help please!

[vatterpa]

I bought 3 alpaca males in late december. the previous owner said that he had no problems with them and that they were freindly. Well.....I have yet to get them to come to me or allow me to pet them. Everytime I have to give them shots or something, i have to spend at least half an hour chasing them. they are never aggressive just, un friendly.

I'm at my whits end, does anybody think they can help??:/

 

[purplequeenvt]

It will just take time. Never chase them. Move slowly and deliberately. Camelids, like horses and other prey animals, have a flight zone. You have to work with your guys to get them to trust you enough to let you into their safe zone.

You should (if you don't have one already) set up a catch pen in the corner of your big pen. Start feeding them some grain every day in the catch pen. Don't close them in or go in the catch pen with them. Once they are used to going in the pen on their own, then start closing them in. Once you've reached this point you should start handling them more and not just when you are *torturing* them. Get them used to getting a halter put on and off, touch their faces, legs , back, tail, etc... They need to trust you and once they do, then you will see completely different animals.

You should look up John Mallon. I attended one of his clinics years ago and have put a number of his methods into practice.

Good luck!

 

[mully]

Don't chase them as that makes the trust issue even more difficult. Try having a bucket with some sweet feed and see if you can get them to come. If not just place the bucket on the ground and step way way back... They will know you brought it when they are done just pick up the bucket and go away. Do this for several days and they will eventually come over DO NOT PET THEM AT THIS TIME Cameids are timid creatures and love takes a lot of time and extreme patients.

 

[ksalvagno]

I would suggest getting the book CameliDynamics by Marty McGee Bennett. Everyone else's suggestions are great ones.

 

[vatterpa]

i was looking at marty's page. wow that may actually solve my problem. do you think i could use the yellow straping to herd the animals together? they wont jump it???

 

[ksalvagno]

You can try it. You will have to work with them as they may try to jump it or just go through it.

 

[Rose Grey Alpaca]

Patience and time are your key. Let the alpaca come to you. Try luring them in with their favorite treat!