I got a LLama & a Alpaca male - Now What Do I need to Know - !!!!!

[dangerouschicken]

Good lord they are adorable! I think I love them!

 

[katrinag]

As some have stated get them fixed. My Aunt has a mixed Llama&Alpaca on our fram(she thought that he would make a great pet).

He is not fixed and is over 1.5 years old. I can not longer go in his pen to scoop poo or he bulls dozes me to the ground.( I am not a small women either). She tought that he was being cute when he weighted 120# but mow it is not so funny. So if they start jumping on you to mark you
PLEASE stop it before someone gets hurt.

 

[Jenlyn9483]

How cute! If I had more room I would love an Alpaca. Are you going to spin his wool? I have always wanted to spin wool out of Alpaca or Angora goat fiber. My mom has a spinner.

 

[chickenzoo]

I wouldn't know how to spin a top, he he. I thought when I shave him I might find someone who might want to buy some to spin....??? Have no idea - He was just cute and the price was right. As for tememperment, they pretty much stick to themselves and only approach me if they think I've got food or stand in my way if I'm doing something. So far they show no aggressive postures.

 

[Chirpy]

They are adorable and look very happy.

I see they have halters on in the picture. I suggest never leaving halters on them as they can get caught in things and thus pose a safety threat. They can also sometimes get caught and moved down on the nose and block the airway of the llama/alpaca who then cannot breath. Plus, over time they will rub off the hair on their nose - it's just plain uncomfortable for them.

 

[LlamaChick]

You should take their halters off as lamas only have a nose bone for so far and then it is just cartalige. If it gets caught on somthing they could easily soffacate (sp?) As for them they look great! From the looks of the picture I feel that the Llama is older than the Alpaca. Lamas have fighting teeth. They get them at around two (aka. pupety) my best guess is to have your vet come out and see your boys. Have her check to see if your llama has fighing teeth because if he does he is old enough to be gelded and to see if your alpaca is really a year and a half. They look really sweet! If you don't use their fiber there are places you can donate fiber and you can sell it. (aka. ebay)

katrinag as for you it likely suffers from ABS (Abberent Behavior Syndrome) Is it in with other livestock? ABS is when they veiw you as a lama and so they try to play with you. At 200-400 lbs that turns dagerous for us. There many training tecnices (sp?) that can help you and if those fail don't euthanize or send to an auction where some unsespecing person gets him or worse gets sent to a slaughter house. If at any time you decide you don't want him SELR would be more than happy to take good care of him. To them ABS is not uncurable. They on a small basis have found that those who can't be trained out of ABS have tumors and can't help themselves.

 

[chickenzoo]

I just got them so I left the halters on. They are not fully lead trained so I was keeping it on until I did everything I need with them for shots, hooves etc. The llama has thinner hair between his hind legs and I see no dangles,

, so should I assume he has been gelded?

 

[LlamaChick]

If he was gelded you should be able to see scars, and if not depending on his age you should be able to see about pea sized to plum sized.