Kiara the Kinkajou

Hi, my name is Kiara. Thanks for coming to visit me! I just love having visitors! Now I know your first question is, what the heck is that?!?
Well, I am called a Kinkajou (kink-a-choo) although I am more commonly know as a "Honey bear." You see I just LOVE honey! Actually it probably has more to do with the fact that our fur is a pretty honey color. What type of animal do I remind you of? A monkey, cat and even a ferret? I've heard them all before:) Believe it or not kinkajou's are actually related to raccoons, coatis, ringtail cats and possibly even panda bears!
Kinkajou's have a prehensile tail so we can hang from branches and hold on to things, just like a monkey does. We also have 5 digits on each hand which means a kinkajou can hold onto things just like you. Plus we have really long claws on all our fingertips to help us hold on. We can climb everything! So you can see why some people think we are related to monkeys.
We come from Tropical Forests in and around South America, Mexico and Brazil. Kinkajou's are nocturnal which means we don't get up until around 7 p.m.
In the wild kinkajou's spend most of the night looking for food. We use our 6 inch long tongues to get in tree holes and get all the sap and nectar from inside. A wild kinkajou diet is mostly fruit, some bugs and an occasional egg.
At home I live in a LARGE cage. Mommy says to make sure you know how big we need our cages. Imagine a bathroom in your house, now go out and look for a cage that size. There's lots of companies online that will custom make a cage for you or you can order all the wire and put it together yourself. Mommy has 2 big parrot cages that she made into one big cage for me. I have lots of ropes and braches inside. There's also a couple pouches for me to sleep in and LOTS of water. I can drink A LOT!
When I get up at night I spend most of my time jumping and climbing all over the place. Escaping from my cage is the best! I get to find all of the fruit snacks and goodies mommy has in the kitchen. When I hear her coming I just hide until she gets close the I jump out! I love to scare mommy, hehe. Then I give her a kiss and she lets me sleep with her for awhile
Want to know what I eat?
Every night I get 4 different kinds of fruit. Apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, blueberries, seedless green and red grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, kiwi and raspberries are just some of the kinds of fruit I get.
I never eat strawberries. I really don't like them and mommy read somewhere that all kinkajous may be allergic to them! (Mommy has been recently hearing the same about avocado.)
I ALWAYS get a banana every night.
5-6 Zupreme monkey biscuits every night, I'm not sure what these are but mommy says they are good for me. I think they are fun to chew and throw around-they make so much noise!
2-3 times a week I get steak, chicken or eggs. Mommy says I need protein, whatever that is.
1-2 times a week I get carrots, cauliflower, romaine lettuce and other veggies.
Yogurt is SOOO good. I only get that 1-2 times a week. Good calcium mommy says.
We have a more detailed list of kinkajou statistics here.
If you have any Kinkajou questions please email us at Kiarathekinkajou.
Note: We do not have kinkajou's for sale. We are not breeders. Our website is about my pet kinkajou. If you are looking for a kinkajou please visit our Links page.

We won Zookeeper's Great Pet Site Award! Thanks Zookeeper!