Due to Unpack?
September 7th 2007 01:16
I have an alpaca due to unpack in a few weeks. At least I think she is, it’s a little bit hard to tell with these guys. Apart from the fact that she has a ton of fleece on her, so can’t tell what could be under there, they hide their babies really well and don’t give too much away. Survival instinct, I suppose.
She was mated on 20 October last year, so that makes her due around 26th September. The average gestation for alpacas is around 342 days, but they can go several weeks either side, so I’m keeping an eye on her.
You can ultrasound alpacas to find out if they are pregnant, but unless you have your own machine, you need to get a vet in and that’s expensive. Even if you do ultrasound them, they may or may not be pregnant and if they are, some miscarry anyway.
So, we use the wait and see method. It’s a long time to be waiting to see but we’re not trying to make a living from these animals, so it doesn’t really matter much if they have babies or not – nice if they do though.
There are a few signs that give them away. If you put a girl with a boy paca, she’ll spit in his face and run away from him if she’s pregnant. Some scream and carry on as well. That’s a good sign. Some spit and run whether they're pregnant or not (just don't like the boys), so it's not 100% accurate, but you get to know which girls do that. This girl is pretty reliable, but I don’t really want her running about at this point, so we’ll just wait a few weeks. Time will tell.
She’s laying about a bit more than usual and has a funny walk every now and then, other good signs. She’s also pretty spitty and horrible with the other girls. Some pacas change personality totally when they’re pregnant. They’re lovely and friendly and don’t mind you giving them a pat or a hug, but soon as they’re pregnant - Wham! Instant witchy poo. Horrible, spitty, growly, don’t touch me or I'll spit at you.
Some stay nice all the time (I like those ones the best), but then you can't tell whether they're pregnant or not.
Ah well, its like a lucky dip. How many baby pacas will we get this year? How many boys, how many girls, what colours? Will they be nice ones? All good fun.
She was mated on 20 October last year, so that makes her due around 26th September. The average gestation for alpacas is around 342 days, but they can go several weeks either side, so I’m keeping an eye on her.
Pregnant? - Or Just Mucking About.
You can ultrasound alpacas to find out if they are pregnant, but unless you have your own machine, you need to get a vet in and that’s expensive. Even if you do ultrasound them, they may or may not be pregnant and if they are, some miscarry anyway.
So, we use the wait and see method. It’s a long time to be waiting to see but we’re not trying to make a living from these animals, so it doesn’t really matter much if they have babies or not – nice if they do though.
There are a few signs that give them away. If you put a girl with a boy paca, she’ll spit in his face and run away from him if she’s pregnant. Some scream and carry on as well. That’s a good sign. Some spit and run whether they're pregnant or not (just don't like the boys), so it's not 100% accurate, but you get to know which girls do that. This girl is pretty reliable, but I don’t really want her running about at this point, so we’ll just wait a few weeks. Time will tell.
She’s laying about a bit more than usual and has a funny walk every now and then, other good signs. She’s also pretty spitty and horrible with the other girls. Some pacas change personality totally when they’re pregnant. They’re lovely and friendly and don’t mind you giving them a pat or a hug, but soon as they’re pregnant - Wham! Instant witchy poo. Horrible, spitty, growly, don’t touch me or I'll spit at you.
Some stay nice all the time (I like those ones the best), but then you can't tell whether they're pregnant or not.
Ah well, its like a lucky dip. How many baby pacas will we get this year? How many boys, how many girls, what colours? Will they be nice ones? All good fun.
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Comment by Catherine
Natural Animals
I love reading about these guys. i was wondering if they had personality changes when pregnant, interested to read about it.
Have a good day
Catherine