Guidelines for spending time
with young llamas
It should go without saying, but somehow it escapes people anyway — those who don't understand adult llamas and the basics of both good and dangerous llama behavior are ill-suited to be mentors to a young llama. The first and best piece of advice we can give you is: BEFORE you attempt follow these guidelines with young llamas, take at least a couple of years to learn about llamas with the guidance of two trained adults and the support of their responsible sellers. Any young llamas in your future will be glad for the expertise you will have gained, and they will also benefit greatly from the stable guidance and example of your resident, well-trained first llamas.
We acknowledge that sometimes well-intentioned people do get the burden of raising a responsible young llama dropped in their laps:
• the seller who SAID the female(s) they were purchasing wasn’t pregnant
• the rescued llamas who, despite living in squalor and with little feed, somehow conceived and were able to maintain their pregnancies thanks to improved feed and nutrition after rescue
• the people who went with the information they were told, not realizing they’d been fed MISinformation instead, such as the “happy” boy and girl llama pair they bought were not “doing anything” not because they were too young (or brother and sister), but because they’d already done it.
If you didn’t make your mess, don’t waste time feeling guilty. Do the best you can and keep reading … >>>