Spring always fills us with anticipation! Cold winter gray days give way to blue skies and warm sunshine! Flowers fill the landscape with bright color; the robins return to the nests they built in the tractor shed and the eave of the barn; and once again, there will be playful alpaca cria pronking and racing around the pens.
We calculate an alpaca mom's due date at 345 days from breeding for a full term baby, although there have been pregnancies that have lasted as much as 365 days!! We start watching the 'due-soon' moms for any unusual behavior about two weeks prior to the calculated due date just to ensure everything is 'okay'.
One glorious Saturday in April 2006 Ron was tilling the garden area and I was weeding the flower beds (with the temperature at 70 degrees by 10 a.m. and going to get hotter)! Daily highs had been in the mid 60's up until then, and this sudden change made me check on our pregnant alpacas and the entire herd frequently. They were in full fleece and very hot, so I got the water hose to spray their legs down in an effort to give them some relief.
As the heat continued to rise, I noted that Chasca wasn't exactly herself. She was 12 days away from her calculated due date; I surmised that the heat was just making her miserable this close to birthing.
At noon I decided I'd go in and fix us some lunch, but as I looked around the pen where the pregnant alpacas stayed, I noticed that Chasca wasn't outside with the rest of the girls. I went into the barn stall to see if she was there, and to my surprise found her in advanced stages of labor.
I ran out to the garden yelling "RON!!! WE'RE HAVING A CRIA!!!!" over the noise of the rototiller.
With a look of shock on his face, he replied "We CAN'T be! It's too early!!!" We both raced back to the barn to grab a 'cria kit' (a kit with rubber gloves, clean towels, blanket, tail wrap, betadine and other medical supplies for birthing a cria). Our concern for the cria being alive or even surviving at this point in the pregnancy grew with every passing moment!
Chasca's labor progressed normally and soon we had a baby girl on the ground, very weak, very wet, and very alive!!!
Using the towels from the cria kit, we rubbed her briskly to get her dried off and hopefully stimulate her to hold her head up, but she just lay there with her head on the floor of the stall, not moving other than breathing, not even trying to hold her head up.
Ron and I were both very worried so I called the Washington State University Veterinary School for some advice: Keep the cria warm; hold it up so it can try to nurse; supplement with a bottle every 2 — 3 hours.
A mother's 'first milk' is filled with colostrums that are essential to a cria having the antibodies it needs to survive. Knowing how critical this is, Ron would hold the baby's body, as I supported her neck and head for her to nurse but she just didn't even try suckling. I gently milked Chasca's milk into a baby bottle to feed the cria after the failed attempt at nursing. Since the cria didn't 'suck' I would squeeze a teaspoon at a time into the baby's mouth and she was able to drink nearly all the milk in the bottle.
To keep the cria warm, we put a hot water bottle under a towel for the baby to lie on, then swaddled her in a warm blanket. The evening temperature was going back to normal in the mid 30's, and the forecast for the next few days was going to be back in the low 60's.
Every two hours, we would go out to the barn to feed the cria; each time we went, I prayed the baby was okay!
After 24 hours, the new baby was beginning to hold its head up for a short period, which was very encouraging, but the evidence of her premature arrival was distinctive. She had one floppy little ear, and when Ron supported her body to stand, she stood on her pasterns, appearing as if she had 'elf shoes' on. By the second day she had wiggled out of her snuggly warm blanket, so we knew she was starting to regulate her body temperature. But she still wasn't nursing from mom!
Every day, the cria showed signs of getting stronger, and by the third day Ron only had to act as 'side supports' for the wobbly baby while I still encouraged her to nurse. Still, baby didn't take mom's nipple, so I started to draw Chasca's milk into the baby bottle again. It became apparent Chasca was very tired of that whole idea!!! She would hum, and look at me; then try to move away and hum again. Once I had enough milk I would give the baby the bottle, who by now was learning how to suck the milk a little bit, but still unable to nurse from mom.
This particular midnight feeding, Chasca watched me put the bottle in the baby's mouth, then started 'kissing' the baby on the head; then 'kissing' my face; then the baby's head, then my face; the whole time I was feeding. Ron asked "What is she doing??? I've never seen that behavior before!!" I told him I had no idea, but it was clear she was trying to tell us something!
The next day, Chasca did the same thing at feeding time, kissing the baby's head, then my face, and also the baby bottle. She was agitated, her kissing was frantic as she went from baby, to me to bottle, then baby again! Then she got her mouth around the neck of the bottle and took it out of my hand, turned to her cria, and pushed her under her to nurse. Humming to the baby, while gently pushing it underneath, we watched in awe as the baby began licking mom's teats, and learn how to nurse!
Ron and I were flabbergasted and amazed! Chasca had been trying to tell us we shouldn't feed her baby a bottle anymore!! SHE would take care of the cria!! And she did! Oh, we continued to try to supplement with a bottle of goat's milk twice a day, but it was unnecessary!
Our alpaca mom has certainly lived up to her name! Chasca, was the Peruvian Goddess who cared for small children, and flowers. We named the cria 'Chacana' after the Incan Cross, feeling Chasca had been watched over to give us such a beautiful blessing!
At three weeks old, Chacana's ear had straightened out, and she had grown out of her 'elf shoes', standing on her toes like normal. She even raced around the pens with the other cria like an old pro, and had caught up in weight and size!
She is now a yearling maiden, and a beauty. With all the nurturing during the first weeks of her life, she has become a friendly loving alpaca and an important member of our alpaca family.
We calculate an alpaca mom's due date at 345 days from breeding for a full term baby, although there have been pregnancies that have lasted as much as 365 days!! We start watching the 'due-soon' moms for any unusual behavior about two weeks prior to the calculated due date just to ensure everything is 'okay'.
One glorious Saturday in April 2006 Ron was tilling the garden area and I was weeding the flower beds (with the temperature at 70 degrees by 10 a.m. and going to get hotter)! Daily highs had been in the mid 60's up until then, and this sudden change made me check on our pregnant alpacas and the entire herd frequently. They were in full fleece and very hot, so I got the water hose to spray their legs down in an effort to give them some relief.
As the heat continued to rise, I noted that Chasca wasn't exactly herself. She was 12 days away from her calculated due date; I surmised that the heat was just making her miserable this close to birthing.
At noon I decided I'd go in and fix us some lunch, but as I looked around the pen where the pregnant alpacas stayed, I noticed that Chasca wasn't outside with the rest of the girls. I went into the barn stall to see if she was there, and to my surprise found her in advanced stages of labor.
I ran out to the garden yelling "RON!!! WE'RE HAVING A CRIA!!!!" over the noise of the rototiller.
With a look of shock on his face, he replied "We CAN'T be! It's too early!!!" We both raced back to the barn to grab a 'cria kit' (a kit with rubber gloves, clean towels, blanket, tail wrap, betadine and other medical supplies for birthing a cria). Our concern for the cria being alive or even surviving at this point in the pregnancy grew with every passing moment!
Chasca's labor progressed normally and soon we had a baby girl on the ground, very weak, very wet, and very alive!!!
Using the towels from the cria kit, we rubbed her briskly to get her dried off and hopefully stimulate her to hold her head up, but she just lay there with her head on the floor of the stall, not moving other than breathing, not even trying to hold her head up.
Ron and I were both very worried so I called the Washington State University Veterinary School for some advice: Keep the cria warm; hold it up so it can try to nurse; supplement with a bottle every 2 — 3 hours.
A mother's 'first milk' is filled with colostrums that are essential to a cria having the antibodies it needs to survive. Knowing how critical this is, Ron would hold the baby's body, as I supported her neck and head for her to nurse but she just didn't even try suckling. I gently milked Chasca's milk into a baby bottle to feed the cria after the failed attempt at nursing. Since the cria didn't 'suck' I would squeeze a teaspoon at a time into the baby's mouth and she was able to drink nearly all the milk in the bottle.
To keep the cria warm, we put a hot water bottle under a towel for the baby to lie on, then swaddled her in a warm blanket. The evening temperature was going back to normal in the mid 30's, and the forecast for the next few days was going to be back in the low 60's.
Every two hours, we would go out to the barn to feed the cria; each time we went, I prayed the baby was okay!
After 24 hours, the new baby was beginning to hold its head up for a short period, which was very encouraging, but the evidence of her premature arrival was distinctive. She had one floppy little ear, and when Ron supported her body to stand, she stood on her pasterns, appearing as if she had 'elf shoes' on. By the second day she had wiggled out of her snuggly warm blanket, so we knew she was starting to regulate her body temperature. But she still wasn't nursing from mom!
Every day, the cria showed signs of getting stronger, and by the third day Ron only had to act as 'side supports' for the wobbly baby while I still encouraged her to nurse. Still, baby didn't take mom's nipple, so I started to draw Chasca's milk into the baby bottle again. It became apparent Chasca was very tired of that whole idea!!! She would hum, and look at me; then try to move away and hum again. Once I had enough milk I would give the baby the bottle, who by now was learning how to suck the milk a little bit, but still unable to nurse from mom.
This particular midnight feeding, Chasca watched me put the bottle in the baby's mouth, then started 'kissing' the baby on the head; then 'kissing' my face; then the baby's head, then my face; the whole time I was feeding. Ron asked "What is she doing??? I've never seen that behavior before!!" I told him I had no idea, but it was clear she was trying to tell us something!
The next day, Chasca did the same thing at feeding time, kissing the baby's head, then my face, and also the baby bottle. She was agitated, her kissing was frantic as she went from baby, to me to bottle, then baby again! Then she got her mouth around the neck of the bottle and took it out of my hand, turned to her cria, and pushed her under her to nurse. Humming to the baby, while gently pushing it underneath, we watched in awe as the baby began licking mom's teats, and learn how to nurse!
Ron and I were flabbergasted and amazed! Chasca had been trying to tell us we shouldn't feed her baby a bottle anymore!! SHE would take care of the cria!! And she did! Oh, we continued to try to supplement with a bottle of goat's milk twice a day, but it was unnecessary!
Our alpaca mom has certainly lived up to her name! Chasca, was the Peruvian Goddess who cared for small children, and flowers. We named the cria 'Chacana' after the Incan Cross, feeling Chasca had been watched over to give us such a beautiful blessing!
At three weeks old, Chacana's ear had straightened out, and she had grown out of her 'elf shoes', standing on her toes like normal. She even raced around the pens with the other cria like an old pro, and had caught up in weight and size!
She is now a yearling maiden, and a beauty. With all the nurturing during the first weeks of her life, she has become a friendly loving alpaca and an important member of our alpaca family.
