They are in a new situation and are unsure. They will probably stop when they get comfortable.

Llamas will cluck to tease other llamas. Orgling is a noise male llamas make when they are trying to breed.

Halters should only be left on for short periods of time at the most, and preferably only when the llamas are under supervision. Halters that are left on a llama can get caught on things and a poor fitting halter can slip down the llamas nose and suffocate him in a matter of minutes. Halters should never be left on a growing llama.

A llama whose jaw is dropped has more than likely had a spitting confrontation with another llama. This will pass and he'll start to eat again within about 15-30 minutes. Some llamas recover more quickly than others, and usually both the spitter and the spittee suffer. This behavior can also be a sign of heat stress, so check the weather and hose down the llama if necessary.

In most N. American climates, it is necessary to shear most llamas in the spring to avoid heat stress and keep your llama comfortable. Learning to shear is easy, but there are professional llama shearers available.  Check out our Products page to see the wonderful things you can do with llama fiber.

A catch pen is a small fenced in area, 9' by 9' is good, into which you corral your llama for a training session or haltering. Fence construction that allows you to "funnel" the llama into the catch pen is useful.

Fencing serves two purposes: first to keep the llamas in, second to keep unwanted visitors (such as dogs and deer) out. Most llamas will happily stay inside a non-electrified, 2-wire grazing fence, as long as conditions are pleasant (available shelter and food), and they are generally quite respectful of electric fence. However, a well-motivated llama (key motivators are fear, potential mates, food, and biting insects) will go over, under, or through almost any fence.

Llamas are herd animals, and need the company of at least one other llama. Leaving one animal at home alone while taking the others for a walk is a strong motivator for a llama to go through a fence, or to injure itself trying to rejoin its buddies. You can take one llama away, to a show or for a walk, leaving behind more than one llama, but expect to see some rough-housing upon your return as the animals re-establish the herd hierarchy. A llama that has been taken away by itself will often drop to a lower spot in the hierarchy for quite some time.

This is an internal parasite (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) that afflicts white-tail deer and moose, and which may be transferred to llamas through the common snail, which incorporates the first-stage larvae (L1) during feeding on deer fecal material. Three to four weeks later, as the snail travels through your pasture, it leaves its own fecal material, now containing the 2nd and/or third stage (L3) larvae, behind in the grass. When the llamas graze on this grass, they ingest the larvae and the L3 larvae establishes itself in the llama. They migrate from the digestive tract to the spinal column, and continue migration throughout the spinal cord. Meningeal worm infection can be fatal if not caught early, and may result in permanent neural damage even if the llama's life is saved by veterinary intervention. Prevention through aggressive deworming, using a product know to be effective against meningeal worm, is the only prevention in areas where deer share or pass close to llama pastures.