We purchased Ember when he was one year old...he was the most playful llama we had ever had. One day he became overly interested in our females and so we needed to separate him from our herd of females and our gelded guard llama. He was annoying the females and starting to fight with the older male guard llama named Fitz. We built a semi wall between Ember and the rest so that he couldn't get at them but could reach through and take part in the herd. He also got his own field which I think he enjoyed...separated by a wire fence from the rest of the herd. When a female llama is in the mood, she will walk over to the male and start flagging (waving her tail) and he will start making guttural noises when breeding is to take place. When I heard and saw this, I opened the fence between the herd and Ember and,our female Abbie ran in and they bred. When she is ready she cushes and he mounts. The act is actually kind of lovely...he rubs her neck with his during the act. Abbie got pregnant...llamas are auto ovulators....the female determines after the act of breeding when she becomes pregnant...very cool....probably for protection of the young in the wild...weather, water availability, etc. Annabelle was born to Ember and Abbie and is such a sweet baby. She stayed with her mom, played with the herd and then will eventually separate from mom and becomes her own llama. Months later, when I was out in the barn, I didn't see Ember, so I went looking for him. I would suppose that every mom (of children and animals) has the same instinct that I have. When I walk into the barn, I just know when something is not right, I can feel it without even having seen anything. He was lying down in the field in kind of an awkward position. Long and short of it....he couldn't stand. After determining that he didn't have a broken leg, I erected a makeshift tent to protect him from the sun and brought him food and water. When my husband came home, we rolled him onto a tarp and dragged him into the barn. Over the next month, we rigged up a hoist with a horse girth strap and stood him up each day to change his bedding, etc. We cleaned him, hand fed him and encouraged him to stand again. I would go out in the evening and syringe apple juice and vitamins into his mouth and tell him how big and strong he was and that he was going to live and run his fields again. During this time frame, we had to inject him with quite a bit of wormer. A parasite had invaded his body...a Meningeal Worm from white tail deer that travel through our fields. When the llamas graze they pick it up and very quickly the parasite goes straight to the brain and spinal cord. Ember became paralyzed in one leg. We would hoist him everyday, turn and clean him, feed him and love him. One day when I was pulling into our farm I saw his face looking out above the barn 1/2 wall. I couldn't believe it, he was standing. I ran out and he was cushing by the time I got out there. We continued to lift him each day and do our daily routine. One morning he was standing out in his field and has not stopped running and playing since then. We love him...he has not fathered any crias since then, but we are so glad just to have him healthy and alive. He loves to cush in 'his' swimming pool. We fill it with cold hose water in the summer and he stands in it and can't wait for us to finish so that he can lower himself and cool his underside. He's a sweetheart and we are very lucky to have been involved in his recovery.
