves (especially our female), but from time to time, I like to give them a bath or a quick warm shower. They occasionally will "tolerate" it some, while other times they don't seem to like it much and squirm around an awful lot! If you want to use shampoo, use something very gentle - some folks use Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo, but kinkajous' skin dries out very easily, and after every bath, they itch and scratch like crazy, so several kinkajou owners (including us) prefer to use Head & Shoulders for dry hair, and the kinks don't seem to scratch as much afterwards.

Litter training - I have had no luck whatesoever in getting my kinkajous litter trained, and I do not know of anyone who has had much luck. Generally, they climb to a high place and "let go"; However, they seem to get into a habit of going in the same locations, so after a while, you learn where to place mats to catch the droppings. I also use a piece of vinyl flooring under their cage for easier cleanup.

Cage cleaning tip - To make cage cleanup easier, spray edible cooking "Pam" on the sides and bottom of cage so droppings don't stick to the cage. Works well for parrots' cages as well.

Treats and supplies - www.our-pets.net/primatestorefor Banana flavored monkey bisquits, treats, toys and supplies for primates that work well for kinkajous

E-Mail: bojofarm@fastermail.com