Dallas and Ringo are with us now...

[irret13]

We adopted two elderly alpacas from a very nice lady who suddenly lost her husband in a car accident. She is having to downsize her farm. It is so tragic. They have grass to nibble on but also have orchard hay. In the evening they each get a handful of alpaca pellets and COB. I need to get minerals as well. What do alpacas like as treats while we get to know each other? I tried some horse treats but they seemed offended lol.

 

[Latestarter]

They're very nice looking. I'm sure you'll give them a great home and life. I'd try some different sweet fruits... maybe apple slices? Some grapes or raisins perhaps? Most herbivores like animal crackers/cookies... Maybe @luvmypets can give some examples of what her pacas like...

 

[luvmypets]

We have six boys and they are SO picky with treats. I often use just sweet feed as they enjoy the molasses in that particular food. They will also periodically munch on corn kernels or oats. I remember we had one elderly boy, Jumanji, who would eat everything, granola bars, bread, fruit, animal crackers, etc. He has since passed and his herd mates are nowhere near as open with their snack criteria. I would just try a couple of different things and see what they like. Beautiful boys by the way, I love the black/brown one, he is lovely. Its so nice that they can enjoy their golden years at a wonderful home.

 

[irret13]

We are really enjoying them. The lady wrote a children's book about 10 years ago and her daughter drew pictures of the alpacas. I love that my boys are in the book. It will be awesome to read the book to my grand daughter when she is a little older. I have been giving them a very small handful of pellets in the morning as well just so I can interact with them more. They each have a dish their pellets and COB goes in and they know what the dish means. I have more distant street noise then they are used to. The brown one is settling in faster I think and he took a half a baby carrot from me this morning. The white one wasn't interested. They don't seem to be eating a lot of hay but they do have grass to munch so maybe that is why. I really appreciate all the words of wisdom here!

 

[Bruce]

Welcome to alpacas

I have 2 geldings, given to me in Oct '16 by neighbors who were moving to Florida. Alpacas are supposed to love carrots and apples. Mine don't even look at those things. They do like their all stock sweet feed, I mix into their maintenance pellets for their morning and evening treats. They will eat that mix out of my hand ... as long as I don't try to touch them.

With regard to feed, they eat very little. I originally got 39 small square bales not knowing how much they would eat. The neighbors originally had 7 alpacas and 3 goats so they didn't have any idea how much 2 alpacas eat either. I had 13 bales left the following summer. Bought 20 for this past winter, still have plenty. They still eat some hay even when the grass is growing.

Mine have alpaca/llama minerals but I don't see that they eat it at all. They also have a plain salt block which they have not touched. Alpacas can NOT have copper so be careful when you buy minerals or feed.