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| Little Mont Blanc, dirty from days of rain, still small and fragile. |
With Trish and Neil gone for Easter until next Wednesday, we’re keeping an eye out on the alpacas. Their friend Barb is stopping by each day to give them their daily vitamin feed which is placed in dozens of colorful bowls at the edges of the various paddocks.
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| Mont Blanc’s mom, Giselle’s half-hearted grin. |
We don’t have much to do other than to check on pregnant mom, Delilah, who’s due to deliver at any time. Her photo is shown below.
Much to our heavy hearts young Mont Blanc isn’t doing well. He’s now in a separate paddock with his mom and another mom that is also not doing well. Her cria, Latle is also in the paddock.
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| Latle, the healthy fast-growing youngster with Giselle, Mont Blanc’s mom, in the background. |
On Wednesday the vet came to examine Mont Blanc and determined he’s having some type of digestive disorder preventing him from growing and thriving.
A few weeks ago when we alerted Trish and Neil that Mont Blanc didn’t seem to be nursing or pecking at the grass and appeared tiny and skinny compared to the other fast-growing cria of similar age, they separated him and his mother to another paddock.
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| Mont Blanc is much smaller than one month older Latle. |
During that period, we’d spotted another cria nursing from Mont Blanc’s mom, leaving less for him. We sent Trish a photo showing the two babies attempting to nurse simultaneously, which proved to be an oddity. Less than a week ago we posted the story with photos as shown here.
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| Latle is 29 days older than Mont Blanc and is growing well. |
At first, once separated from the others, he gained weight and was seeming to improve. Then, a few days ago he began to take a turn for the worse, losing the weight he’d gained, prompting Trish and Neil to call the vet to determine what was wrong. The diagnosis of a digestive disorder left them uncertain as to his fate.
As for Delilah, the only remaining pregnant mom due to give birth this year, she’s yet to deliver her cria. We’ve been watching her progress daily but see no signs of impending birth. In Trish and Neil’s absence we’ll keep a close watch to ensure all goes well should she soon deliver. She seems fine, is eating well.
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| Mont Blanc does appear to munch on a bit of vegetation. |
Delilah, pregnant and soon due to deliver, is one of the largest alpacas. She is a less common rich dark brown. Delilah appears to be the leader of her herd, always at the peak of alertness for any possible intruders. She’s become used to us visiting the paddock and expresses no concern when we come by.
Yesterday, we walked the distance to the paddock close to their house where Mont Blanc and his mom are located. We made our way over the fence to get inside the paddock and gingerly approached. They didn’t move away as they were unconcerned by our presence having been around us for over two months. Their means of communication, a tender little hum, was escalated by our presence.
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| Delilah, the last of the pregnant moms yet to deliver this season. |
The other youngster in the paddock with his ailing mom is four weeks older than Mont Blanc but was easily triple his size. This is worrisome. We can only hope that somehow Mont Blanc survives this condition and soon begins to grow. He seems alert and active.
After checking on Delilah with no obvious evidence of impending birth we headed back home, planning to stay home over the next few rainy days checking on them several times each day.
Happy day to all!
Photo from one year ago today, March 26, 2015:
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| One year ago, we met with Curly, owner of the Princeville Ranch, at the entrance that adventure seekers use for the myriad activities offered on the ranch. He took us on a tour of the vast property in his 4X4 vehicle which was quite an adventure in itself. For more details, please click here. |