FAQ - by - Pua Well time for a FAQ. I've
had tons of people asking mom and me about me lately and once the
movie comes out and I'm a real star you know it will be even more.
So let's start and we can edit it over time.
What are
you?
I am an anteater. I am a tamandua. Tamandua Tetradactyla
to be precise. Some will call us the lesser anteaters but we are the
PERFECT anteaters. Giant anteaters are to big that's why they are
called giants. Pygmy anteaters are too small and that's why they are
called pygmies. Tamanduas are in between and just
right.
Any relation to aardvarks?
No. We are most
closely related to sloths and armadillos we share our own order with
them and true anteaters have our own family. Others are mere
imitations sharing a similar diet.
How do I get one? How
did you get one? Where do you get one? Ect.
If you think you
want one and the first question you ask is how to get one, You
should not have one! There are a million other questions to ask
first. It can be hard to find a vet who will treat us much less one
that knows anything about us. We could be killed or made sick with
the wrong medicines, like some antibiotics. You will need a vet. We
are known to those in the know as "delicate keepers" We are
demanding. We need lots of attention. Our pee smells skunky. Diet is
SO important and you need to do a lot of research to be sure
you're doing it right. You thought feeding a dog could be hard with
all the different kibbles, canned, home cooked, store bought cooked,
store bought raw, home made raw, ect. We'll it's much more involved
with us. And so much more you must know FIRST. Why would you want to
bring home an animal and have no idea what to feed or how to care
for us or how destructive ect we may be and have us die or need
rehomed because we peed the carpet and made the place smell and the
landlord got mad and your friends stopped coming over, or whatever?
Please do your homework first you will likely change your mind. Mom
loves us despite and because of all our quirks but mom is
weird.
What do they cost
Tamanduas go from
1500-4,500. Those are the prices mom has seen. You pay more for tame
healthy young ones as a general rule. Prices tend to keep going up.
Their are not many of us around and getting harder to find with few
breeders and then only a baby every couple years with a successful
pairing. There are some from the wild like me, Pua, too but you
REALLY must know what your are getting into and have solid animal
and exotic experience first. It's not easy to deal with a sick tam
strait from the wild.
Okay I don't want one but I'm still
curious where you came from and WHY your mom has you?
Ha HA
do you have a pet, dog, cat, hamster? Why do you have it? You just
wanted it right? Well, there you go. When mom was looking at places
to move she found a list of things you can have in the state we live
now and tamanduas were on it. She saw one on TV once dressed up in a
snow suit. So she started learning about us. The more she learned
the more she liked and then loved us. She spent years learning about
us and has not stopped trying to learn all she can. It was with a
lot of determination she got me.
I came from Guyana, South
America. It took mom over a year of trying to get me. I was very ill
and wouldn't have survived in the wild. Mom wasn't sure I'd survive
with her but she nursed me back to health and I'm grateful. I'll
even admit here. One time I slipped out on my own and came back an
hour later. I love it here.
Stewie was born in FL so he's
always lived this easy life. He's even a little scared of outside
but likes to doze in an open window and sniff. He left his mom and
went to live with a family in Ohio but he couldn't stay due to
health issues in the family and he came here instead. He just came
here by luck. I'm here by destiny.
What do you eat(besides
ants), or how do you get enough ants to feed them
Mom
goes out and gets us ants or we find them on walks but they are
mostly just treats. If you were paying attention so far you'll have
noticed I mentioned the importance of diet before. Mom did a lot of
research on that and has recipes from zoos and keepers all over the
world. She made us up a mix based on a study of the analysis of
stomach contents of our wild kin. We get a soupy mix of all kinds of
things and we get a mix of raw ground beef, flax meal and or beans,
spinach and cottage cheese for calcium. Throw in a few shrimp or
bugs sometimes for variety. We decided we REALLY love beef so mom
accommodated us with a diet change. We need the spinach for vitamin
K or we are hemophiliacs and flax or beans for fiber. We need some
shrimp or organ meats sometimes for taurine. Stewie loves fruit and
fruity things but to much sugar is bad for us. We both adore blue
cheese.
Are they like a dog
or a cat?
UH excuse me? Do I look like I bark or meow? No
thank you. But if I must compare I'd say a cat. We are very loving
but we will not stay and cuddle just because you ask. We do love to
cuddle and snuggle. I sometimes cry if mom's not there when I want
her. Stewie is not as clinging and is more likely to stay and
snuggle if you ask him right. When is the last time a cat stuck it's
tongue up your nose or gave you a french kiss though, hmm? I'm not
to fond of toys but Stewie likes them a bit more. I have played with
kitty toys and tennis balls and rubber things in the past. Stewie
likes stuff more than me. I just like to play and explore and go for
long walks and cuddle with mom. We like to play fight and
wrestle.
The newspaper lady asked about anything
specifically anteater
We have a social ritual of hand and
foot poking. Even on the ride home from the airport. Me strait from
the wild. I took mom's finger and squeezed it and gave her friendly
pokes. I like my hands squeezed too. Stewie and I do this to each
other.
What sounds do you make?
We talk through our
nose so most of what we say comes out as different sort of hisses
you need to learn to interpret. We cry and weep. We hiss in madness,
annoyance, confusion, ect. We grunt, whine, and if someone did
something really horrible to us we might scream but neither of us
here have done that around mom. We also growl. Mom says it sounds
like little dinosaur growls. Stewie and I growled at each other at
first but we warmed up fast. Stewie was scared because he never knew
another anteater but his mom but I wanted to play right away but he
growled so I growled back at him and when he got near my
food.
Do they hurt you with those long nails? What about
the furniture?
I'm proud to say I'm very gentle with mom and
always have been and I don't claw the furniture. Stewie is another
matter. He learned to be gentle but likes to use his claws on most
anything. He's not as bad now but did claw holes in the wall when
upset when I was ill and liked to claw the furniture but seems
content with the throw rugs and cat condo now. We likes to tear
things up when given the chance like coconuts and
logs.
Injuries. There have been a few, all human error.
Grabbing me when I was scared and not letting me know it was her
first. Letting me play grab at her head, opps. And two errors with
Stewie. We respect flesh long sleeves and other objects are not
flesh. We use our nails as fingers and when to long can grab to hard
by accident. Mom was waving a rug at Stewie and his claws were over
do for a filing and oops again he missed it and got her (ouch).
We've never done major damage, just little holes at our worst.
Mostly just kitty scratches.
But all in all we are not bad.
We've done nothing that can't happen with a domestic dog or cat,
when playing to ruff or scared or injured too.
How smart
are they
We are very smart. We know how to open the fridge,
open the doors, open the window, open drawers, open cabinets, open
containers, climb the door frame, respond to my name. I respond to
my name and Stewie responds to my name too, ha, he's got a crush on
me.
What do they do?
We play wrestle and battle and
footsies, we hug and cuddle and kiss and groom. We go for long walks
in the woods. We run around the house and just hang out
too.
Are you house trained
Are you? Well we wild
tams like to use a latrine and so we are good about house habits. We
use washable pee pads and though our pee is skunky it's manageable
with keeping those picked up and things washed. We do sometimes like
to mark out territory and try to get away with peeing in places
outside of our room in the rest of the house but not to
often.
We do tend to dribble tinny bits of urine sort of like
a mouse or rat does but not constantly and more so in a new place or
if we are feeling insecure. There doesn't seem to be any real odor
issues with this. At least to the human noses of our
family.
How are they with
other animals?
I've never heard of an aggressive tam. You
leave us alone we will leave you alone. We're not fond of the other
animals but we just ignore or avoid them. The dogs think our tails
are scary. We will all sleep next to each other when in mom's
bed.
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