Articles on Alpacas - Maiden Mom - That's Not My Cria

Not all alpaca dams know exactly what to do when it comes to taking care of their crias. Like all living creatures there will always be those that will never nurture their babies, however do not give up on them all, as some just need a little help from you. This can be especially true of the maiden alpaca. With a little of your time you can teach your mom how to be a mom.

Whenever possible try to place your maiden females in an area where there are mothers with crias at side. Alpacas are very observant and can learn what needs to be done when they have their own cria. Crias are very playful by running around, chest butting other alpacas, and doing their best to get a comfortably kushed alpaca to rise from her current position. For the maiden mom this can be a good exercise in reprimanding the cria, learning patience, and showing love for the cria. Let us not forget that the maiden will learn the motherly instinct to protect. The dam of the cria will jump and spit at any alpaca she feels is doing harm to her cria.

Of course the above was an ideal situation, but for the newbie ranch this is not always possible. Therefore, you will simply have to wait until birth of the cria and watch to see what happens. There are some things that are known to help the bond between mother and cria. Long labor and the pain associated with it is said to bring the mother closer to her cria. Alpacas know their cria by smell. When the cria is born let the mother turn around and smell the cria. In other words, the cria should smell like its mother. Unless it is extremely cold outside do not rush to dry off the cria, so that you do not take the chance of rubbing off too much of the smell. In case you did and the mother does not recognize her cria you can always rub the placenta of the mother over the cria again. At this point the mother should be interested and clucking at the cria. Within a few minutes the cria should be on its feet and looking for something to drink. Clean the udder under the dam and remove the wax from each teat.

In case the dam shows no interest in the cria there are some things to consider. Some dams do not want any part of the cria until they have passed the placenta. Remember that the dam is still in labor and it is painful for her. She may not want a cria trying to suckle on her teats, especially since she is not used to nursing. Check the udder. Does it feel hard and hot to the touch? It can be that the dam has an udder infection called mastitis. Mastitis is a very painful infection that will take medication to clear up.

Some maidens will not have the motherly instinct to take care of their newborn cria. They do not even realize that the pain they just felt was labor. I imagine that they simply toss it up to stomach cramps. Most maidens only need a few days to gain the motherly instinct, so here is what you do in the meantime to help her get motherly:

• Milk the dam to get out as much colostrum as possible. Remember the first 24 hours is critical for the cria to receive IGG (antibodies that a cria is born without and must receive from the colostrum) from the dam. If you cannot retrieve 2 ounces give to the cria the amount you did retrieve and supplement with goats colostrum.
• Place mom and cria in their own stall or paddock. If possible place them where they can see another mom and cria.
• Crias need to be fed every 2-3 hours. Before bottle feeding it is very important that you bump the cria up to the mother. By bumping I mean one person holding the dam still while another person goes under the dam with the cria and makes sure the cria is latching onto each teat. This not only helps kick in the motherly instinct, but also keeps the dam from drying up. Most crias will take a bottle only reluctantly after having a taste of the mile from their mother. This will encourage the cria to look for his/her mother instead of coming to you for a bottle.
• Observe, repeat steps, and observe some more.

By day 4 or 5 your dam and cria should be bonded with cria nursing solely off of mom. You will be thankful that you took the extra steps to get them together. Now you can catch up on the sleep you were missing with the bottle-feedings. Remember that sometimes we can all use a little help, especially in this case with the maiden alpacas. If you put in the time you might be sweetly rewarded by creating your own wonderfully, nurturing dam who will continue to take care of her newborn cria and all of her crias to come in the future.